|
Is there unclaimed money waiting for you? Where to check?
You may have unclaimed money waiting to be claimed. Whether it’s an apartment deposit you never got back, an inheritance, or an overpaid utility bill, there are many reasons why money belonging to individuals and businesses ends up with the city, county, or the state. Use the link to search for missing money: https://missingmoney.com/app/claim-search
| | Courts/Rulings & Lawsuits | | |
City of L.A. seeks to dump the federal judge overseeing a homelessness settlement
One day before a hearing to explore whether the city of Los Angeles misled a federal court on its plan to clear thousands of homelessness encampments, the city's outside counsel asked an appeals court to remove the judge from the case.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
L.A. liable for destroying homeless people's property, federal judge rules
A federal judge has found that the city of Los Angeles violated the constitutional rights of homeless people by seizing and destroying their personal property during cleanups. The ruling filed late Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer ended a seven-year-old case against the city without a trial.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
Supreme Court upholds warrantless entry in emergency aid case
On January 14, 2026, the Supreme Court in Case v. Montana resolved when, under the Fourth Amendment, law enforcement may enter a home without a warrant to render aid in response to a public safety emergency inside.
EveryCRSReport.com
| | |
Judge blocks enforcement of California’s law banning masks for ICE agents
A judge on Monday blocked California from enforcing a new law sharply limiting when federal agents can wear masks while engaged in deportation operations. U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder rejected the Trump administration’s claim that ICE agents need to wear masks to prevent doxing.
Politico
| | |
California drivers whose licenses were recorded by parking garages may be owed $2,500
Parking garages that record drivers' license plate numbers and store them in a "searchable database" without the driver's consent can be sued for at least $2,500 in damages, a state appeals court ruled Thursday. California law "grants individuals the right to know which entities are collecting their ALPR (automated license plate reader) data and how it is being used and maintained," said the 1st District Court of Appeal in a case from San Francisco.
San Francisco Chronicle
| | |
Confession to undercover agent might trigger Miranda if known officer interrupts
Div. One of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held yesterday that a convicted murderer’s rights were violated by an undercover operation in which he confessed to law enforcement agents, posing as fellow inmates, after he invoked his right to counsel and had his jailhouse conversation interrupted by a known officer who falsely told the defendant that he was about to face charges for the killing based on an eyewitness identification.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
| | |
Defamation suit forces Alabama to define limits of reporter shield law
What began as a mistaken identification in a college town shooting case has become a test of how far Alabama law protects anonymous sources and how modern journalism fits into statutes written for another era.
Courthouse News Service
| | |
C.A. reverses judgment without deciding that it was erroneous, blocking preclusive effect
Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has taken the unusual action of reversing a judgment without determining whether it was correct or erroneous, telling the trial court, on remand, to dismiss the election-related petition as moot. To do otherwise, Justice Thomas A. Delaney said in Friday’s unpublished opinion, would risk the prospect of an undisturbed trial court ruling, which might have been wrongly decided, being given preclusive effect in possible future litigation.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
| | |
Los Angeles judge critical of ICE deporting survivors of crimes
ICE’s detention and deportation of noncitizens who have experienced or witnessed violent crimes appears to contradict US lawmakers’ intent behind legal protections for immigrant survivors, a Los Angeles federal judge said in a Tuesday hearing.
Bloomberg Law
| | |
11 of 12 L.A. Superior Court open seats are staked out
All but one of the 12 Los Angeles Superior Court open seats on the June 2 primary election ballot is being sought by at least one candidate, as of yesterday, with contenders including a deputy public defender who two years ago waged an apparent spite-challenge to a judge who had found her in contempt and a contender who, in 2011, received a public reproval from the State Bar for taking money from clients and not performing services.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
| | |
DDA Candice J. Henry to become L.A. Superior Court Judge
Deputy District Attorney Candice J. Henry is assured of a Los Angeles Superior Court judgeship by virtue of no one else filing, by Monday’s deadline, for the open seat she claimed on Feb. 6 by submitting a declaration of intent to run for it. At least two persons filed a declaration of intent to seek each of the other 11 open seats on the June 2 ballot. In all, 43 declarations have been filed, with some aspirants filing for more than one office.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
| | |
Pasadena fire captain faces nine felony sex abuse charges involving three children
A Pasadena Fire Department captain has been charged with nine felony counts for allegedly sexually abusing three children under the age of 14 over a period spanning more than two decades in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. “These allegations describe years of sexual abuse of children by someone who was repeatedly placed in positions of trust,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said.
L.A. County District Attorney’s Office News Release
| | |
D4vd's family members are fighting grand jury subpoenas in the case of a dead teen found in the singer's car
The father, mother and brother of the singer known as D4vd are fighting Los Angeles County grand jury subpoenas related to the investigation into the death of a teenage girl discovered in the trunk of his Tesla, arguing their due process rights are being violated, court records in Texas indicate.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
Police cases under L.A. district attorney ending in dropped charges, losses and plea deals
A probation officer who was caught on video bending a teen in half. A Torrance police officer who shot a man in the back as he walked away from a crime scene. Seven California Highway Patrol officers who piled atop a man screaming "I can't breathe" as he died following a drunk driving stop. All three cases had similar outcomes: charges dropped or reduced to no time behind bars after a plea deal.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
New sex-related charges filed against SoCal soccer coach accused in teen's murder
Nine new criminal charges were filed Tuesday against a youth soccer coach who was already charged with murdering a 13-year-old boy and sex-related crimes involving two teenage boys. Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino - who is charged with the March 28, 2025, slaying of Oscar "Omar" Hernandez - pleaded not guilty through his attorney to eight new counts of sodomy of a person under 16 and one new count of oral copulation of a person under 16 involving one of the two surviving alleged victims.
City News Service
| | |
Officer's criminal record a factor in dismissed charges against L.A. anti-ICE protesters
A federal agent failed to disclose three criminal convictions to his bosses at the Department of Justice and misrepresented the nature of an alleged assault, according to court filings in two recent Los Angeles cases against protesters that ended with all charges dropped.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
Ex-cop wanted on murder charge flew overseas, lived in L.A. for a year without arrest
A former LAPD officer was able to fly in and out of the country several times and live freely in Southern California for more than a year despite an active warrant for his arrest in the 2015 killing of a homeless man, according to his defense attorney and L.A. County prosecutors leading his pending murder case. A grand jury indicted Clifford Proctor, 60, in September 2024, after the district attorney's office reopened an investigation into the shooting death of Brendon Glenn.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
California’s soft laws embolden city’s prolific criminals according to LA District Attorney
Los Angeles’ rampant crime issues trace back to a tiny fraction of criminals, but jam-packed jails and soft laws are leading many of these swindlers, crooks, and thugs to cycle right back onto the streets, District Attorney Nathan Hochman told The California Post in an exclusive interview. “Roughly 10% of people are committing over 50% of the crime,” Hochman said.“These are chronic, repeat offenders.”
California Post
| | |
She was found nude in a ditch. L.A. prosecutors say they've solved tragic 30-year mystery
A decades-old L.A. County homicide case has been cracked open after DNA evidence linked a 63-year-old man to the fatal stabbing of a young woman found in a drainage ditch. Prosecutors say Brian Walton of Los Angeles was a stranger to Claudia Guevara, but he's accused of killing the woman, then 23. On Feb. 21, 1996, Guevara's nude body was found in a ditch next to Encanto Parkway in Azusa.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
Burbank homeowner loses $1.5M home in identity theft scheme, feds say
A 63-year-old San Bernardino County woman and two other men were arrested for the alleged fraudulent sale of a $1.5 million Burbank home they did not own, federal officials announced. Investigators with the U.S. Attorney’s Los Angeles office said Glenis Cardona, 63, a resident of Highland, along with Van Nuys resident Ivan Reyes, 50, and Northridge resident Arshak Akopyan, 46, were arrested Feb. 11 for using the stolen identities of the home’s actual owner and the sellers, along with forged documents that victimized the lenders and a title company.
KTLA
| | |
LA taxpayers shell out $418 million a year on handouts for the homeless
Los Angeles isn’t ending homelessness - it’s financing it, spending $418 million in 2025 with just 10% of that going toward getting people permanently off the streets. A bombshell City Hall report delivered Tuesday revealed a city that has poured hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into making street homelessness more comfortable, more serviced - and more permanent.
California Post
| | |
Secrecy surrounds hiring of LAPD messaging guru with Hollywood background
Last year, LAPD leaders quietly brought on a temporary consultant to advise on how to give the department’s battered public image a spit shine. In a proposal reviewed by The Times, the consultant wrote that the LAPD's standing as "one of the most prominent and visible law enforcement agencies in the world" was on the line.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
Constituents call out Hochman over ICE detention dispute
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman is facing mounting criticism from constituents and members of the legal community following his response (or lack thereof) to an immigration incident involving an employee of his office. The employee was improperly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in January of 2025, and at the time, Hochman released a statement saying the employee had been wrongfully detained and called the incident “unacceptable.”
Los Angeles Magazine
| | |
California imposes sweeping changes to blackjack in cardrooms
Opponents of new rules for the game of blackjack in California cardrooms say the regulations will cripple the industry and make it go bust. The rule changes, approved late Friday by the state Office of Administrative Law, prohibit traditional blackjack in Golden State cardrooms. Under the new rules, cardroom players can’t “bust.”
Courthouse News Service
| | |
Fed-up residents sue Bass, nonprofit, claim city burned millions on homeless housing
Los Angeles taxpayers are dragging City Hall to court, accusing Mayor Karen Bass and top housing officials of ramming through a homeless housing deal that court records say was rushed, inflated and barely vetted. A lawsuit filed Tuesday was brought by residents Samantha Nussbaum and Howard Grossman against the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Housing Department, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and the homelessness nonprofit Weingart Center Association.
California Post
| | |
California sues websites that publish blueprints for 3D printer ghost guns
Two websites that distribute instructions for how to manufacture ghost guns are facing a new lawsuit from the state of California alleging that they provide access to illegal and untraceable firearms. The lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Rob Bonta and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, is aimed at the Gatalog Foundation Inc. and CTRLPEW LLC.
CalMatters
| | |
Rape victim horrified to learn her attacker freed early under California law calling 50 ‘elderly’
Victims of rapists and murderers are distressed by a quiet change in California law that allow violent offenders to walk free decades earlier than expected. One lawmaker even the law, which was introduced to reduce overcrowding in prisons, called the law ”disgusting.”
California Post
| | |
Will California lawmakers break their promise to child sexual abuse survivors?
Lobbyists for school districts, public employee unions and insurance interests are again pressuring California legislators to emasculate Assembly Bill 218, a measure legislators enacted unanimously in 2019 to close a gaping loophole in the statute of limitations that let schools avoid civil liability for enabling or covering up child sexual abuse by teachers and staff.
CalMatters
| | |
Bandit towing a tough road for car rental companies
Car rental operations are increasingly losing money and time trying to find and retrieve rental cars that have been towed away from accidents or for other reasons. Known as bandit towing, these organized illegal operations plague commercial, rental, and private vehicle owners alike. The practice is considered rampant in Los Angeles and across California, with rental cars becoming easy targets.
AutoRental News
| | |
Lawmakers question transparency after $537M High-Speed Rail settlement approved
California’s High-Speed Rail Board of Directors approved a settlement costing more than half a billion dollars, a move that comes as lawmakers debate how transparent the long-delayed and over-budget project should be. During a January meeting, the High-Speed Rail Authority’s board of directors approved more than $500 million to settle a dispute with a company contracted to design portions of the project.
ABC10 Sacramento
| | |
Ballot proposal may change how pay is set for L.A. County sheriff's deputies, firefighters
Los Angeles County leaders are pushing forward a measure for the November ballot that would remove their ability to have final say on one of the costliest decisions they make: How much to pay firefighters and sheriff's deputies. The supervisors voted 4 to 0 on Tuesday to have their lawyers draft a ballot measure that would give final decision-making power in contract disputes regarding pay and working conditions for public safety workers to a three-person panel, a practice known as binding arbitration.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
County lawyers don’t want former sheriff’s wife mentioned during upcoming trial
Attorneys for Los Angeles County want a judge to preclude a Sheriff’s Department sergeant from contending during the upcoming trial of the plaintiff’s retaliation suit that then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s wife influenced his decisions regarding career advancements of employees.
City News Service
| | |
Rampant post-fire price gouging went unpunished, report alleges
When the Palisades and Eaton fires displaced thousands of tenants last year, landlords across L.A. jacked up rental prices while the flames were still burning. Officials were quick to respond, vowing crackdowns on price gouging. A new report asserts that many of those threats were toothless. Published by activist organization the Rent Brigade, the report analyzed L.A. County's rental market in the year after the fires.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
Inside the extraordinary rewrite of the Palisades Fire report - read the draft the public never saw
The full extent of the Palisades Fire report cover-up has been revealed. The California Post has obtained the first draft of the Palisades After-Action Fire Report - before it was quietly altered and released to the public. Newly uncovered edits show sweeping changes to the 92-page document that was meant to deliver a warts-and-all account of the disaster, putting more pressure on Mayor Karen Bass to explain whether her office played a role in softening the language to blunt criticism of the city’s response to a fire that killed at least 31 people and destroyed more than 16,000 structures.
California Post
| | |
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass directed Palisades fire damage control, email shows
A day after federal prosecutors announced that the catastrophic Palisades fire was caused by the rekindling of a smaller arson fire days earlier, Los Angeles city officials were in damage control mode. The ultimate authority on how to handle the deluge of media inquiries was Mayor Karen Bass, according to an internal email reviewed by The Times.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
Another week of chaos as LA police commission meeting drowned out by shouts of ‘killers’ ‘pigs’
The Los Angeles Police Commission meeting once again erupted into chaos as disruptive attendees called police a “cartel,” “pigs,” “killers,” “rapists” - while accusing commissioners of indifference to accountability. Extended rants at the podium, shouted interruptions from the crowd and a breakdown in order slowed Tuesday’s meeting as Board of Police Commissioners President Teresa Sánchez-Gordon struggled to move things along.
California Post
| | |
Los Angeles County Supervisors to consider sales tax increase to cover healthcare funding cuts
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday approved a motion that could increase the sales tax by a half-cent in order to cover the massive healthcare funding cuts made by the Trump administration. The decision will now fall on LA County voters in June. The current sales tax stands at 9.75%, but it's even higher in some cities within Los Angeles County.
CBS LA
| | |
Rose Bowl update: UCLA's bid to compel arbitration denied by judge
While we still don’t have a definitive answer on where the UCLA Bruins will host their football games in 2026, more and more signs are pointing towards the Bruins staying in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl. Tickets are available for purchase at the Rose Bowl and Pasadena picked up a victory in the courtroom on Thursday. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied UCLA’s bid to compel arbitration for its breach of contract case with the Rose Bowl.
UCLA Wire
| | |
LAPD responds to 40 calls an hour for the homeless, as they battle too few cops and not enough jail cells
“911, what’s your emergency?” For the Los Angeles Police Department, it’s the endless cycle of homelessness and a mental health crisis that has plagued the city. Roughly “one-third” of calls to the LAPD - or 40 calls an hour - are now for people suffering from a mental health crisis, Chief Jim McDonnell told The California Post.
California Post
| | |
Elderly Asians vulnerable to ATM robberies during Lunar New Year, officials warn
People who withdraw a large sum of money for next week’s Lunar New Year could be targeted by robbers, Los Angeles authorities said Monday. As those from Asian American communities often celebrate the holiday by giving cash gifts to relatives, criminals have tried to exploit them through the crime called “bank jogging,” during which thieves wait outside banks and go after people who appear to have withdrawn a lot of cash, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Robert Luna.
NBC4
| | |
LAPD to train their body cameras on immigration agents, under mayor’s directive
Los Angeles police officers must turn on their body cameras at the scene of federal immigration enforcement operations and preserve the footage, according to an executive directive issued by Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday. Since June, federal immigration raids have disrupted neighborhoods and communities across Los Angeles and around the nation, including at work sites, along neighborhood streets and in commercial areas.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
A dropped phone, a body in the trunk: Inside an L.A. Fashion District heist gone wrong
It was a little after 8 a.m. when the owner of Sun Packing and his employee rolled up the metal door of their narrow storefront on Pico Boulevard in L.A.’s Fashion District. The neighborhood is home to hundreds of merchants selling everything from neckties to quinceañera dresses to bright swaths of fabric. Neighboring vendors said Sun Packing exported clothing to Latin America.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
Why weakening oversight puts California at risk
During my years in public service, one truth has never changed: when government operates without scrutiny, misconduct follows. Oversight is not a bureaucratic nuisance. It is the foundation of honest government. When those in power are shielded from independent review, failure is not merely possible; it is inevitable. California is now flirting with that failure.
2UrbanGirls
| | |
California bill mandates 8-hour firearm course to buy a gun - and for new residents bringing guns into the state
Senate Bill 948, introduced on February 2, 2026, by Senator Jesse Arreguín, seeks to impose sweeping new restrictions on lawful firearm ownership in California. If passed, the bill would mandate that anyone seeking a Firearm Safety Certificate (FSC) - which is already required to purchase a firearm in the state - must complete an 8-hour training course that includes at least one hour of live-fire exercises.
USA Carry
| | |
Feds can’t withhold social service funds from 5 Democratic states amid fraud claims, judge rules
A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must keep funds flowing to child care subsidies and other social service programs in five Democratic-controlled states - at least for now. U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick in New York, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, granted the states’ request for a preliminary injunction and a stay against the administration to bar it from withholding the money while a lawsuit works its way through the courts.
Associated Press
| | |
Small Business Administration says billions of dollars in fraud was found in California
The federal Small Business Administration suspended more than 111,000 California borrowers after uncovering $8.6 billion in suspected fraudulent activity linked to the COVID pandemic, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced Friday. "We have suspended nearly 112,000 borrowers tied to at least $9 billion in suspected fraud," Loeffler said in a press release on Friday.
Fox News
| | |
California officials and ICE clash over handling of undocumented inmates
The ongoing dispute between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the state of California continues to intensify as both sides grapple with the handling of undocumented inmates in the state's prison system. California, a sanctuary state, has laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, but these restrictions do not fully apply to the state's prisons.
Fox26 Fresno
| | |
California union pushes work-from-home bill as Newsom calls state employees back to the office
One of California’s larger public employee unions is pushing legislation to make remote work a permanent option for state workers as the clock ticks down on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s July 1 mandate for most employees to be in the office four days a week.
CalMatters
| | |
Conservative group sues S.F. over reparations plan
San Francisco's proposal for reparations to descendants of slaves and other victims of racial discrimination was challenged in court Thursday by a conservative group, which said the plan itself would discriminate on the basis of race. "Through its Reparations Plan, San Francisco has abandoned the principle of individual equality in favor of collective racial entitlement and disadvantage," attorneys for the Pacific Legal Foundation argued in a lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court.
San Francisco Chronicle
| | |
Man stabbed in California prison nearly 180 times, video of his death leaked
A 36-year-old man was stabbed nearly 180 times at a California state prison and someone inside captured video of the gruesome death before leaking it to the outside, where it went viral on social media. On Wednesday, civil rights attorneys representing the family of Joseph Mendoza of Merced, Calif. - who was killed April 8, 2025, at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad, Monterey County - spoke about their federal wrongful lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, where they alleged correctional officers acted with "deliberate indifference."
KTVU
| | Convictions/Pleas/Sentences/Parole | | |
Chilean robbery crew used disguises, blowtorches and cellphone jammers to break into banks, ATMs
A member of a sophisticated Chilean ATM robbery crew that used disguises and cellphone jammers to steal millions of dollars in heists across the West Coast pleaded guilty to federal charges Monday. Maite Celis Silva, a 27-year-old from Chile, admitted to renting vacation properties near banks in California, Oregon and Washington as the robbery crew investigated ATMs to target, according to authorities, who said the rentals were used as staging areas for the 10-person crew, which used construction disguises, blowtorches and cellphone jammers to break into ATMs and banks and steal cash between May and October of 2024.
Los Angeles Times
| | |
Political operative sentenced to 4 years in federal prison for acting as covert agent of People’s Republic of China
A San Bernardino County man was sentenced today to 48 months in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including while serving as the campaign advisor for a political candidate who was elected to the city council of a Southern California city. Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, of Chino Hills, was sentenced by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner. Sun pleaded guilty in October 2025 to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.
U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release
| | |
Downtown Los Angeles tree vandal sentenced to 2 years in prison
A 45-year-old man was sentenced to two years in prison for using a chainsaw to cut down trees in the downtown Los Angeles area last year. Samuel Patrick Groft pleaded no contest to nine felony counts of vandalism and two misdemeanor counts of vandalism at his Los Angeles County Superior Court hearing on Wednesday. The charges involve 13 trees that were cut between April 13 and April 19, including one that had a limb chopped off.
CBS LA
| | |
No invitation necessary: when the solicitor general weighs in unsolicited
For decades, the U.S. solicitor general’s most familiar role at the certiorari stage has been reactive rather than proactive: When the Supreme Court wants the federal government’s views on a certiorari petition in a case in which the United States is not a party, it usually has to ask for them - through a call for the views of the solicitor general, or CVSG. That process began in 1957 and became institutionalized in the 1960s.
SCOTUSblog
| | |
California State Bar closes investigation of YIMBY advocacy group after public interest law firm stands up for First Amendment rights to petition the government
Last Friday, the California State Bar responded to a letter from the Institute for Justice (IJ) demanding that the agency retract its investigation into Sonja Trauss and the nonprofit organization YIMBY Law. YIMBY Law, which stands for “Yes In My Back Yard,” is an organization dedicated to ending the housing shortage and achieving affordable, sustainable, and equitable housing in California.
Institute for Justice
| | | | |
