Orion Housing slapped with $5,000 penalty
Tomo Chien
January 29, 2025
Good morning, it’s Wednesday. Here are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.
1.
Orion Housing was ordered to pay a UCLA alum nearly $5,000 for wantonly withholding his security deposit and acting “in bad faith” in a lawsuit. Previous tenants say the student housing firm, which owns over 100 properties near USC, has a habit of ignoring infestations and maintenance issues and issuing bogus charges.
2.
A judge temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s Monday order to freeze all federal grants and loans, but the mandate has still led to widespread chaos in academia. The order is separate from Trump’s previous, specific pause on reviewing research grant proposals; rather, this freezes funding that’s already been awarded across the entire federal government.
3.
USC is considering offering “early decision” undergraduate admissions for prospective business and accounting majors. The decision is not finalized, but, if approved, would be implemented in the 2026-27 admissions cycle. USC currently only offers a non-binding “early action” application window.
4.
USC will seek to delay federal law enforcement from entering campus in the event of an immigration raid. Existing USC policy order staffers to “politely” turn away law enforcement, and note that the university’s general counsel must first review all warrants. In the “unlikely event” feds force their way through, staffers will call DPS.
5.
Black residents in Altadena were more likely to have their homes damaged or destroyed in the Eaton fire than their neighbors, a UCLA study found. Researchers also found that those residents are, on the whole, older, and have financial circumstances that may make rebuilding more difficult.