• The suspect in Charlie Kirk’s shooting death has been identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.
• During a Friday news conference, Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox said Robinson indicated to a family friend that he was connected to the shooting.
• President Donald Trump initially made the announcement about Robinson being in custody during an interview on FOX & Friends.

Charlie Kirk’s killer was arrested overnight in Utah, officials announced Friday morning. Tyler Robinson, 22, is in custody with the help of a family member and will face charges for murdering the conservative political activist earlier this week.

WE AS CHRISTIANS & AMERICANS SHALL FEAR NO MAN, JUSTICE WILL COME ONE WAY OR ANOTHER FROM GOD’S SOVEREIGN HANDS

Here are the latest updates for Friday, Sept. 12, 2025:

Robinson was engineering major, university says

12 p.m. ET: Utah State University announced Friday that Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspect arrested in the killing of Charlie Kirk, “briefly attended” classes there for one semester in 2021.

Robinson was a pre-engineering major and took classes consistent with that major for his one semester, Fox News Digital learned.

New details emerge about Tyler Robinson

11:30 a.m. ET: The Associated Press reported that Tyler James Robinson was admitted to Utah State University on an academic scholarship, according to a video of him reading his acceptance letter posted to a family member’s social media account. A university spokesperson told the AP he attended the school for only one semester in 2021.

Utah state records state Robinson was registered as a voter but not affiliated with either political party.

Mug shot of Tyler Robinson released

10:55 a.m. ET: Officials released a mugshot of Tyler Robinson, the shooting suspect in Charlie Kirk’s death.

Utah governor says Kirk assassination suspect is believed to have acted alone

10:45 a.m. ET: Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox says shooting suspect Tyler Robinson is believed to have acted alone, and the Charlie Kirk investigation is ongoing despite Robinson’s arrest.

FBI Director Kash Patel shares timeline of investigation

10:30 a.m. ET: The first FBI agents arrived on the scene at Utah Valley University some 16 minutes after Kirk was shot on Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel said at the news conference.

The bureau released the first photos of the suspect on Thursday morning, followed by the announcement of a cash reward and then the release of video of the suspect climbing down from the roof of a campus building and running away.

“Just last night, the suspect was taken into custody at 10 p.m. local time,” Patel announced.

Utah governor says Kirk’s assassination ‘is an attack on all of us’

10:26 a.m. ET: Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox said some people have asked why there have been so many resources dedicated to investigating Kirk’s killing when there’s violence around the country, but the governor said it is “much bigger than an attack on an individual. It is an attack on all of us.”

The Republican said Kirk’s killing is “an attack on the American experiment” and values, and “cuts to the very foundation of who we are.”

Details of messages on bullet casings revealed

10:25 a.m. ET: Bullet casings discovered by authorities had several inscriptions engraved on them, Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox said. The casing that had been fired read: “notices bulges OwO what’s this?”

• Cox said there were three unfired casings:
• One read, “hey fascist! catch!” with an up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol, and three down arrow symbols.
• Another one read: “oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao,” Cox said.
• The third fired casing read: “if you read this you are gay lmao.”

Kirk assassination suspect indicated to a family friend that he was connected to the shooting

10:15 a.m. ET: Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox opened the news conference on the latest developments in Charlie Kirk’s assassination with the statement, “We got him.”

Cox told reporters that Kirk assassination suspect Tyler Robinson indicated to a family friend that he was connected to the shooting.

The president talked about learning the news of Kirk’s assassination

9:50 a.m. ET: Near the end of his Fox News interview, President Donald Trump said he’d been holding a meeting about building the new White House ballroom when his aides interrupted.

“They came in and they said, ‘Charlie Kirk is dead.’ I didn’t know what they meant. I said, ‘What do you mean, dead?’” Trump said.

“‘Charlie Kirk was shot.’ And they thought it was dead because it was so horrific.”

Trump said he swiftly ended his meeting. “I just told these people, “Get out, you gotta go.”

Suspect in custody in connection with Charlie Kirk shooting is 22-year-old from Utah, AP source says

9:25 a.m. ET: The suspect in custody in connection with the assassination of Charlie Kirk is a 22-year-old from Utah, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

Authorities have identified the suspect as Tyler Robinson, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

A news conference is scheduled with the latest on Charlie Kirk investigation

9 a.m. ET: State and federal officials in Utah are planning to hold a news conference on the investigation.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls are expected to attend.

Trump says Charlie Kirk shooting suspect in custody

8:15 a.m. ET: Trump confirmed the news during a Friday morning interview with FOX & Friends.

“I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him in custody, right in custody. Everyone did a great job,” Trump said. 

“I just heard about it five minutes before I walked in. As I’m walking in, they said, ‘Looking real good.’ They have the person that they wanted.”

Sources told FOX News Friday that the suspected shooter was taken into custody in Southern Utah.

Federal investigators and state officials on Thursday had released photos and a video of the person they believe is responsible. Kirk was shot as he spoke to a crowd gathered in a courtyard at Utah Valley University in Orem.

More than 7,000 leads and tips had poured in, officials said. Authorities have yet to publicly name the suspect or cite a motive in the killing, the latest act of political violence to convulse the United States.

Video shows alleged gunman fleeing the scene

Dig deeper:

Law enforcement showed new video during a news conference on Thursday evening showing the alleged gunman fleeing from the scene after Kirk was shot.

In the video, a person wearing dark clothing is seen running across a rooftop and then climbing down the side. He is then seen running away from the scene.

Who was Charlie Kirk?

The backstory:

Kirk was the founder and executive director of Turning Point USA. Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government.

Kirk appeared alongside Trump on stage at political events, and was also a frequent commentator on Fox News, CNBC, and FOX Business News. He was the youngest speaker at the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Kirk played a major role in Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. He was credited with turning out the younger vote for Trump.

Tyler Robinson named suspect in Charlie Kirk shooting, how he was caught

Robinson was identified by his father in photographs released by auhtorities.

Authorities have taken into custody the person they suspect of shooting and killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday at a Utah university campus event.

Tyler Robinson, 22, was taken into custody in St. George, Utah, on Friday, authorities and sources told ABC News.

Robinson’s father recognized him as the person being sought by police after authorities distributed photographs.

The father initially told Robinson to turn himself in. Robinson initially said no, but later changed his mind, officials said.

The father then called a youth pastor, who is also a U.S. Marshals task force officer. The officer advised the father to have Robinson stay in place.

At a press conference on Friday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Robinson had become more political in recent years, and engaged in a conversation with a family member about Kirk’s visit to the Utah Valley University campus the night before.

Cox also described what was engraved on the casings found on the scene.

The first casing, according to Cox, said “Notices Bulge OWO what’s this??”

The other three unfired casing said: “Hey fascist! CATCH!” with an arrow symbol pointing up, then to the right, and then three arrows pointing down, “O Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Ciao, ciao!,” and “If you read this, you are GAY Lmao.”

When law enforcement identified Robinson, they also interviewed Robinson’s roommate who showed them a message between Robinson and his roommate.

“The content of these messages included messages affiliated with the contact Tyler, stating a need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving the rifle in a bush,” Cox said. “Messages related to a to visually watching the area where a rifle was left, and a message referring to having left the rifle wrapped in a towel. The messages also referred to engraving bullets and a mention of a scope and the rifle being unique. Messages from the contact Tyler also mentioned that he had changed outfits.”

Cox said Robinson arrived on campus driving a gray Dodge Challenger, which matched his vehicle he arrived in on campus.

He also thanked Robinson’s family, “who did the right thing.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said that law enforcement caught Robinson within 33 hours of the shooting and was on scene within 16 minutes.

“This is a very much an ongoing investigation, as the governor said, and we will continue to work with state and local authorities to develop the investigation to provide them the evidence they need for their ongoing prosecutions,” Patel said.

Authorities and a former FBI agent previously said they believed the subject to be a college-aged individual with an apparent proficiency in handling a high-powered rifle and likely knew the layout of the university where the homicide occurred.

President Donald Trump initially announced the arrest, stating on “Fox and Friends” on Friday morning, “I think with high degree of certainty, we have him in custody.”

During a news conference on Thursday evening, state and federal officials released video of the person of interest jumping down from the roof of a building on the campus.

Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, said the suspect was wearing “distinct clothing” that could help in his identification, including Converse sneakers.

He said the person seen in the video jumping from the roof left shoe impressions and a palm print.

“We are investing everything we have into this and we will catch this individual,” Mason said at the news conference.

Authorities had received more than 7,000 tips and leads and completed some 200 interviews, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said.

During a news conference on Thursday morning, Robert Bohls, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office, said investigators believe they have recovered the weapon used in what the governor of Utah on Wednesday called a “political assassination.”

Bohls said the weapon, a high-powered bolt-action rifle, was found discarded in a wooded area near Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, and is being analyzed at an FBI laboratory for any clues that can identify the gunman.

More specifically, multiple law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News that the weapon is an older model imported Mauser .30-06 caliber bolt-action rifle that was found wrapped in a towel in a wooded area near the school. The sources said a spent cartridge was discovered in the chamber of the gun.

The gun and cartridges recovered are to be flown to the FBI’s main laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for the most technologically advanced forensic analysis, law enforcement sources told ABC News. The focus is to look for any latent fingerprints and DNA, the sources said.

Investigators also collected a footwear impression, a palm print and forearm prints for analysis, Bohls said.

Mason said that investigators are also studying “good video footage” of the shooter that they have used to track his movements before and after the shooting.

Following Thursday’s news conference, the FBI in Salt Lake City released surveillance images of the person of interest wanted in connection with the shooting. The images show a person who appears to be a white male, wearing all dark clothing, including a dark long-sleeved collarless top with what appears to be an image on the front that includes an American flag. The man in the images is also wearing a dark ball cap and sunglasses.

The FBI announced a $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the capture of the suspect.

Mason said investigators believe the suspect arrived at the UVU campus at 11:52 a.m. local time, about 28 minutes before Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative grass roots organization Turning Point USA, was shot. He said the deadly shot was fired from a building a substantial distance from where Kirk was speaking to a crowd, authorities estimate was about 3,000 people. He did not disclose which building the shooter fired from.

“We have tracked his movements onto the campus, through stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof to the shooting location,” Mason said. “After the shooting, we were able to track his movements as he moved to the other side of the building, jumped off of the building, and fled off of the campus into a neighborhood.”

He said investigators combed the neighborhood for the suspect and contacted residents with doorbell cameras to analyze.

“The individual appears to be of college age,” said Mason, adding that the person of interest “blended in well with the college institution.”

Brad Garrett, a retired FBI agent and an ABC News contributor, said the evidence investigators have shared so far paints a picture of a suspect who planned the shooting down to the last detail, including discarding the possible murder weapon along his escape path.

“He probably did that [because] he didn’t want to be seen carrying a weapon, running through a neighborhood, or walking through a neighborhood,” Garrett said.

Garrett said the discovery of the weapon is a major clue that will give investigators additional leads to track down.

“Where did it come from? It could very well be registered or purchased by this shooter. We’ll have to see,” Garrett said. “Was it stolen? Whatever it might be, the ATF [the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] will help them immediately, and they probably already know what that is.”

WE HERE AT GOOD SHEPHERD NEWS MEDIA BELIEVE ITS IS OUR OPINION BASED ON THE VIDEO BELOW THAT THE KILLER HAD PARTNERS ON THE INSIDE

Its with our deepest regrets to reports such a heinous evil crime, our Christian Brother CHARLIE KIRK has PASSED, Our prayers go out to our  heavenly father to take Charlie Kirk into heaven, to forgive him of any transgressions he may have done so that he may be in heaven with you father, IN JESUS MIGHTY NAME, AMEN

Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah college event in an act that drew renewed attention to the threat of political violence across the United States.

The death was announced on social media by Trump, who praised the 31-year-old Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the youth organization Turning Point USA, as “Great, and even Legendary.”

“No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account.

The suspected shooter has not been arrested, Orem, Utah, Mayor David Young said. A person who was taken into custody by law enforcement at the university where Kirk was speaking was not the suspect, according to a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. The AP was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus.

“We are confirming that he was shot and we are praying for Charlie,” said Aubrey Laitsch, public relations manager for Turning Point USA.

Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political organization. Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions for an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence.

“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” an audience members asked. Kirk responded: “Too many.”

The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”

“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.

Then a single shot rang out.

The event had been met with divided opinions on campus. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”

Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit to Utah colleges was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”

Trump and a host of Republican and Democratic elected officials decried the shooting and offered prayers for Kirk on social media.

“We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

The shooting comes amid a spike in political violence in the United States across all parts of the ideological spectrum. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally last year.

Former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who was at the event, said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he heard one shot and saw Kirk go back.

“It seemed like it was a close shot,” Chaffetz said, who seemed shaken as he spoke.

He said there was a light police presence at the event and Kirk had some security but not enough.

“Utah is one of the safest places on the planet,” he said. “And so we just don’t have these types of things.”

Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.

But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.

Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign.

Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.

Charlie Kirk Shot at Utah University Multiple Times – PRAYERS for CHARLIE KIRK

Americans check their smartphones approximately an average of 205 times a day. It seems that almost everyone is dependent on their smartphone. According to one survey, 76% of U.S. adults get nervous if they can’t find theirs, and 44% say they couldn’t go one day without it.

Smartphone dependency and smartphone addiction are taking a toll on relationships everywhere, and some would even pick their device over the relationship if forced to choose between the two. A recent study found that one-third of individuals would rather give up sex than their smartphones.

This dependency is so widespread, partly because very few people have the choice to “opt out” of internet life and all the accompanying devices. Our work, social, and family lives depend upon email, texts, and internet access, and we are expected to be able to connect to these things at all times through our smartphones. This means we carry our addiction triggers with us everywhere we go—we have to.

In some ways, smartphones can enhance relationships. The ease of staying in touch with a partner through texts, calls, and FaceTime can strengthen relationship bonds by maintaining intimacy through busy days and long distances. On the other hand, people have difficulty truly connecting face to face when one or both partners are distracted by the constant urge to check their phone.

People today use their smartphones all the time, everywhere. The survey found they’re spending an average of five hours and 16 minutes per day staring into a screen.

Naturally, this degree of smartphone obsession gets in the way of intimacy.

Seven Ways That Smartphone Addiction is Getting in the Way of Your Relationship

1. Phubbing

This mashup term derived from “phone-snubbing,” refers to times when you become distracted by your phone, and your partner feels snubbed or rejected. It has become one of the major sources of relationship conflict in recent years.

2. Miscommunication

When you are constantly distracted by your phone, you’re more likely to miss what your partner is saying. This will not only show thoughtlessness towards your partner, it can lead to misunderstandings and miscommunications that can cause all kinds of problems—from failing to show up to an event your partner thought you’d agreed to come to, to failing to recognize when your partner is trying to tell you something important, and responding inappropriately or not at all.

3. Time and energy drain

Smartphone overuse can be a major drain on time and energy that you could be spending on your partner. It can result in a pattern of consistent neglect that drives a wedge between you.

4. Less sex, and/or worse sex

Many people report not wanting to stop what they’re doing on their smartphone to have sex with their partners, and one in five people actually checks their phone during sex.

5. More insecurity and less satisfaction

Individuals with smartphone-dependent or addicted partners could be less happy in their relationships. The higher the level of smartphone dependency within a couple, the higher the level of relationship uncertainty, and the lower the level of relationship satisfaction.

6. Self-centeredness

Spending a lot of time on social media can encourage self-absorption and narcissism. Getting caught up in displaying yourself in a certain way online, chasing acknowledgement from others, competing to get more followers, or to win online arguments, etc., can lead to an unhealthy level of self-centeredness.

7. Distance from your partner

Constant smartphone usage and distraction isolate people from their partners, making them feel like they have to compete with technology for attention, or that they can’t compete, so why even stay in the relationship?

It isn’t smartphone use itself that negatively impacts relationships, but rather the psychological reliance that people have on these devices. In other words, regularly using your smartphone won’t get in the way of your love life, but smartphone dependency and smartphone addiction will.

Signs of Smartphone Addiction

Just like alcohol or drugs, smartphones can stimulate the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, emotions, motivation, and movement. Dopamine makes us feel good, and our brains reward us with it to reinforce life-sustaining activities such as eating food and taking care of ourselves.

Some activities release extra amounts of dopamine through over-stimulation (like the constantly changing forms of distraction accessible through a smartphone), causing the user to develop a tolerance that drives them to increase the amount of time spent on the activity just to experience the same degree of pleasure.

Tolerance is a sign of smartphone addiction, as is compulsively checking your phone, and experiencing withdrawal symptoms when you attempt to cut down or quit. These symptoms may also appear when you are simply without wi-fi, or in an area without cell service.

Withdrawal symptoms include: panic, anxiety, restlessness, hostility, irritability, anger, depression, difficulty concentrating, and intense cravings for device usage.

Other signs of smartphone addiction include:

• Using your phone in situations where you know you shouldn’t, such as while driving, attending an important event, or having sex
• Spending so much time on your phone that you neglect relationships, family responsibilities, work, school, or any other activity or hobby that is important to you
• Prioritizing online relationships and social media feedback over face-to-face interactions
• Hiding and lying about smartphone use
• Getting cranky when your smartphone time is interrupted
• Getting hostile when someone brings up how much time or energy you devote to your smartphone
• Feeling panicky at the idea of missing out on news, texts, social media happenings or anything else your phone can connect you to
• Getting up at night to check your phone
• Feeling phantom phone vibrations—imagining that you are getting a notification, text, email or call when you actually aren’t

The Cost of Smartphone Addiction

Many people use their phones to cope with or escape from deeper problems such as loneliness, depression, anxiety, or stress, but smartphone addiction can also exacerbate or even cause such emotional problems.

For example, you may tweet something funny, hoping to get enough responses, likes, and retweets to make you feel better about yourself, then wind up feeling worse if your tweet is ignored, or causes a negative backlash. You may also use your phone to hide during events due to social anxiety, but hiding behind your phone will only cut you off from others and cause you to miss out on opportunities to practice social skills, so that you feel even less capable and more anxious in future social situations.

Studies have also shown that just having smartphones around can increase anxiety. Your phone can keep you from concentrating at work. At home, it can cause work pressures to bleed into your personal life.

Smartphones can also interfere with your ability to concentrate. The ever-changing types of stimulation that phones provide can prevent deep thoughts or creative ideas, and get you acclimated to shifting to something new every few minutes. It can also diminish your problem-solving ability by never allowing you a quiet moment to really work through an issue.

Nine Strategies to Reduce Smartphone Dependency and Smartphone Addiction

Whether you are fully addicted to your smartphone or merely dependent upon it, your quality of life will improve if you find ways to cut down on the time you spend glued to your device.

1. Minimize unnecessary smartphone usage

Try to figure out how much of your smartphone use is necessary—for work, for communicating with loved ones, for keeping up with caregiving duties, or for using apps to help with driving or checking movie times—and how much of it is unnecessary habit, like checking Facebook or reposting on Tumblr. Remember that in the early days of your recovery from smartphone addiction, all smartphone habits will FEEL necessary to you emotionally. This attachment will improve over time.

2. Allocate data-free time during the day

Designate a certain amount of data-free time every day. Silence your phone (no fair using vibrate), or turn it all the way off, between certain hours of the day at work or school, or whenever you’re working out or on a date. Putting it somewhere out of sight will help put it out of your mind—or at least cut down on how distracted you’ll be from the activity at hand.

3. Silence your phone when driving

Smartphone addicts should especially silence their phones while driving. The distraction of hearing a notification or the temptation to check email could have dangerous, even deadly consequences.

4. Find other interests for your free time

Develop new interests or hobbies to fill up the time you used to spend on your device.

5. Use an old-fashioned alarm clock

Avoid using your phone as an alarm—it’s too easy to shift from turning it off to checking email and browsing Instagram.

6. Remove excess apps

You’re much better off deleting apps that connect you to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and other social media distractions from your phone. Having to set aside time to go to your computer to participate instead of being constantly connected to it 24/7 will free up your time, and prove that you aren’t missing out on as much as you fear you are.

7. Minimize app notifications

If you can’t bring yourself to ditch the apps yet, at least turn off the notifications, and if you can’t bring yourself to turn them all off, at least limit notifications to the most important apps, like the one connected to your child’s school. Today, you can also find apps specifically designed to block your access to other, more distracting apps during peak times of productivity, so you can focus better.

You also might want to consider setting special ringtones or vibrations for the most important people in your life, so you can know if it’s your best friend calling about your dinner plans without having to check, which may tempt you into other activities on your phone.

8. Stop checking your email before work

If there is an emergency, you will get a phone call. Otherwise, any message sent by email can safely wait for another hour or two. Also, consider shutting off your email entirely over the weekend. People might send you work emails on Saturday or Sunday, but you are not obligated to respond to them. In most cases, the sender doesn’t even expect you to—they were simply checking something off their to-do list when they had the time to do it.

9. Leave your phone out of the bedroom

This last strategy will not only help you sleep better by reducing distractions and eliminating the screen light that can contribute to insomnia, but it will also improve intimacy with your partner, even on nights when you don’t have sex.

Smartphone addiction doesn’t have to get in the way of a healthy, fulfilling relationship. By following the tips above, you can reclaim your connection with your partner and discover new and exciting ways to bond that don’t involve a screen. If you or someone you love is struggling with smartphone addiction and needs professional treatment to overcome it, rehab programs are avaiable. source

Hundreds of documents show how researchers failed to notify officials in California about a test of technology to block the sun’s rays — while they planned a much huger sequel.

The west coast of North America is one area the Marine Cloud Brightening Program has considered for a 3,900-square-mile solar geoengineering test. A boat is seen off the coast of Costa Rica. | Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images

A team of researchers in California drew notoriety last year with an aborted experiment on a retired aircraft carrier that sought to test a machine for creating clouds.

But behind the scenes, they were planning a much larger and potentially riskier study of salt-water-spraying equipment that could eventually be used to dim the sun’s rays — a multimillion-dollar project aimed at producing clouds over a stretch of ocean larger than Puerto Rico.

LOS ANGELES – Three sheriff’s deputies who were members of the Special Enforcement Bureau’s Arson Explosives Detail were killed following an explosion at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Biscailuz Center Training Academy in East Los Angeles Friday morning, officials said.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to a report of an explosion around 7:25 a.m. at the facility located in the 1000 block of Eastern Avenue, near the 710 Freeway.

The training center was evacuated and roads in the area were closed as the investigation continued. The impact of the explosion was so powerful it broke the windows of patrol cars in the parking lot.

The facility serves the sheriff’s Special Enforcement Bureau and Arson/Explosives Detail.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the post-blast investigation and is being assisted by the ATF, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said during a news conference on Friday.

“There’s a lot more that we don’t know than what we do know. But our intent is to look at this from the very beginning and figure out what is it exactly that caused this tragic event,” Luna said.

LA deputies killed in explosion had long history with the department

Former LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the three deputies killed Friday in an explosion at an East LA training facility had decades of experience with the department. Today’s tragedy is the worst loss of life incident for LASD since 1857.

Explosion at training facility

What we don’t know:

While the official cause of the explosion is under investigation, preliminary information indicates this was a possible training accident.

It’s unclear what type of explosive materials were being handled by the deputies.

The deputies were identified as detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn. They were all assigned to the Special Enforcement Bureau’s Arson Explosives Detail, according to the department.

Luna said the deputies had a combined 74 years of service between them at 19 years, 22 years and 33 years.

LASD deputies killed in explosion identified

Three LASD deputies were killed in an explosion in East LA on Friday. Detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn had decades of experience in the department.

“I have met with two of the three families thus far. And as you can imagine, those were extremely challenging conversations,” Luna said, holding back tears.

The deputies had 20 plus years of experience in the field of arson/explosives. Two of the deputies provided security for the LA County Board of Supervisors.

Link to Santa Monica apartment

According to law enforcement, the deadly explosion may be linked to a Santa Monica apartment complex.

Officials say on Wednesday construction workers were installing EV chargers when they found grenades in a former tenant’s personal storage unit. The bomb squad was then called in. LASD officials say the grenades found at the apartment, located at 821 Bay Street, were related to today’s explosion. LASD homicide investigators were at the apartment Friday afternoon.

Santa Monica investigation tied to LASD explosion

Bomb squad investigators at a Santa Monica apartment building found what appeared to be grenades. The alleged grenades may be connected to the explosion at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility that killed three deputies.

This is the largest loss of life for the LA County Sheriff’s Department since an ambush in 1857. In terms of explosives, in 1986 two LAPD bomb squad members were killed in an explosion in North Hollywood.

A procession was held around 5 p.m. Friday, transferring the deputies’ bodies from the training center to the medical examiner’s office. Dozens of sheriff’s deputies stood in formation and saluted as the bodies were carried to a trio of medical examiner vans.

What they’re saying:

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi was among the first federal officials to comment, saying on X that she had spoken with both Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna and U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. She also confirmed that the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were assisting with the investigation.

Los Angeles County Supervisors Hilda L. Solis, Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn all expressed sorrow and support following the explosion. Solis said she was deeply saddened by the loss and is in contact with Sheriff Robert Luna. Barger also expressed sympathy and said her thoughts are with the department and victims’ families. Hahn called the deadly explosion “an extraordinarily painful day.”

LA Mayor Karen Bass said the city was supporting the tragic incident and that LAFD arson investigators and LAPD bomb squad personnel are assisting as needed.

“The thoughts of all Angelenos are with all of these impacted by this blast,” the Mayor said on X.

Sen. Adam Schiff called the incident “an unbelievable tragedy” and added that he is “praying for the deputies’ families and every member of the sheriff’s office.”

Los Angeles-area U.S. Rep. Judy Chu said on X that she was “heartbroken by the tragic news of the explosion at the @LASDHQ training facility in Monterey Park that claimed the lives of three brave deputies.”

“I am monitoring the situation closely,” she wrote. My deepest condolences go out to the families, friends and fellow law enforcement officers mourning this unimaginable loss.

National security expert provides insight

What we know:

National security expert Hal Kempfer, who has worked previously with the LASD, called the situation “a horrific thing to see.”

“They are probably one of the best trained, most professional, special operations, law enforcement organizations in the country and the world,” he said. “So for something like this to happen, they’re gonna be looking at this very closely and trying to figure out what exactly occurred.”

Regarding the cause, Kempfer said it seems the deputies were transporting explosive materials when the incident occurred.

“It just tells me that probably they were transporting or storing something and something went horribly wrong,” he said. “Frankly, things do go wrong with demolitions. You take a lot of precautions and everything, but it’s dangerous work, dangerous training, dangerous business, and sometimes accidents do occur.”

Kempfer described the possible situation that may have unfolded.

“It would make sense that you’d have a driver and an assistant driver in a vehicle moving this, but because it is dangerous explosives, there may have been a couple of other deputies assigned to provide security in case anything happened along the way, and that might explain why you have four deputies involved,” he said.

“You know the driver sees things, but the assistant driver is an extra pair of eyes. And obviously with something like, you know, if you’re moving a load like this, you absolutely want to be extremely cautious about what you’re doing. So you need that extra set of eyes, but then of course, if anybody from the outside had knowledge that this was a load of explosives being moved, obviously that would make it a potential target for pilferage or worse. So you’d probably want some security as well. On the other hand, it could have been that they were moving to a range or something like that or moving to another facility. And it just happened that there were, you know, four deputies total because of whatever they were planning to do.”

As ar as the protocol goes, Kempfer said it all depends on the amount of explosives that are being moved.

“If you’re moving a few flashbangs, you’re not going to have four deputies needed for that,” he said. “But if you are moving a larger load of explosives, and it could be explosives that were tied to evidence, this could be a part of a seizure, and that would make sense to me if it was part of a seizure because a lot of times when you recover explosives from a crime scene, they’re not necessarily in as good a shape as the stuff that you would normally use. They may be less stable, they may be old, there may be a lot of problems,” he added.

Kempfer said it was “improbable, if not impossible” that the deputies did not know the materials were explosive or active.

“If this was something where someone had secretly planted explosives, that would be a different situation. It sounds like they were just simply moving explosive material and it sounds like a tragic accident,” he said. “Things just sometimes go horribly wrong with explosive materials.”

Explosion claimed lives of three veteran officers who had responded to Santa Monica call the day before

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has identified the three deputies killed in Friday’s training facility explosion at an East Los Angeles County training site.

The devastating explosion has been considered one of the agency’s deadliest internal tragedies in years.

The blast happened just after 7:30 a.m., claiming the lives of Deputies Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus, and William Osborn. All three men were assigned to the Special Enforcement Bureau’s Arson Explosives Detail and were described as brave men who served with honor, courage, and an unwavering commitment to protecting and serving the community, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

“There are no words to express the pain and sorrow we feel,” said Sheriff Robert Luna. “These heroes represented the best of our Department, exemplifying courage, integrity, and selfless service. This is not only a heartbreaking loss for their families, but for all of us.”

A map shows the approximate location of the explosion.

The fallen deputies had a combined 74 years of service, according to Luna.

The LASD released a statement Friday evening highlighting the service histories of the deputies and each showed a long record of dedication, specialized training, and service across high-risk assignments.

Detective Kelley-Eklund later promoted to the rank of Detective at Narcotics Bureau in 2016 where he was assigned to the LA Impact Team investigating complex crimes, seizing large quantities of narcotics, and assisting in the arrests of murder suspects.  (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department)

Detective Steven Kelley-Eklund joined LASD in 2006 but served at multiple facilities before becoming a Field Training Officer at South LA Station. Kelley-Elund was promoted to Detective with the Narcotics Bureau in 2016 and worked with major investigations and arrests. He became a certified Arson and Explosive Investigator in 2022. He is survived by his wife, Jessica, and their seven children.

Detective Victor Lemus completed the Deputy Sheriff   as a part of Class 339 in 2003 before he was assigned to Twin Towers Correctional Facility where he ran on the Baker to Vegas running team.  (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department)

Detective Victor Lemus began his career at LASD in 2003 where he served at Twin Towers and Century Station. Lemus reportedly excelled as a Senior Training Officer and Detective. He was also touted as a decorated Baker to Vegas runner and a K-9 handler.  He joined the Arson and Explosives Unit in 2023. He is survived by his wife, Detective Nancy Lemus, their three daughters, and several family members also serving with LASD.

Detective William Osborn was an Arson investigator, he handled cases involving high dollar loss fires in residential properties, as well as fires involving the loss of life.  He was a peer leader and took on the role of mentoring newly assigned investigators.  (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department)

Detective William Osborn served in patrol, investigations, and training roles across the county and graduated in 1992. He was purportedly a longtime detective with a deep passion for investigative work.  Osborn joined the Arson and Explosive Unit in 2019 and was well-known for being a mentor and his expertise. He was also a trusted leader in the bomb technician community.

LASD officials told Fox News Digital that the same deputies responded to a call Thursday at a complex in Santa Monica where they assisted the local police department in seizing explosives.

The incident is still under investigation, and it is unclear if the deputies were examining the explosives at the time of the blast.

3 LA sheriff’s deputies killed in explosion; probe possibly tied to Santa Monica apartment

An explosion at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility Friday morning left three deputies dead. (KTTV)

LASD say homicide detectives are in the process of obtaining a search warrant for the Santa Monica location and “out of the abundance of caution,” the LAPD bomb squad, L.A. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Los Angeles will search the location for any potential explosive materials.

“At this time, it is not determined if the devices found yesterday have any correlation to today’s critical incident,” officials wrote in a statement to Fox Digital. “Santa Monica PD is assisting the Sheriff’s Department in this incident and have evacuated the residents in the complex. They are in the process of locating a shelter for displaced residents.”

Details regarding a memorial service for the deputies will be released soon, according to LASD.

In the canon of spectacular resignations, Megan Greenwell’s is up there.

On her last day as editor in chief of the beloved sports blog Deadspin, Greenwell published a blistering essay on the site about her soon-to-be former bosses at the private-equity firm Great Hill Partners, which had acquired Deadspin and other former Gawker properties earlier in 2019. In the essay, Greenwell accused Great Hill of undermining Deadspin’s staff at every turn and seeking a “quick cash-out” on its investment.

And it wasn’t just happening at Deadspin, Greenwell explained: “A metastasizing swath of media is controlled by private-equity vultures and capricious billionaires and other people who genuinely believe that they are rich because they are smart and that they are smart because they are rich, and that anyone less rich is by definition less smart.”

She’d written the post mostly for her own catharsis, Greenwell told Vanity Fair. But the response to it stunned her, as more than 1,000 messages poured in, many of them from readers who shared their own stories of how the private-equity industry had, in various ways, upended their lives too.

“It made me obsessive about reading about this, because I wanted to understand what had happened to me and to my coworkers and to my friends, and I realized that the only way to do that was by treating this as a reporting project,” Greenwell said.

Nearly six years later, Greenwell has funneled what she learned into a new book, Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream. The book is a deeply human account of the ways in which the multitrillion-dollar private-equity industry affected four different people: a Toys“R”Us supervisor who was laid off alongside the company’s 33,000 employees after the company declared bankruptcy following a private-equity acquisition; a rural doctor who watched private-equity ownership strip his Wyoming hospital of crucial services; a local reporter who helped lead union negotiations as private-equity-owned Gannett gutted newsrooms across the country; and an affordable-housing organizer whose own family suffered under a private-equity-industry landlord.

The book follows how private-equity firms like KKR, Bain Capital, Apollo Global Management, and more saddle the companies they acquire with insurmountable debt, even as the firms themselves profit. It also explores how each character in the book is fighting back against this model.

While Bad Company articulates how the industry works, its greater goal is to illustrate how the decisions the industry makes in the pursuit of profit influence us all. Greenwell spoke to Vanity Fair about who gets rich in private-equity takeovers, who gets hurt, and why no one in Washington seems willing to do much about it.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Vanity Fair: I was grateful to you for writing a book about finance that doesn’t read like a book about finance. It’s about four people before, during, and after private equity came into their lives. Why did you want to structure it that way?

Megan Greenwell: It was really important to show what came before private equity, because I think there’s an unfair line of critique that really blames them for everything. In the industries I focus on—retail, housing, health care, and local media—private equity didn’t create the problem. It’s important to draw that out and talk about the mistakes that those industry leaders made that ushered private equity in the door. On the other end, I felt like it was incredibly important to show efforts to build something new. I am not an activist. I did not want to write a prescriptive book, but I also didn’t want to write a book that was like: Man, this all sucks.

Why did you decide to ground it in the stories of these people?

I really love books that go deeply inside a company. When McKinsey Comes to Town was such a brilliant business book. It is also just so not the type of reporter I am. I am not, ultimately, that compelled in my own work by getting inside a glass skyscraper and showing how decisions are made. What is most compelling to me is the effect on real people. I thought that was the only way I could not only get readers compelled by this sometimes dull but important topic, but also excite myself about it.

In terms of potential characters, I would say I talked to over 150 people in these four industries. So I was incredibly picky, because I knew that if readers weren’t compelled by these people themselves, then they weren’t going to hang with the book.

The central tension of the book is about the disconnect between what serves private-equity firms and what serves the communities that surround the businesses they buy. I’d love you to spell out how that disconnect manifests.

Leveraged buyouts are a huge percentage of what private equity does. The basic way leveraged buyouts work is that the private-equity firm bundles together money from their outside investors—university endowments, pension funds, ultrawealthy individuals. But that only ends up making up a small minority of the total money they use to acquire a company. The rest of the money is bank loans, and those bank loans are assigned not to the private-equity firm that made the decision to borrow that money, but to the company that they are acquiring.

So if I make an offer for your company, and I’m borrowing money to buy it, I’m not responsible for paying that money back; only you are. You end up with this complete divorce of incentives, where what is good for the private-equity firm is not necessarily what’s good for the portfolio company.

In industries that are real estate heavy—hospitals, retail, newspapers—private-equity firms will sell off the real estate assets of those companies to pocket the proceeds themselves. Then the portfolio company has to pay rent on the same land that they may have owned for years or decades. Now you have a situation where the private-equity firm is doing great because they’re collecting their management fees, plus they got this tidy little profit from the real estate sale, but their portfolio company is buried under debt from the acquisition and also rent payments where they previously owned their land outright.

You see the two paths start to diverge. The private-equity company is winning, and the portfolio company is getting weaker and weaker and weaker. That was the thing that really broke my brain.

You rattle off all the private-equity-owned chains that went under during the 2010s: Claire’s, Payless, Kmart, and many more stores of my youth. You also write that most of the biggest retail bankruptcies between 2012 and 2019 were private-equity-owned companies, and there was huge growth in private-equity ownership of housing during this time. What made this growth possible during that period of the 2010s?

There was a lot of cheap money available. Zero percent interest rates were super compelling to everybody. Beyond that, the exact factors were a little different for each industry. In some cases, these were industries that were booming. The Affordable Care Act really helped draw private equity into health care, because there was a bigger guaranteed pool of money.

The opposite of health care might be retail, where, at the time, a lot of these retail deals were done. Everybody could see that retail was likely to be an industry with some serious struggles in the relatively near future. Toys“R”Us was purchased in 2005, and Amazon was already growing really, really fast. Walmart was already very dominant.

If you were to set out and write a book about another industry, say the tech industry, and its impact on the world, it would probably hyperfocus on tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk. It seems to me that there are no analogous household names in the private-equity space. Why is that?

A lot of people know the names of big private-equity guys, but they could not tell you that they are big private-equity guys. If you look around New York City, so many institutions are named after them. Henry Kravis, for example, of KKR, has multiple things at Mount Sinai named after him. He’s on the board of multiple cultural institutions. That’s a name that you see in the world, but I think you could ask 100 random New Yorkers who Henry Kravis is, and even if they’d seen his name, 95 of them are not going to be able to tell you.

I think that’s very much by design. Private equity is an industry that wants to continue to operate in the shadows. In so many cases, there’s so many layers of shell companies that you actually can’t figure out which private-equity firm owns what. I think that’s worked to the private-equity world’s advantage in huge ways. There’s just a little less scrutiny on you.

There’s certainly a narrative that private equity exists to rescue distressed companies and maximize shareholder value, which then benefits the pensioners and universities whose money is invested in private-equity funds, so everyone wins. What does the research say about the reality of that promise?

The one stat that’s really lodged in my brain is that 20% of companies acquired by private equity enter bankruptcy proceedings within 10 years, compared to 2% of other types of other companies. There is this narrative that the private-equity industry is made up of, essentially, superheroes who can come in and save struggling companies, and the data just shows that it is the opposite.

If you ask private-equity people about this stat, they will say, “But we buy companies that are already struggling!” But they’re buying companies that are struggling while claiming that they are the people who can save the company. It doesn’t make sense that there would be such a vast difference between the number of companies that go out of business under any other kind of ownership versus what happens when, allegedly, the smartest people in the finance world take over. We’ve been sold a story that isn’t remotely true.

There’s a 2023 study you cite that found that in three years after a hospital’s private-equity acquisition, the rate of preventable medical issues increased significantly. What are some examples of that?

In Wyoming, after Apollo Global Management bought these two hospitals and combined them into one—which meant, realistically, stripping the vast majority of services from one in particular—all sorts of terrible things happened. People just could not get the services they needed in an emergency in their hometown anymore. I’m not talking about advanced, specialized care that was never available at a rural hospital. I’m talking, all of a sudden, they couldn’t deliver babies anymore.

One of the two hospitals also eliminated its mental health ward, which was the only mental health facility in the entire county. All of a sudden, mental health patients were now in the hospital with other kinds of patients. They did not have the staffing or the facilities they needed to correctly treat mental health patients while protecting everybody involved.

In November 2020, there was a psychiatric patient at the hospital who was just in a regular room with no security guards, and he ran into the room of an elderly woman who was also being treated in the hospital and began gouging out her eyes with his fingers, and nobody stopped him until he had fully removed one of her eyes. The woman died of these injuries in what was declared a homicide.

Everybody knows when you cut staffing and cut supplies and all of these things, there are going to be negative consequences. This was just the worst possible outcome.

You call private equity the “prom queen” of DC, because donors on both sides of the aisle are so heavily represented in the industry. Do you have any hope that reform is possible?

There have been a variety of proposals at the federal level to regulate private equity, and those have ranged from pretty minimally invasive to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Stop Wall Street Looting Act, which she has proposed several times, which would functionally regulate the industry out of existence.

Thus far, none of those have made a ton of progress. Even things like closing the carried-interest loophole, which nobody in private equity wants, would not cripple their ability to do their jobs. Yet that has not passed, despite Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump, now twice, saying that loophole should be closed.

I don’t think there’s a lot of likelihood of serious regulation at the federal level anytime soon. That said, there is some interesting stuff happening on the state level in several places.

Massachusetts recently passed a bill increasing scrutiny of private-equity deals in health care, and Pennsylvania is now considering a very similar bill. Those two bills both grew directly out of catastrophic private-equity deals. In both Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, there have been recent collapses of health care companies that were owned by private equity. I think we will start to see more of that kind of progress, because I don’t think the number of catastrophes is likely to slow anytime soon.

Since you said you didn’t want to write this book about how everything sucks, what, if anything, is giving you a little bit of optimism?

I do not really have opinions on what is the best way to reform this system, but I think it’s pretty hard to look at the totality of the evidence and not conclude that the system is really broken. So to me, when people are doing something, it is a reason for some sort of optimism.

All four of the protagonists in my book are doing something. This is a huge problem, and it is necessarily going to require a multifaceted set of solutions. So fighting for legal changes is one. Lawsuits is a related but different one. Going head-to-head with the companies themselves is one. One of the protagonists in my book spent months going around to various pension fund board meetings, trying to convince them to seriously consider no longer investing in private-equity funds.

A lot of the work also has to be in reinventing industries. Private equity did not create the problems of any of these industries. Even regulating private equity out of existence would not suddenly turn those industries into healthy ones. The journalist character in my book spent basically her entire career working for Gannett, which was owned by a private-equity firm. And she made a pivot to go into nonprofit local news start-ups. A lot of the work that is most exciting to me is the people who are like, “Hey, how do we build something better?” It’s not all going to work, but without that kind of spirit of experimentation, nothing better is ever going to come. source

On December 16, 2022, the LA Mayor’s Office issued Executive Directive 1 (ED1) to expedite the permitting process for qualifying 100% affordable housing projects. ED1 has become a rallying point for policymakers, developers, and communities to come together for sustainable, affordable housing solutions. But what is ED1 exactly? And what has its impact been on the LA housing landscape?

Understanding Executive Directive 1

Under ED1, LA city departments must complete the pre-construction review process for all 100% affordable housing developments within 60 days. Building permits must be issued within five days.

Eligible projects receive expedited processing, clearances, and approvals through the ED1 Ministerial Approval Process. These projects are exempt from discretionary review as long as they do not require legislative action (e.g., General Plan Amendment, Zone Change, or Height District Change) or entitlements (outside of Density Bonus or Transit Oriented Communities) to modify otherwise applicable objective standards.

A“100% affordable housing project” is defined as a project with five or more units where:

• All units are at 80% of Area Median Income (AMI) or lower, based on U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rent levels;

• or Units are mixed-income, with up to 20% of units at 120% AMI, but the balance is at 80% AMI or lower.

The Response

From its introduction to July 1, 2024, there have been 323 applications for ED1 Administrative Review, referred to as ADM applications. ED1 applications also submit a pre-application review (PAR) to check for eligibility before an ADM.

Interested in the number of applications and the average approval timelines? ATC has crunched the numbers below.

Project Breakdown

ATC also has the data on what proposed ED1 Projects look like. See below.

Recent Changes

On July 1, Mayor Karen Bass released her 3rd revision statement. The key takeaways:

• Prohibition on fast-tracked ED1 projects on parcels within an HPOZ
• Prohibition of fast-tracked ED1 projects on parcels containing 12+ units occupied in the 5 years
• Projects seeking Density Bonuses will be eligible for no more than 5 incentives and one waiver
• Calls for increased accountability within LAHD for applications with pending payments
• Future conversions of ADUs on ED1 projects will be deed-restricted
• All entitlements submitted to City Planning or vested before July 1 shall be deemed eligible to proceed under prior regulations

Permanent ED1 Ordinance

In Fall 2023, Los Angeles City Planning prepared a proposed Affordable Housing Streamlining Ordinance to amend the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) and codify the ED1 review process. Read more from the City of LA here.

The latest changes include eliminating any requests to decrease the required open space and bicycle parking beyond 50 percent. In addition, the minimum floor area ratio (FAR) in residential zones has been increased to 3.5:1.

The new ordinance also prohibits single-family zones from using the ED1 entitlement pathway, and a revised order was issued earlier this year to amend the ED1 parameters.

The new ordinance also prohibits R1 single-family zones from using the ED1 entitlement pathway. Before the announcement, several applications for ED1 projects in R1 single-family zones were submitted for approval, but with significant community pushback.

In a 5-1 vote on November 16, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission approved a draft ordinance.

Executive Directive 7

On November 16, Mayor Karen Bass announced Executive Order 7. The new directive aims to accelerate approvals for all housing projects, including those with market-rate units, and plans to increase the threshold for site plan review entitlements.

Notes on analysis:

ATC arrives at its findings using publicly available data from the City of Los Angeles based on biweekly case reports from Los Angeles City Planning. ATC’s analysis only covers Administrative Review (ADM) planning cases submitted from December 2022 to the end of February 2024 (including some projects legacied into the process).

Numbers may vary slightly depending on whether an application has been terminated or withdrawn since the publication of this data. Also, some projects do not include project plans with unit or affordability breakdowns; instead, we have noted the total number for those analyses. source

source

ED1 Los Angeles: Fast-Track Your 100% Affordable Housing Development

If you’re a developer in Los Angeles, Executive Directive 1 (ED1) is your golden ticket to dramatically expedite your next 100% affordable housing project. Signed into effect by Mayor Karen Bass in December 2022, ED1 is transforming the landscape of real estate development in LA—especially for builders focused on low-income and supportive housing.

Whether you’re a seasoned builder or a property owner exploring development, this blog will walk you through everything you need to know to take full advantage of ED1’s powerful incentives and fast-track your project through the bureaucracy.

What Is ED1 Los Angeles?

Executive Directive 1—commonly called ED1—is an emergency order by Mayor Karen Bass that streamlines the approval process for developments that are 100% deed-restricted affordable housing. The goal? Combat LA’s housing crisis by slashing red tape and empowering developers to build faster.

 In short: ED1 gives qualifying affordable housing projects a green light with minimal delays—often referred to as “rubber stamping” development.

ED1 = Ministerial Approval = Speed

Under ED1, eligible affordable housing developments receive ministerial approval, meaning:

• No public hearings
• No CEQA delays
• No discretionary decision-making
• No drawn-out appeals

This means your project could go from plan to permit in under 60 days—a fraction of the time compared to traditional permitting.

ED1 Eligibility Criteria: Does Your Project Qualify?

To benefit from ED1, your project must meet specific requirements:

Requirement	Details
100% Affordable Housing	All units (except manager’s) must be deed-restricted affordable.
Zoning Compliance	Must comply with existing zoning or require only minor deviations.
Supportive or Low-Income Focus	Designed for Extremely Low, Very Low, or Low-Income households.
Fast-Track Timeline	Plans must be reviewed and processed within 60 days.

Projects that qualify under SB 35, AB 2162, or similar state laws typically align well with ED1 standards.

Why Developers Should Act Now

Los Angeles is hungry for affordable housing. With ED1 in effect, city agencies are prioritizing and fast-tracking developments that would normally take months—if not years—to entitle.

Benefits of ED1 for Developers:

•  No CEQA delays for qualifying projects
•  Bypass design review boards in many zones
•  Shorter pre-construction timelines
•  Lower holding costs and improved ROI
• Ideal for adaptive reuse and infill projects

Where in LA Can You Use ED1?

ED1 applies citywide within the City of Los Angeles. Whether you’re developing in:

• Downtown LA
• South LA
• San Fernando Valley
• Venice
• Hollywood

…you can take advantage of this directive—if your site and proposal meet the eligibility criteria.

Use tools like ZIMAS and consult with a local planning expert to verify zoning, overlays, and use permissions.

What to Expect in the ED1 Process

1. Prepare Your Application
   Include site plans, affordability breakdowns, and zoning documentation.
2. Submit to the Planning Department
   Mark your project as an ED1 submission.
3. Receive Priority Routing
   Planning, Building & Safety, Transportation, and other departments expedite your review.
4. Get Ministerial Approval
   No hearings. No politics. Just process.
5. Pull Permits & Build
   Once approved, you’re ready to break ground.

ED1 Limitations

While ED1 is powerful, it doesn’t:

• Apply to mixed-income or market-rate housing.
• Override all zoning or height restrictions.
• Bypass state or federal affordable housing standards.

If you’re adding density bonuses or incentives beyond by-right entitlements, you may still need some discretionary review—but even those are now being streamlined under this initiative.

Final Thoughts: Why ED1 Is a Game-Changer

Los Angeles desperately needs housing—and you can help meet that need while accelerating your development goals.

ED1 is your opportunity to build faster, smarter, and with fewer barriers.

If you’re sitting on a property with development potential—or you’re looking to acquire one—this is the moment to act. source

Crews successfully rescued 31 people who were trapped after a tunnel collapsed in L.A.’s Wilmington neighborhood Wednesday night.

The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the industrial tunnel on the 1700 block of South Figueroa Street shortly before 8 p.m.

The tunnel was filled with workers at the time, who were located 300-400 feet beneath the surface and around six miles away from the tunnel’s only access point.

More than 100 LAFD responders arrived at the scene, including Urban Search and Rescue team members who were specially trained and equipped to handle confined space tunnel rescues.

Some workers who were separated inside the tunnel had to climb over a 12-to 15-foot pile of loose soil to escape and join their colleagues on the other side.

Sky5 footage captured the rescue efforts as they were hoisted to the surface from the tunnel, which had an 18-foot diameter. The workers stepped inside a metal compartment that was lifted by a crane to the surface.

Around 9:20 p.m., all 31 workers were safely extricated and accounted for. Many were seen hugging each other. No injuries were reported as paramedics checked each person at the scene.

The wastewater tunnel is part of the L.A. County Sanitation District’s Clearwater Project, which spans seven miles long and is being “constructed to protect local waterways by addressing aging infrastructure,” according to the project’s website.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass also arrived at the scene and released a statement on X, saying, “I just spoke with many of the workers who were trapped. Thank you to all of our brave first responders who acted immediately. You are L.A.’s true heroes.”

Details are limited. The circumstances that caused the tunnel to collapse remain under investigation. source

By Good Shepherd News Media

Who is Chad Bianco? a great choice for California’s next Governor that’s who!

Sheriff Chad Bianco, the widely respected Riverside County Sheriff known for his proactive law enforcement strategies and commitment to community safety, has officially announced his candidacy for the California Governor race in 2026. His announcement brings a fresh wave of hope for Californians facing numerous economic, social, and public safety challenges.

Bianco, a seasoned law enforcement veteran with over three decades of dedicated public service, is renowned for his pragmatic and results-driven approach. His tenure as Riverside County Sheriff, marked by notable successes in reducing crime rates and enhancing community safety, provides a compelling backdrop for his gubernatorial ambitions. Sheriff Bianco’s leadership has consistently emphasized transparency, accountability, and direct engagement with the communities he serves, laying a strong foundation for his statewide appeal.

During an exclusive interview, Sheriff Bianco articulated a clear and ambitious economic plan designed to reignite California’s economy. He remarked, “As governor, I will immediately get rid of regulations burdening our businesses,” underscoring his belief that over-regulation stifles entrepreneurial spirit and economic growth. Bianco elaborated on this point, pledging to “immediately get rid of over taxation and over regulation,” recognizing these factors as major contributors to the state’s economic difficulties. He firmly believes in creating a business-friendly environment where entrepreneurs can thrive, innovate, and contribute positively to California’s overall prosperity.

Further, Bianco expressed his dedication to reviving California’s business landscape, stating he is actively “working on ways to bring businesses back to California.” He argues that the current regulatory climate has forced many businesses to relocate, leading to significant job losses and economic instability. Bianco’s economic policies aim to reverse this troubling trend, ensuring that California becomes an attractive destination for businesses once more.

On the critical issue of public safety, Sheriff Bianco stands firm on his innovative concept of “preemptive policing.” During his announcement, he asserted, “preemptive policing prevents crime,” emphasizing proactive measures over reactive responses. This approach involves identifying potential criminal activities before they happen, using advanced analytics, community intelligence, and collaborative strategies between law enforcement agencies and local communities. His leadership in Riverside County has successfully implemented these strategies, leading to notable decreases in crime rates and heightened public confidence in law enforcement.

Sheriff Bianco also provided thoughtful insights into California’s growing mental health and drug addiction crises. He advocates for compassionate yet decisive interventions to address these pervasive issues. Bianco emphasized the necessity of breaking the persistent cycles of homelessness, mental illness, and drug addiction through comprehensive programs that combine treatment, rehabilitation, and supportive community resources. His stance is clear—these individuals require a structured support system that provides lasting solutions rather than temporary fixes.

The launch of Bianco’s campaign has energized Californians who are increasingly frustrated by current state policies perceived as ineffective. The campaign’s resonating theme, “California is home, you shouldn’t have to move,” highlights his commitment to reversing the negative trends driving residents and businesses away. Bianco firmly believes that addressing taxation, regulation, crime, and social issues head-on is key to restoring the Golden State’s past glory and ensuring its prosperous future.

Sheriff Bianco’s extensive experience in law enforcement and his straightforward approach to governance have drawn significant public attention and support. Californians seeking tangible and sustainable changes find his practical solutions and clear-cut policies refreshing amidst political stagnation. His campaign emphasizes accountability and practical problem-solving, distinguishing him from typical political figures.

Bianco’s extensive community engagement and successful initiatives as sheriff provide voters with a solid track record to assess his capabilities and leadership qualities. His focus on transparency and direct communication further strengthens voter confidence in his gubernatorial aspirations.

In preparation for the highly competitive California Governor Race 2026, Sheriff Bianco has already begun statewide tours, engaging directly with citizens to understand their concerns firsthand. His grassroots-oriented campaign underscores his belief that true governance involves constant dialogue with the electorate, actively listening to their needs, and formulating responsive policies accordingly.

VOTE FOR CHAD BIANCO FOR CALIFORNIA STATE GOVERNOR 

JOIN THE TEAM GIVE SUPPORT! SUPPORT CALIFORNIA REFORM AND BRING CALIFORNIA BACK TO THE GREAT STATE IT ONCE WAS

DONATE HERE

Supporters across California are encouraged to actively participate in Bianco’s campaign efforts by contributing through financial donations and volunteer opportunities. His campaign portal, accessible via https://secure.anedot.com/bianco-for-governor-2026/donate, provides a convenient platform for supporters to join the movement for change and prosperity.

Stay tuned to Good Shepherd News Media for comprehensive coverage of the 2026 California Governor race and regular updates on Sheriff Chad Bianco’s promising campaign. Sheriff Bianco invites all Californians to join him in building a safer, more prosperous, and vibrant future for everyone who calls the Golden State home.

By Good Shepherd News Media – Corona, CA: In a candid and wide-ranging interview, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco outlined his vision for California as he officially launches his campaign for governor. Speaking with determination and a dose of plainspoken frustration, Bianco addressed the state’s most pressing problems – from the exodus of businesses and soaring living costs to rising crime, untreated mental illness, and what he calls burdensome “over-regulation” and “over-taxation.”

Sheriff Chad Bianco Joins California Governor Race 2026: Promises Safety, Prosperity, and Change

Sheriff Chad Bianco, Joins California Governor’s Race

Sheriff Chad Bianco Vows to Fix a “Broken” California

https://goodshepherdmedia.net/law-and-order-leadership-why-sheriff-bianco-should-be-californias-next-governor-in-2026/

https://goodshepherdmedia.net/sheriff-chad-biancos-response-to-southern-californias-ice-related-protests/

Sheriff Chad Bianco: A Proven Leader Ready to Restore California’s Greatness

https://goodshepherdmedia.net/sheriff-chad-bianco-vision-to-restore-california-as-his-duty-as-next-governor-of-california/