MIchael R. Blood

Stay informed with MIchael R. Blood’s coverage and analysis.

  • newsomPolitics

    ‘You are really playing with fire with this one’: California billionaires tax ignites, pitting labor unions and voters against tech execs

    By MIchael R. Blood, Michael Liedtke, and others
  • California Highway Patrol officers arrest two men after a dispersal order during a protest Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)Politics

    Los Angeles mayor lifts curfew imposed last week during nighttime protests against Trump’s immigration crackdown

    By MIchael R. Blood, Jaimie Ding, and others
  • U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., is pushed out of the room as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem holds a news conference regarding the recent protests in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 12, 2025.Politics

    FBI agents tackled Sen. Alex Padilla at an LA news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem

    By Krysta Fauria, MIchael R. Blood, and others
  • Union workers hold signs during a groundbreaking ceremony at the Brightline West Las Vegas stationPolitics

    Trump administration signals it will cut off funds for California high-speed rail line that has become ‘a 119-mile track to nowhere’

    By MIchael R. Blood and The Associated Press
  • FILE – Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass listens as President Donald Trump participates in a briefing in Los Angeles, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)Politics

    Los Angeles’s Democrat mayor wants to axe 1,600 employees as city flounders in slumping economy and wildfire damage

    By MIchael R. Blood and The Associated Press
  • California Governor Gavin Newsom sits in a chair with a shocked look on his facePolitics

    Gavin Newsom is welcoming prominent conservatives on his new podcast, but critics say it’s risky to align himself ‘in a slightly unpredictable middle’

    By MIchael R. Blood and The Associated Press
  • Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley talks during a news conference at Harbor–UCLA Medical Center in the West Carson area of Los Angeles on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.Leadership

    LA fire chief ousted as mayor claims 1,000 firefighters were sent home the day wildfires began ravaging the city

    By MIchael R. Blood and The Associated Press
  • Homeowner David Marquez, left, holds a metal detector as he shows recovered metal items found with his father, Juan Pablo Alvarado, right, inside the walls of their multi-generational home in the aftermath of the Eaton Fire, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)Politics

    California republicans push back after House speaker threatens to saddle wildfire aid with conditions

    By MIchael R. Blood, Kevin Freking, and others
  • FILE – Ella Venne, left, searches through the remnants of her family’s home destroyed by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)Environment

    Los Angeles residents in neighborhoods leveled by wildfires turn to rebuilding: ‘Are we just inviting another problem down the road?’

    By MIchael R. Blood, Jaimie Ding, and others
  • FILE – This aerial still image from video provided by KTLA shows law enforcement vehicles where several people were found shot to death in El Mirage, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. Prosecutors filed murder charges Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, against five suspects in the fatal shootings of six men at a remote dirt crossroads in the Southern California desert after what investigators said was a dispute over marijuana. (KTLA via AP, File)Health

    6 killings in likely cannabis dispute highlight risk in California’s illegal pot market—despite years of legal sales

    By MIchael R. Blood, Christopher Weber, and others
  • Steve GarveyPolitics

    ‘Once a Dodger, always a dodger’: Orange County Democrat rips Steve Garvey for refusing to say if he’ll vote for Trump a third time

    By MIchael R. Blood and The Associated Press
  • Laphonza ButlerPolitics

    California Sen. Laphonza Butler decides not to run for full term in 2024

    By MIchael R. Blood and The Associated Press
  • Steve GarveyPolitics

    California Senate race gets some Republican star power with former baseball MVP Steve Garvey joining the race

    By MIchael R. Blood and The Associated Press
  • FILE – Laphonza Butler, President of EMILY’s List, speaks during an event in Washington, Friday, June 23, 2023. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has named Butler to fill the U.S. Senate seat made vacant by Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s death. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)Politics

    Democrat insider Laphonza Butler sworn in as third ever Black female senator, to replace late California Sen. Feinstein

    By Mary Clare Jalonick, MIchael R. Blood, and others
  • Laphonza ButlerPolitics

    Gavin Newsom names Laphonza Butler to Dianne Feinstein’s open Senate seat, fulfilling pledge to appoint a Black woman

    By MIchael R. Blood and The Associated Press