Good evening! We’re wrapping up the day for you with the most important stories you need to know and your weather outlook.

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Saturday will be the coolest day of the week, with a little warming beginning Sunday.

Marine layer clouds will fill the valleys on Saturday morning, with clearing by the afternoon.

Summerlike temperatures are returning early next week.

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Today’s Big Stories

1. LA County disbursed more than $81M for rent relief

As a result of a rent relief program implemented in December 2023, Los Angeles County disbursed more than $81 million to landlords, authorities announced Friday, saying the funds helped protect thousands of tenants from being evicted.

The county Department of Consumer and Business Affairs reported the LA County Rent Relief Program played a pivotal role in ensuring tenants in areas of the highest needs received aid during a difficult moment due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to DCBA Director Rafael Carbajal. County officials opened the program in December 2023 and concluded the last round of support in June 2024.

Grants of up to $30,000 per rental unit were issued through two rounds of applications. Funds covered past due rent and eligible expenses dating back to April 1, 2022.

In total, 1,824 landlords received relief. The department, which oversaw the program, said it prioritized landlords who served vulnerable tenants, owned no more than four properties or managed units in areas of highest need as identified by the county’s Equity Explorer Tool.

2. Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority appoints new leader

Gita O’Neill, an assistant Los Angeles City attorney who handles homelessness policy, was appointed Friday as the new interim chief executive of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

The LAHSA Commission voted 7-1 to confirm O’Neill’s nomination. The agency is expected to negotiate a 12-month contract with O’Neill to lead the joint city-county homeless agency during a time when the organization is set to lose $300 million in funding and reduce its staff.

“I am honored to step in to the role of interim CEO for LAHSA at such a critical juncture,” O’Neill said in a statement. “Increasing trust in LAHSA hinges on our ongoing commitment to transparency, particularly in LAHSA’s core function of contracting.”

3. Sen. Padilla reintroduces bill to legalize long-term resident immigrants

Nearly two months after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents began a crackdown in Los Angeles, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., reintroduced the Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929 — a bill that would update an almost 100-year-old law and make more immigrants eligible for permanent residency. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., introduced a companion bill Friday in the House.

“We are united in the belief that if you have lived here for seven years or more, contributed to the community for years and you don’t have a criminal record, then you deserve a pathway to legalization. It’s that simple,” Padilla said at an event in downtown LA, where he was joined by family members of California immigrant residents who were detained in recent ICE raids.

The bill would update a law known as the Registry Act, which created a process to allow immigrants to apply for permanent residency through a green card program as long as they arrived in the U.S. before a certain date. When the law was first passed in 1929, immigrants needed to prove they had arrived in the U.S. before 1921 to be eligible.

4. With shoot days still lagging, Hollywood professionals face a loss of health insurance among other needs

Without production work, there’s no post-production work, and that means less on the timeline for video editor Craig Mayo.

He’s worked in television for nearly 30 years — including two decades on a syndicated talk show — but since that production moved out of state, things have been slow.

Mayo was able to keep his health insurance for a while because of the hours he’d banked and because of an extension from his union — Local 700 — offered during the writers and actors strike. But since he hasn’t been able to meet the minimum number of work hours in the past few years, ultimately his insurance eligibility ran out.

From January to June, the MPTF said it served over 4,000 clients. That’s roughly the number they served in all of 2019, pre-COVID, and even post-COVID in 2022. Approximately 500 of this year’s clients needed assistance related to the LA fires, but even without that, 2025 is seeing an enormous increase in need. 

(Spectrum News/Tara Lynn Wagner)

Your Notes for this Weekend

  • President Donald Trump continues to the U.K. to visit his golf courses in Scotland this weekend
  • The 77th Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards ceremony, hosted by Spectrum News 1’s Kelvin Washington, set for Saturday. Stephanie Hampton and Greg Taylor are the LA Area Governors. Jim Hill receives this year’s Los Angeles Area Emmy Governors Award
  • Hip Hop International World Hip Hop Dance Championship, featuring dancers from over 50 countries competing for the world title, to take place Saturday
  • Saturday is the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990
  • On Sunday, the 112th Tour de France cycling race concludes with the 21st and final stage, a 75-mile route beginning in Mantes-la-Ville and ending on the Champs Elysées in Paris
  • Monday is the 80th anniversary of a U.S. bomber crashing into 78th floor of Empire State Building, New York, killing 11
  • The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World annual report set for release Monday

In Case You Missed It

Sacramento filmmaker Taylor McMahon. (Spectrum News/Daniela Pardo)

Sacramento, which has long been known as the epicenter for politics and policy in California, is carving out a new role in the film and television industry.  

After hosting major productions in recent years, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s upcoming Warner Bros. film “One Battle After Another,” the city is hoping to attract even more Hollywood attention with a new film rebate program.

In February 2024, DiCaprio’s production spent a month filming scenes in Sacramento. Sacramento Film Commissioner Jennifer West said the economic impact was significant.

Click the link above for more information.