The LA Reporter: Squawk Box for Friday, May 8, 2026

Thanks for making it all the way to the end of The LA Reporter’s one-week experiment with putting out a daily newsletter. I’ll be continuing the daily newsletter on a new Substack account I’ve set up for it. Check it out and subscribe. Please consider choosing a paid tier for that newsletter, so I can keep that — as well as this main newsletter, where I’ll put out my longer reporting dispatches — going strong 💪.

Also, it’s my birthday today! That means it’s an extra special day to show your support for The LA Reporter by “buying me a cup of coffee” on my Ko-Fi page. That support will also keep me fueled, independent and in the field to cover the important stories — some of which would not otherwise get covered or receive the attention they deserve. - Liz Chou, The LA Reporter

Squawk Box: Friday, May 8, 2026

If you’re going west on Metro’s D Line today, you can ride it a little longer before reaching the end of the line. I know you’re not under a rock, so you already know that this is because it’s opening day for three new stations along Wilshire Boulevard, at La Brea, Fairfax and La Cienega. These stops extend the line past Wilshire and Western in Koreatown where for the past thirty plus years, the D Line had ended for riders. While those opening day festivities are happening, the Measure ULA ad hoc committee will be quietly meeting at 8:15 a.m. (video link) to hear a presentation from the United to House LA Coalition, the group that wrote and campaigned for the passage of the transfer tax, which funds tenant protection programs, affordable housing construction and social housing. And finally, the City Council is taking up a recommendation to pay a “monetary sanction” in lawsuit filed by Black Lives Matter Los Angeles related to LAPD’s response to a 2020 protest outside then-Mayor Eric Garcetti’s residence.

The owner of Langer’s Deli, who got a question in to the mayoral candidates during Wednesday’s NBC4 debate, held a news conference Thursday to call for the city to end a needle distribution program, arguing that this harm reduction public health program was instead causing harm, according to a KTLA article by Jocelyn Fiset and Kareen Winter.

The deliowner, Norm Langer, and another property owner, John Alle, argued that the mayor and the council person for the area needed to end these types of programs, and they said the city also shouldn’t be giving out Narcan, which stops overdoses.

For context, harm reduction methods, not just for drug use, is an accepted public health strategy that’s based on the idea that outright prohibition of something is usually a recipe for failure, and usually makes a matter worse. The LA County Department of Public Health recently launched a campaign to to reduce the stigma around services meant to prevent people from dying. 

Money is tight and there is a potential financial bomb ahead for next year’s budget, as Los Angeles city leaders presided over the Budget and Finance Committee on Wednesday, as they wrapped up its review of the mayor’s budget, ahead of budget votes in the upcoming weeks. Budget officials told the committee that there is a November ballot measure that could repeal the city’s business gross receipts tax, removing more than $800 million revenue annually for the city — a potentially disastrous outcome. And the city is full steam ahead to revamp its LA Convention Center, a project with a high price tag. Because of the need to get a good bond rating as they get ready to borrow money for the project, city leaders seemed to be on their Ps and Qs to show they were working hard to improve the city’s financial footing, including taking steps to reduce their very high liability costs.

The committee also forwarded on some instructions to their legislative staff to try to find funding for select line items cut out of, or that were not included in the mayor’s budget, such as funding for deportation defense and the city’s animal shelters to be able to let out the dogs out of their kennels for play time.

There was also some debate over funding for new police vehicles to use for the Olympic Games. The committee also discussed an upcoming report on consolidating the city’s unarmed crisis response programs. Some had asked about adding funding in the budget for the program, but City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo told the committee he was recommending that the program not be expanded until after the report’s been done.

The committee also recommended taking out a contentious proposal by the mayor to loosen short-term rental regulations as a way to bring in more tax revenue, although that was only done because some members argued for moving the debate to a different venue — namely, a Planning and Land Use Management Committee next Tuesday.

Also on Wednesday, the LA Times’s Libor Jany reported that a jury has sided with the LAPD in a lawsuit by the family of a 14-year-old girl who was killed in 2021 by a police officer in a North Hollywood Burlington Coat Factory department store. The shooting touched off public outcry, with some calling for criminal charges against the officer. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued that the police officer who shot the girl should have slowed down. During the trial, the officer testified that he thought he had been going into an active-shooter situation and that the suspect was holding a gun (it turned out the suspect was holding a bike lock). The police chief at the time had also found the officers’ actions to be out of policy, although the commission was more forgiving, finding that he violated fewer of the police department’s policies. 

Thank you for reading. If you have any tips, corrections, suggestions or musings for The LA Reporter, please send them to [email protected].

If you like what I do and want to keep The LA Reporter in the field, you can provide financial support to me here. And if you want a sticker with my logo on it, include your email in your Ko-Fi tip message to me! Feel free to make the message private.