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What we know about Hannah Kobayashi, the Hawaii resident who vanished

Ben Shapiro
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What we know about Hannah Kobayashi, the Hawaii resident who vanished

The family of Hannah Kobayashi, the Hawaii woman who disappeared two weeks ago after missing a flight at Los Angeles International Airport, hasn’t given up the search for their loved one.

Kobayashi’s relatives are grappling with an additional tragedy after Kobayashi’s father was found dead Sunday near LAX of what police say was an apparent suicide.

The body of Ryan Kobayashi, 58, was found in a parking lot in the 6100 block of Century Boulevard. According to the Los Angeles County medical examiner, the elder Kobayashi died from blunt force traumatic injuries.

“The search is still on for Hannah,” said Kobayashi’s aunt, Larie Pidgeon. “I know everyone’s focused on Ryan’s death, but he would’ve wanted us to continue searching for his daughter. We’re still here despite everything, and we need the public’s help now more than ever.”

Here’s everything we know about the case.

Who is Hannah Kobayashi?

Hannah Kobayashi, a 30-year-old Maui resident, left Hawaii for LAX on Nov. 8. By the time her flight arrived in Los Angeles, however, she didn’t have time to make a connecting flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, according to Pidgeon.

The missing woman is described as 5 feet 10 inches and about 140 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes, a knife tattoo on her forearm and freckles on her face, according to a Los Angeles Police Department news release.

Kobayashi was booked on the same flight as her ex-boyfriend. They decided to keep the itinerary because they couldn’t get a refund, but planned to go their separate ways after landing at JFK, according to Kobayashi’s sister, Sydni.

Where did Kobayashi go in Los Angeles?

After missing her flight, Kobayashi went to the Taschen bookstore near The Grove on Nov. 9 and sent a photo of a book to a relative, according to Pidgeon. The family later used the data from the photo and went to the bookstore, where they confirmed with employees that she was there. Kobayashi also filled out a newsletter form with her Maui address.

On Nov. 10, Kobayashi attended the LeBron XXII Trial Experience, an event held at the Nike store at the Grove, and was seen in a promotional video about the pop-up event, according to Pidgeon. Kobayashi also posted a black-and-white photo on Instagram about it.

“We think she was staying around The Grove,” Pidgeon said. “It’s a pretty touristy area with a lot of shops, bookstores and museums, so we think she was just in that area sightseeing and felt safe.”

What were the text messages Kobayashi’s family got from her?

Until Nov. 11, Kobayashi had been texting normally with her family members, telling them that she couldn’t wait to get to New York and that it had been a nightmare trying to get another flight.

Then, on Nov. 11, another of Kobayashi’s aunts started getting “alarming” text messages from her, expressing concern that someone had stolen her identity and all of her money, according to Pidgeon. Her family grew concerned and tried to get a hold of her but didn’t hear back.

“She was using words like ‘hun’ and ‘babe’ and saying ‘someone’s trying to steal my funds,’” Pidgeon said. “She doesn’t talk like that. It was just out of character and the family sounded the alarm.”

Kobayashi’s phone’s was last turned on at LAX on Nov. 11 at 4 p.m. and hasn’t been turned back on since.

Where was Kobayashi last seen?

On Nov. 11, surveillance video showed Kobayashi boarding a Metro train with an “unidentified person,” according to Pidgeon. Kobayashi was then seen transferring stations with the same person and exiting a train at the Pico station around 10 p.m.

Pidgeon declined to provide a physical description of the person with Kobayashi because she doesn’t want to hinder the police investigation.

“It’s alarming. It doesn’t make any sense. The Pico station isn’t near any hotels,” Pidgeon said, adding that the woman in the footage is “100% her.”

Pidgeon said the LAPD told them that before the family received those texts sent from Kobayashi‘s phone, she had spoken to an American Airlines ticketing agent to try to book a flight to JFK.

Her family reported her missing on Nov. 12.

The family wrote in a Nov. 18 Facebook post that in the video footage of Kobayashi near the Pico station, “it is evident that Hannah does not appear to be in good condition and she is not alone.”

What has the LAPD said about the case?

LAPD detectives are investigating Kobayashi’s disappearance as a missing person case and had no updates to share Tuesday morning, according to LAPD spokesperson Jeff Lee.

Anyone with more information has been asked to contact the LAPD at (877) 527-3247.

Pidgeon said police have gotten a “bunch of really good leads” that she couldn’t share. But she said police believe Kobayashi is still in Los Angeles.

“At this point, we can’t rule anything out because it’s been 15 days since she’s been missing and nobody’s heard from her,” Pidgeon added. “We are considering abduction or trafficking. That’s something the family had to come to grips with over the past couple of weeks, but that doesn’t mean we’re losing hope or giving up.”

The LAPD has also informed the family that they’ve escalated the case and put a lot of manpower on the investigation. Pidgeon said it’s a “huge relief” that police don’t think Kobayashi left on her own accord.

“Hannah is a 30-year-old and woman, and unfortunately if you’re not disabled, a minor, or an elderly person with dementia, they don’t take your case seriously because they think you voluntarily go off on your own,” Pidgeon said. “LAPD didn’t really take the case seriously until a week after she went missing.”

LAPD spokesperson Lee declined to disclose whether the department considers Kobayashi “voluntarily” missing, saying, “That’s all speculation. We’re not gonna comment on that.”

What has the family said about the father’s death?

Ryan Kobayashi got to Los Angeles on Nov. 12 to help look for his daughter, Pidgeon said. He was searching the streets, including Skid Row, for days.

“I don’t think anyone knows what it’s like to not know where your daughter is,” Pidgeon said. “He died of a broken heart, and these people saying he had something to do with it — it’s just cruel and needs to be shut down.”

Pidgeon said the family wanted to dispel any conspiracy theories that Ryan was involved in any way in his daughter’s disappearance.

“We just want Ryan’s legacy to remain that he was a father who couldn’t deal with it,” Pidgeon said. “He had a mental breakdown, and I wish there was something we could’ve done. He was one of the kindest, most loving men we ever met.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to provide assistance for Ryan’s fiancée, Li Jaena.

“He has been living his absolute worst nightmare since Hannah’s disappearance, and now, with his passing, our family is grappling with unimaginable grief,” wrote Ryan’s niece, Emi Ko.

The Kobayashi family is also raising money through GoFundMe to aid in the search efforts and to cover the cost of Ryan’s funeral.

“We ask the public to be kind and compassionate toward us,” Pidgeon said. “Ryan was reading those social media posts. You have a whole family that’s seeing it, so please be kind and compassionate. Put yourself in our shoes.”

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Black Friday starts now: A guide to avoiding pressure tactics, online scams and porch pirates

Ben Shapiro
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Black Friday starts now: A guide to avoiding pressure tactics, online scams and porch pirates

Good news for bargain hunters: Gone are the days of having to stand in line at dawn and then elbow your way through a store to get your hands on coveted Black Friday deals, as many retailers have already launched their Black Friday sales in stores and online.

Target, Amazon and JCPenny were among the large retailers that released their promotions a week ahead of Thanksgiving, while Walmart and others dropped their deals on Monday.

Some experts say this is a broader shift toward spreading out discounts and sales throughout the month of November instead of just on Black Friday and its online counterpart, Cyber Monday.

Even so, Black Friday remains a popular day to shop for holiday gifts. Based on survey results, the National Retail Federation projected that 132 million people will go shopping that day, and almost two-thirds of them will do so in stores.

The preference for in-person shopping on Black Friday is a shift from last year, when the National Retail Federation estimated that 76.2 million people shopped in person and 90.6 million made purchases online.

Consumers who prefer to ditch the hustle and bustle in stores by looking for promotions and discounts online should be aware of retailer tricks meant to pressure shoppers into making a purchase, online scams, and porch thieves who are hoping to steal packages from your front door. Here are some tips from experts to help you make your way through the season’s first big shopping weekend.

Pressure to make impulse purchases

It’s already overwhelming to make your gift list and check it twice to ensure that you’re not missing anyone, whether it be your aunt in Boca Raton or your mailman down the street. It’s even more overwhelming to find one of those gifts on sale at an online retailer, only to see a tag in bold lettering that says “High Demand,” “Low stock” or “In 10 people’s carts,” because your next thought tends to be, “This could sell out, I need to get it now.”

These are often just mind games retailers and advertisers play that are “designed to spur us to make hasty spending decisions,” said R.S. Cross, campaign director for Public Interest Research Group.

The organization found that on top of urgent messaging, some sellers on the online marketplace Etsy are using fake countdown timers on deals that don’t expire.

PIRG tracked 20 bestselling or Etsy-curated products with countdown timers on deals and discovered that 16 timers reset for another 24 hours when the timer hit zero. The other four items further dropped in price when the timer ran out.

Other common tactics include displaying how much an item will cost by making monthly installments that “both make low-cost products’ prices seem cheaper and make expensive impulse purchases more doable,” according to the organization.

To help resist this manipulation, Consumer Reports suggests that consumers create a budget and stick to it. It’s easier said than done, especially when Black Friday deals are presented as limited-ime offers.

Consumer Reports also recommends starting shopping early. If you purchase an item now and see a price that has dropped later, you can contact customer service and they’ll usually refund the difference.

As you search for deals this week, Cross said, compare items across various online retailers “and don’t get distracted by offers you haven’t had the time to think through,” said Cross.

You can use online tools including Google Shopping, Price Grabber and Shopzilla to compare the price of products on various retailer outlets.

Avoid online scams

When you peruse the internet for sales from specific brands and retailers, make sure you’re clicking on and making purchases from their official websites.

Online security group McAfee identified a surge in counterfeit sites and phishing scams that use the names of popular luxury brands and tech products to lure consumers into purchasing products for what the consumer believes are unbelievably low prices. Instead, they’re giving away personal information (including credit card, address and account information) to cyber crooks.

McAfee researchers found these sorts of scams targeting footwear and handbag brands, including Adidas and Louis Vuitton. Scammers also tricked consumers by using the Apple brand on fake websites linked to stores selling counterfeit Apple items alongside unrelated brands.

Experts say the best way to counter these scams is to be skeptical of a product when the discount seems too good to be true. Carefully check the URL of a website to ensure that it’s legitimate — even minor variations in spelling or style are a telltale sign of a scam.

Porch pirates

Online purchases are easy because once you click the “complete order” button, all you have to do is wait for the package to arrive at your front door. But porch pirates may also be prowling for packages to arrive so they can swipe them.

These thieves steal packages primarily from residences whose front doors are easily visible and within 25 feet of the street, according to the Better Business Bureau.

In the past year, porch pirates have stolen approximately $12 billion worth of packages, according to Security.org. The security system analysts found that apartment renters experience package theft at double the rate of those who live in single-family homes.

To avoid becoming a package-theft victim, experts recommend that you schedule their delivery on a day you’ll be home. You can sign up for tracking notifications from a retailer, UPS, FedEx and USPS to remind you of the date and time of an expected delivery.

If you can block the visibility of your front door by parking your car in the driveway, that might help keep porch pirates at bay, Officer Drake Madison of the Los Angeles Police Department said.

If you know you won’t be home when a package arrives, LAPD recommends that you ask a trusted neighbor or friend to look out for the package and pick it up for you. Some delivery companies also offer the ability to change when and where a package will be dropped off.

You don’t have to have your package delivered to your home. Many retailers offer the option to have an item shipped to one of their brick-and-mortar stores, and they usually offer pick-ups at a customer service counter or a designated parking space in their lot.

Amazon has pick-up counters or self-service lockers at retailers, grocery stores and pharmacies. FedEx can hold your packages for up to seven days at one of its retail partners, including FedEx Office, Walgreens, Office Depot and Dollar General stores.

If you stick with having your packages delivered and you won’t be home to receive them, there are an assortment of lockboxes and secure, oversized mail slots available, although they can be costly. Alternatively, you can install a security camera or doorbell with a built in webcam, but that won’t necessarily stop the theft. Instead, it can gather the evidence needed to obtain a refund from the shipper and share with local law enforcement.

“If a specific area is being targeted and everyone makes a report, it shows police where porch thief issues are occurring and will allow them to deploy resources accordingly,” Madison said.

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Seniors over the Medi-Cal income limit struggle to afford payments

Ben Shapiro
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Seniors over the Medi-Cal income limit struggle to afford payments

Month by month, the savings that Rosaline George scraped together in her years as a journalist and local government employee have been dwindling as the 97-year-old pays out of pocket for hourly care.

“Without a caregiver,” she said, “I would be dead in two days.”

Getting onto Medi-Cal, the California Medicaid program, could be her gateway to a program that pays for home caregivers. But George learned that to do so, she would have to spend most of her Social Security check on medical expenses, leaving her just $600 a month to survive in her Hollywood apartment.

In California, elderly or disabled people making too much to qualify for Medi-Cal can still access the program if they pay a “share of cost” toward their medical bills. But advocacy groups argue the rules are so restrictive that many Californians who need such help are shut out — and they’re making a fresh push to change it.

California calculates the amount that seniors like George must fork over by taking their monthly income and subtracting a fixed amount on which they are supposed to survive, called a “maintenance need income level.”

"Without a caregiver, I would be dead in two days," Rosaline George, 97, says.

“Without a caregiver, I would be dead in two days,” Rosaline George, 97, says.

(William Liang / For The Times)

That maintenance amount has been set at $600 a month for a single adult since 1989 — an amount that would be more than $1,500 in today’s dollars.

That means that even if someone is just barely over the income limit for Medi-Cal, which is now $20,783 annually for a single adult, getting coverage requires them to spend so much on medical care in a given month that they have only $600 left for other expenses such as rent, utilities and food.

Among people who are not living in nursing facilities, only a small fraction of seniors and disabled people trying to get “share of cost” Medi-Cal — 8% — spent enough on medical expenses to meet the requirement in January 2023, according to the most recent data available from the state.

“It’s really punishing for people,” said Tiffany Huyenh-Cho, the California director of Medicare and Medicaid advocacy for Justice in Aging, one of the groups that has pushed to change the requirements. “Six hundred dollars today is just not enough to live on.”

Older adults are typically insured through Medicare, but unlike Medi-Cal, it does not broadly cover the kind of home care that many Californians need as they age. Even for people who are beyond the income limits for Medi-Cal, however, paying for home care themselves can be prohibitively expensive.

The result is that many families shoulder the work themselves, losing out on paid employment, or elderly people scrimp on needed assistance. Advocates argue that going without such support can jeopardize their health and ultimately leave them in need of more costly care in institutional settings.

Out-of-pocket spending on home care could count toward the required monthly “share of cost” to get Medi-Cal, but that care must be prescribed by a clinician under specific circumstances, Huyenh-Cho said. Advocates said trying to submit such expenses can be so logistically complicated that it is unworkable.

In Hollywood, George said that she receives less than $2,900 a month through Social Security — a modest income but significantly above the Medi-Cal cutoff. Advocates told her that based on that income, she must spend more than $2,200 a month on medical expenses to qualify for Medi-Cal.

There are ways to reduce and even eliminate that cost-sharing requirement, but they require spending. When George turned to the legal advocacy group Bet Tzedek for help, the group suggested she could purchase supplemental health insurance to bring down her “countable income.”

“I said, ‘Just a minute, are you telling me to get rid of some of my Social Security benefits?’” George recounted. “And they said, ‘That’s what Medi-Cal is saying.’”

Buying supplemental health, vision or dental insurance can bring down the amount of income that is counted for the Medi-Cal program, allowing people to avoid paying a share of cost. In the San Francisco area, one family resorted to spending more than $2,100 a month on such added insurance to help a 93-year-old woman access Medi-Cal and its home care program.

“Quite frankly, I think it’s crazy,” said Jaime, whose mother, Maria, needs round-the-clock care after suffering a stroke. The family asked not to use their last names to protect her privacy. Maria retired as the longtime owner of a diner and her Social Security checks and her husband’s pension put her over the Medi-Cal income limit.

Buying extra insurance costs more than half of her monthly income of under $4,200, but Maria would otherwise have to spend roughly $3,600 each month on medical expenses to be eligible for Medi-Cal.

“The way I see it, the function is to get rid of the share of cost,” Jaime said of the money they spend on supplemental insurance. “Otherwise, my mother gets zero benefit from purchasing that insurance.”

Two years ago, California state officials agreed to change the $600-a-month allocation for other needs to match 138% of the federal poverty level. (That figure, which changes annually, is the same one California generally sets as the income limit for Medi-Cal.) This year, that would amount to over $1,700 a month.

The new level was supposed to go into effect in January 2025, but the plan was jettisoned amid a state budget deficit. Groups that advocate for the elderly and disabled are now asking the state to make it happen in 2026.

In an October letter, Justice in Aging and other advocacy groups asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to allocate $33 million from the general fund in the next budget year and $80 million annually thereafter. In the past, state analysts had estimated the costs of the proposed change from $53 million to $151 million annually, half of which would be covered by federal funds.

A Newsom spokesperson said his office was “unable to speculate” on what the governor might include in his upcoming budget for the fiscal year of 2025-26. Health policy experts anticipate that federal funding for Medicaid programs could be cut after President-elect Donald Trump takes office for a second time, which could put more strain on California to use its state dollars to maintain its existing programs under Medi-Cal.

Dozens of states have “medically needy” options for their Medicaid programs like California. “The key to these programs is they’re for people who are low-income after considering their spending on healthcare,” said Alice Burns, associate director of the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured at KFF, an independent health policy research, polling and news organization.

“A person has to document all of their healthcare spending and show that … it has brought their income below the medically needy limit,” which can be complicated process, Burns said.

George, who before her retirement worked part-time on issues surrounding aging for an L.A. County supervisor, said that meeting her basic needs as a 97-year-old shouldn’t require her to give up her Social Security income, benefits “that President Roosevelt gave to us.”

“They are telling me, ‘Too bad. You’re too rich,’” George said. But what is she supposed to do, she asked, when her savings have dried up?

“My caregivers won’t work if I can’t pay them.”

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Two newborns died on Skid Row. Officials want to prevent it from happening again

Ben Shapiro
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Two newborns died on Skid Row. Officials want to prevent it from happening again

Following the deaths this month of two newborn babies on Skid Row, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors called Tuesday for a ramping up of services for pregnant women living on the streets.

The call for action comes nearly three weeks after a woman gave birth Nov. 8 at East 14th and South Alameda streets. The baby died that day after being transported to Los Angeles General Medical Center, according to county records.

Six days later, the Los Angeles Police Department was called to another death of a newborn on Skid Row, a one and a half miles away from the first. The baby was found dead in an alley after police said he may have been dropped from a fourth-floor window. Officers located a woman who had been brought to a nearby hospital for pelvic bleeding earlier that morning. The woman was detained and released pending an investigation, police officials said.

After the two deaths, Supervisor Hilda Solis, whose district includes Skid Row, introduced a motion asking for county officials to craft a plan to improve outreach to homeless pregnant women. It passed unanimously Tuesday.

“The County must look for ways to improve health service delivery to pregnant people experiencing homelessness to better meet the needs of infants and birthing people, from pregnancy through postpartum care,” the motion read.

Sarah Wilson, the head of Harvest Home, which provides temporary housing for homeless pregnant women, said the deaths highlight a larger issue within the county’s array of homeless services: there are very few places for pregnant women to go.

“This has been an issue I’ve been trying to raise attention towards for a long time,” she said. “Most shelters here in Los Angeles do not allow pregnant women to stay in the shelters. They want people to transition to a safer place, but then that place doesn’t exist.”

Harvest Home’s two residential programs have enough room for 27 women at a time. This year, Wilson said she has received 700 calls from people needing help.

Many of the women, she said, had managed to stay off the streets until a pregnancy shattered any semblance of stability.

“We have women who have been couch surfing for a decade and wouldn’t consider themselves homeless until they realize, ‘Oh, I don’t actually have a place to go and be and have my baby.’” she said. “So this time of pregnancy can actually add to the number of unhoused folks.”

It’s unclear just how many homeless pregnant women there are in L.A. County at a given time. A 2016 study by the county Department of Public Health found that roughly 3% of 5,600 new mothers reported being homeless at some point during their pregnancy.

Studies have shown that homelessness increases the chances of health complications for the mother and the child, including premature birth and newborns requiring intensive care.

“Moving around from place to place, going to the hospital to get your prenatal care — that’s just not conducive to having a healthy pregnancy, a healthy baby,” said Terry Bright, director of programs for Elizabeth House, which she called the only maternity shelter in the San Gabriel Valley.

She said the shelter gets 30 to 40 calls a month from women needing services. It can take six at a time.

“It’s heartbreaking to read … about those babies that passed away. But this is our reality,” she said. “There’s not enough places for them to go.”

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Alleged drunk driver charged with murder of Calif. girls, ages 3 and 4

Ben Shapiro
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Alleged drunk driver charged with murder of Calif. girls, ages 3 and 4

A San Bernardino man has been charged with murder after prosecutors say he ran a red light while driving under the influence, T-boning a vehicle and killing two toddlers inside the car.

On Wednesday, Alexis Jose Garcia, 28, was charged with the murders of the two sisters, 3-year-old Alinah and 4-year-old Neveah Flores, in a hit-and-run collision Sunday night in Rialto.

He faces seven felony counts — two for murder, two for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, one for hit-and-run resulting in death, and two related to causing injury while driving under the influence — according to the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors are seeking sentencing enhancements for Garcia, as he was found with a blood alcohol content above 0.15%. The legal limit for drivers over 21 is 0.08%. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 27, and prosecutors have filed motions recommending no bail.

“Here we have yet another tragic DUI-related death that was completely preventable and born out of selfish and reckless behavior,” San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Jason Anderson said in a statement. “There is absolutely no excuse for anyone to get behind the wheel intoxicated.”

Rialto Police Department officers responded to a traffic collision at Riverside and Walnut avenues at 11 p.m. Sunday. A speeding Dodge Ram had run a red light, broadsided a Honda Accord and caused it to hit a tow truck, police said.

Both sisters were killed in the collision, which sent one of them flying out of the car and scattered toys and clothes across the intersection.

“Those two little girls should be writing their letters to Santa,” Anderson said, “but instead their family is dealing with the unthinkable task of writing their eulogies.”

The parents, identified by friends as Valencia and Marky Flores, both survived the crash and were transported to a hospital, police said.

Garcia, the driver of the Dodge, fled the scene and was discovered by Rialto police officers about a quarter of a mile away, where it appears the truck became disabled, authorities said. Garcia had a passenger inside the car at the time of the collision who was not injured, police said.

A GoFundMe has been launched to support the Flores family.

“Their father is currently undergoing surgery for a broken femur and will be unable to work until completely healed,” wrote organizer Ciara Yanez. “We are asking for prayers and donations to help with any medical/funeral expenses for them and their two daughters.”

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Bat is the prime suspect in ultra-rare human rabies fatality in Central California

Ben Shapiro
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Bat is the prime suspect in ultra-rare human rabies fatality in Central California

A Fresno County resident has died of rabies they probably contracted from being bitten by a bat, the first such human case in the county in more than 30 years.

No information about the individual, including their name, age or gender was released due to patient confidentiality laws, Assistant Director Joe Prado of the county Public Health Department said during a Zoom media conference Tuesday.

Prado said the individual worked in Merced County and was exposed to rabies sometime in mid-October while in Merced County, though it’s unclear whether the person was working at the time of contact. Officials say they believe the person became infected through an encounter with a bat.

The individual displayed symptoms of rabies and was treated at a Fresno County hospital emergency room on Nov. 18 and died Friday.

“That was a very short time frame there, but that’s kind of how it worked out,” Prado said.

The county was also assessing the exposure risks for those in the hospital where the patient was treated and at the person’s home. Rabies vaccines were being distributed as needed, Prado said.

“Right now we want to ensure that the community is aware that all the hospital systems are working together to make sure there is ample vaccine supply,” he said.

Rabies is a disease that affects the brain and is rarely seen in humans, with the last such case in Fresno County occurring in 1992, said Fresno County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Trinidad Solis.

Rabies is transmitted through saliva, most likely through a bite from an infected creature, Solis said.

“With rabies, unfortunately, there is no cure,” Solis said. “So, once symptoms develop there is no treatment, and often when symptoms develop it is often fatal.”

Solis said prevention is key, including vaccinating pets and taking precautions around wildlife, particularly known carriers such as bats, foxes and skunks.

Abnormal animal behavior is often a sign of infection, like bats flying in the daytime or normally timid creatures interacting with humans.

If an individual believes they may have been scratched or bitten, they should clean the area with soap and water and immediately go to a healthcare provider, Solis said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that fewer than 10 people die of rabies in the United States each year. Five people died of rabies in 2021.

Requests for comment from Merced County health officials were not immediately returned. The fate of the suspected bat is also unknown.

Merced County Health posted a CDC warning on its social media sites Monday regarding the dangers of rabies.

There have been 169 documented cases of animals being infected by rabies in the state this year, according to the California Department of Health, with nearly a quarter (41) taking place in Los Angeles County.

In comparison, Merced and Fresno counties combined have three cases so far this year, according to state data.

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L.A. politicians ask Trump for $3.2 billion to pay for Olympic transportation projects

Ben Shapiro
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L.A. politicians ask Trump for $3.2 billion to pay for Olympic transportation projects

Los Angeles transit officials are asking President-elect Donald Trump to dedicate $3.2 billion to fund transportation projects for “the largest and most spectacular sporting event held in American history” — the 2028 Olympics.

Appealing to Trump’s penchant for superlatives, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board made up largely of local politicians, including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, sent a letter Thursday to the incoming president calling on his administration to set aside the funds in his 2026 federal budget.

“With 10 [million] to 15 million ticketholders projected, these Games will be the largest sporting event held in our Nation’s history,” the letter states. “Effectively delivering a safe, secure, efficient, and accessible mobility system to support these games will require the full support of the Federal Government’’

The Trump transition team has yet to respond, according to Metro, and did not reply to requests from The Times. Local officials are waiting to see how willing Trump is to support the 2028 Olympics in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom has been attempting to be a foil to his incoming administration.

Most of Metro’s requests for funding from the Biden Administration were knocked down. Inside the agency, officials are worried that they are running out of time and money to prepare for the Games. And with many of the Olympic venues still not chosen, some are wondering whether a new administration may influence the selection.

“This isn’t just the L.A. Olympics — it is our entire nation’s Olympics. I would think that President-elect Trump would want to make sure they are a success and reflect well on our country,” said County Supervisor Janice Hahn, the Metro board chair.

Last month, she called for a fresh Olympic transportation plan that includes staffing levels, total estimated cost and a coordination strategy across the region. So far it has not materialized.

Supervisor and board member Kathryn Barger, a Republican, said she is hopeful that the new administration will work with Metro to get the needed transportation projects in place.

“Every administration is going to have different nuances, but if you don’t work with them, then you are setting yourself up for failure,” she said.

The letter sent out last week requests Trump assign senior members of the Department of Transportation to work with the agency and appoint a White House-based coordinator to help make the “2028 Games a successful transportation showcase for the nation.”

Metro transit planners and politicians had been hoping to use the Olympics to accomplish a long wish list of projects, including miles of bus lanes along Venice Boulevard across the city and Atlantic Boulevard in East Los Angeles, 40 bike share stations in South Los Angeles and “mobility hubs” with Wi-Fi and concessions where shuttles can take fans to venues.

Among the list of 10 projects that Metro is asking to be funded, the most expensive is a $2-billion request to pay for an estimated 2,700 buses — double its current fleet — that the region is projected to need to move the millions of spectators expected to attend the Games. None of the projects have yet to be funded.

The private LA28 organizing committee has a $6.9-billion budget, which will largely pay for orchestrating the Games, securing venues, and ensuring that athletes and workers are housed and transported.

But that won’t cover Metro’s costs to significantly beef up public transit. The agency is looking to the federal government to fund the creation of a network of fast lanes that would carry athletes and others involved in the Games, the bulk of which would run along freeways.

“It’s going to be an extremely hard sell,” said John Rennie Short, author of “Hosting the Olympic Games, the Real Cost for Cities.” “It’s California and Los Angeles — which is not a Trump stronghold.”

It’s a tough pitch to Republicans in general, who don’t normally support building up mass transit and will not feel inclined to help the liberal city, Short said.

The Games were first pushed by Bass as a “car-free” event, largely because private vehicles will not be allowed at many of the venue parking lots because of tight security and perimeters around the Games. But the rhetoric has been toned down to a “transit-first” event, none of which was mentioned in the letter.

Signed by the Metro board members, the letter states the federal government provided the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Games $1.3 billion and Atlanta 1996 Olympic Summer Games $609 million.

“There is going to be congressional representatives from other parts of the country, who say they wanted the Games, they applied for the Games and now they are asking for federal help,” Short said. “On the other hand, this is a big shiny global event.”

Metro officials, he said, were right to emphasize that Trump, if he follows tradition, will attend and play a role whether the administration gives money or not.

During his last term, Trump met with Olympic organizers in Beverly Hills to pledge the federal government’s support for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

“It’s going to be a fantastic show,” Trump said in 2020. He also joked that organizers needed to “remember him” when 2028 came around.

Dakota Smith contributed to this report.

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2026 California governor hopefuls rush to campaign on Trump

Ben Shapiro
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2026 California governor hopefuls rush to campaign on Trump

SACRAMENTO —  When he was running for governor in 2017, Gavin Newsom tapped into the simmering rage of California liberals, at one point boasting on the campaign trail: “You want resistance to Donald Trump? Boy, bring it on, Donald.”

That swagger helped Newsom cruise to election in 2018 and crystallized his reputation as a national leader of the anti-Trump resistance.

Whether California’s next governor will follow Newsom’s lead is less clear.

The crowded field of Democrats running to succeed Newsom in 2026, and others weighing campaigns, are still triangulating how best to position themselves against President-elect Trump — and whether that’s a posture that California voters even want.

Some candidates have echoed Newsom with a strident tone. The week Trump was reelected, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, who is considering a run for governor, stood in front of the Golden Gate Bridge and vowed use “the full force of the law” to defend Californians against the new administration.

“If Trump attacks your rights: I’ll be there,” Bonta said. “If Trump comes after your freedoms: I’ll be there. If Trump jeopardizes your safety and well-being: I’ll be there.”

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who entered the governor’s race last year, said the state would fight any efforts by the Trump administration to undo LGBTQ+ student protections or dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. And Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis promised in a social media post that California will “never waver in our protection of the freedom to control our bodies, to marry who we love and to create opportunities for immigrants and ALL our families.”

The slight rightward shift of California’s voters this year has given other candidates pause. Preliminary election results suggest that several counties won by President Biden in 2020 tilted toward Trump this year, including San Bernardino County in Southern California, Butte County in Northern California, and a broad swath of the San Joaquin Valley through Merced, Fresno and Stanislaus counties, a Times analysis shows.

Voters also handed resounding losses to the criminal justice reform movement, voting Dist. Attys. George Gascón and Pamela Price out of office and approving a tough-on-crime ballot initiative with overwhelming support.

“Is firing up the Trump resistance really the right move given what has just happened?” said Sarah Anzia, a political scientist and public policy professor at UC Berkeley. “I would think this would call for some introspection and consideration of why Trump has grown in popularity in a state like this.”

Former state controller Betty Yee, who entered the gubernatorial race in March, has pointed in fundraising emails to the state’s “shift toward Trump.” As the statewide vote continues to be tallied, the shift appears to be just shy of 5 points; Biden won 63.5% of California voters in 2020. Harris currently has 58.6%.

“That’s a fairly significant slide right, and while it’s easy to chalk up the votes of millions of Californians to hate or falling for Trump’s deception, the fact is that more young people and more Black and Latino families voted for Trump than ever before,” Yee wrote.

In another message, she wrote that “Latinos of all ages, and young people — the literal future of California, two groups that politicians have leaned on for decades — turned away from the Democratic Party in a historically poor showing this election.”

Navigating those subtle shifts in the electorate may be tricky, however, and overcorrecting too far to the right may prove just as treacherous.

Although he performed better in California in 2024 than 2020, Trump remains very unpopular with most Golden State voters. Historically, the party not in the White House also makes big gains in the next general election — which will be 2026, when Californian’s will elect a new governor. So attacking Trump may be fruitful.

Toni Atkins, the former state senate leader who is among a half-dozen candidates who have launched their 2026 gubernatorial campaigns, described the focus on Trump as a sort of necessary evil.

Everyone is jumping on “the anti-Trump bandwagon,” she said, which is a distraction from major California issues such as the rising cost of living — but critical to the state’s ethos.

Atkins was the leader of the state Senate during the first Trump administration, and led the campaign for Proposition 1, which enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

She said Trump’s reelection changes “the whole nature of this run for governor.”

“We need to be worried about what it means for California,” she said, “because he came at us the first time.”

State Sen. Toni Atkins speaks during a Governor Candidate Forum in San Francisco alongside Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis.

State Sen. Toni Atkins, right, speaks during a governor’s candidate forum in San Francisco in September alongside Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who is also running to replace Gavin Newsom.

(Josh Edelson / For The Times)

California sued the federal government more than 100 times during the first Trump administration, challenging the president’s authority on immigration, healthcare, education, gun control, consumer protection, the census, the U.S. Postal Service, civil rights issues and other topics.

On the campaign trail, Trump has recently derided Newsom as “Newscum” and called California and its Democratic leaders “radical left lunatics.” He’s also zeroed in on some of the state’s highest-profile leaders, including Senator-elect Adam Schiff and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, calling them “enemies from within.”

But California still needs the White House’s support in many areas, including health insurance for low-income residents that requires federal healthcare waivers, and emergency disaster funding during natural disasters like wildfires.

In a poll conducted by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times in late October, more than half of registered voters said they had no preference among the candidates who have already entered the race. Among those who do, their favorites haven’t yet announced their campaigns.

U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine), who has not said whether she will run, would be the first or second choice of 13% of voters, the poll found. Two Republicans said to be weighing campaigns, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and state Sen. Brian Dahle, who ran against Newsom in 2022, were the first or second choice of 12% and 11% of registered voters, respectively.

Kounalakis and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa each have 7% support, and so does Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who has not said whether he will run. Republican commentator Steve Hilton, also said to be weighing a bid, would be the first or second choice of 6% of voters.

Thurmond, Atkins and Yee had support from fewer than 5% of registered voters.

While the political environment for the 2026 campaign appears to be in flux, there may be lessons from the last time Californians picked a governor while Trump was in the White House.

In 2018, Villaraigosa ran a campaign that hewed toward the middle, focusing on equal access to education, fiscal restraint and his strong record as mayor on supporting law enforcement and protecting the environment. Newsom campaigned on a bedrock liberal and expensive agenda, including proposals for a state-sponsored healthcare system, universal preschool and increased funding for higher education.

Villaraigosa failed to make it out of the primary. Newsom won back-to-back terms.

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L.A. County gears up for Trump with millions for immigrants, trangender residents

Ben Shapiro
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L.A. County gears up for Trump with millions for immigrants, trangender residents

Gearing up for another Trump presidency, Los Angeles County supervisors will funnel millions in funding to beef up support for immigrants and transgender residents, who could be targeted by the incoming administration.

The governing board of the deep-blue county passed a flurry of resistance-themed motions Tuesday in response to the incoming president’s anti-transgender rhetoric and his pledge to carry out mass deportations of immigrants in the country illegally.

“I have a sneaking suspicion this is the first of what will be many [motions] that will come forward as the new administration rolls out their ideas for what will be best for making America great again — or not,” said Supervisor Holly Mitchell, adding that it was “surreal” to find California back on the defense against a Trump administration.

One motion, put forward by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn, asks for $5.5 million in ongoing funding for legal services for immigrants. The motion, which passed 4 to 0, would also create a county task force focused on federal immigration policy and develop a campaign to educate immigrants on their legal rights.

“We know in the coming months it’s going to become more difficult for many of our friends and our neighbors,” said Solis, noting that her office has already seen a ramping up in calls from desperate people in need of legal services. “We’ve seen this playbook — and we know what the consequences can be.”

L.A. County is home to an estimated 800,000 immigrants who live here illegally, according to USC’s Equity Research Institute, or about 1 in 12 county residents.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, the board’s sole Republican, abstained from the vote after noting there is already an immigration crisis under the Biden administration, with some migrants landing in tents on Skid Row. She said she visited the area recently and met a 15-year-old mother who had just come across the border.

“These families say the conditions on Skid Row are better than what they came from,” said Barger. “I just want to be careful to frame this for what it is — we already have a serious crisis taking place right now.”

Many advocates Tuesday praised the county for moving swiftly to put some money behind its pledge to remain a safe haven for immigrants.

“Sometimes, localities will issue resolutions that just have nice words,” said Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director of immigrant and racial justice at the California Immigrant Policy Center, who said her organization met with Solis’ team almost immediately after Donald Trump was elected to suggest additional protections the county could enact. “The county actually has concrete things they will do.”

The city of Los Angeles, meanwhile, is moving forward with a plan to make it a “sanctuary city” by forbidding city employees from being involved in federal immigration enforcement.

L.A. County took a similar step during Trump’s first term, prohibiting county sheriffs from transferring people to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement without a judicial warrant.

But that has done little to ease the fears of many immigrants wary of deportation, advocates told the board Tuesday.

“Since the election, we have heard from numerous families paralyzed by uncertainty,” said Diego Rodrigues, chief operating officer of Alma Family Services, a community organization. “Including children terrified of seeing their parents deported or themselves taken away from the only country they know and love.”

Another motion, from Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, which passed unanimously Tuesday, would create a pilot program to support organizations serving transgender people in L.A. County, funded with $7 million over two years. Such an investment had long been sought by advocacy groups such as the TransLatin@ Coalition, founded by transgender women in L.A.

The pilot program is expected to include $4.5 million for groups that provide a range of services to the “trans, gender-expansive and intersex,” or TGI, community, preferably organizations led by TGI people. A Horvath spokesperson said the money would come from the county general fund.

It will also include $2 million for an outside administrator who will process grant applications and help bolster the training and capacity of organizations that receive the money, as well as $500,000 for a program ombudsperson, according to the proposal.

Outside the county building ahead of Tuesday’s vote, dozens of people rallied and waved flags in support of the transgender “wellness and equity” initiative.

June Paniouchkine, legislative affairs coordinator for the TransLatin@ Coalition, said the money would go to groups that “are going to empower our community — to be housed, to be fed, to be employed, to be healthy, to have equal access” to government resources.

“We know that there’s a political force who are trying to diminish us and devalue us, but we are here to say, ‘Hell, no,’” TransLatina@ Coalition President and Chief Executive Bamby Salcedo said to cheers and shouts.

The move comes as President-elect Trump has argued that the U.S. should recognize only two genders — male and female — that are assigned at birth. He has pledged to stop federal money from being used for gender transition, which could limit access to medical procedures for transgender people who rely on programs such as Medicaid.

And Trump has vowed to cut off Medicaid and Medicare funding to hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to youths. Medicaid and Medicare are major sources of funding for healthcare facilities.

Horvath, who introduced the proposal for the L.A. County pilot program, said it was “about putting action to our words — that we not only stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, but give them the tools and resources needed to thrive.”

The measure drew little criticism at the Tuesday meeting. One person argued in written comments that the pilot program was discriminatory and that the funding should instead be earmarked to support small-business owners.

Barger said she was not questioning the validity of the proposal but had concerns about the process behind it, including the parameters surrounding which groups could receive funding and how the $7-million figure was reached.

“The real need could be much higher,” said Barger, who ultimately voted with the rest of the board to back the proposal.

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3,000 fake Gibson guitars seized through L.A., Long Beach ports

Ben Shapiro
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3,000 fake Gibson guitars seized through L.A., Long Beach ports

More than 3,000 fake Gibson electric guitars have been seized through the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex as part of a multiagency law enforcement investigation, making it the largest counterfeit musical instrument seizure on record, authorities announced Tuesday.

Africa Bell, port director for the Los Angeles-Long Beach Seaport, provided no details about suspects or details of the case because it remained active but said that the products — worth more than $18 million if they were legitimate — were probably destined for e-commerce.

Several red, black and orange electric guitars sat on stands and rested on tables as U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials announced the seizure during a morning news conference in Carson.

“These guitars you see on display around me and behind me may look real to you, but trust and believe they are not,” Bell said. “They are fraudulent, and they are part of a massive attempt to con the American consumer.”

Some of the counterfeit Gibson guitars that were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection are on display

The 3,000-plus Gibson guitars seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection were likely destined for e-commerce, according to authorities.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Bell said while most shipments comply with U.S. importation laws, many do not.

“Finding contraband illicit goods and revenue owed to the United States government in this massive amount of cargo arriving here every day is like trying to find the smallest of needles and the largest of haystacks,” she said. “It’s a significant undertaking. This past fiscal year we prevented the entry of over $2 billion worth of counterfeit products into the United States. This is the highest recorded value to date.”

The case is being investigated by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

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