Feds eye LA’s homeless spending
Tomo Chien
April 09, 2025
Good morning. It’s Wednesday, and I’m reading about the perfect trip to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.
1.
Southern California’s new Trump-appointed U.S. attorney vowed to investigate potential fraud and corruption in regional homelessness programs. Bill Essayli specifically called out LA County, citing recent audits that found a stunning lack of transparency in its spending. “Taxpayers deserve answers,” Essayli said.
2.
A new bill in the U.S. House would prevent college athletes from ever being classified as employees of their schools. It isn’t the first proposed legislation of its type, and it’s unclear how far it’ll actually get. But it represented yet another roadblock for a long-running athlete labor movement that has largely stalled out under Trump’s watch.
3.
Calling USC’s financial aid office could become slightly less of a pain next year, thanks to a student government initiative that’ll make the phone system read out expected wait times. The office is also considering launching an AI-enabled support bot to answer common questions.
4.
Several authors and celebrities you won’t want to miss at this month’s Festival of Books: Poet Amanda Gorman, actors Max Greenfield and Krysten Ritter, rapper Big Sean, comedian Chelsea Handler, author Veronica Roth, and politicians Gretchen Whitmer and Stacey Abrams. See the full lineup here.
5.
Starbucks is pulling several fan-favorites from its menus, and USC students are split on this seismic controversy. “If someone cut my Frappuccino, I’d start a riot,” freshman Conor Mellor said. Fellow freshman Dakota Maichel is “lowkey okay with it” because her chosen flavor wasn’t cut. Others just want to watch the world burn. “I’m glad they did it,” said sophomore Derrick Shabani, citing the drink’s sugar content.
Yesterday, I incorrectly wrote that it was Wednesday in the introduction. Apologies!