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The U.S. Senate has until Friday night to approve a package of funding measures or else risk another government shutdown. If there’s no deal, that could mean an interruption to funding for child care and other services for kids.
Senate Democrats say they oppose funding for the Department of Homeland Security without new restrictions on immigration enforcement in the wake of Saturday’s killing of Alex Pretti by immigration officers. That funding bill is tied to other bills that will fund services like Head Start, home-heating assistance, and infant and early childhood mental health.: “ are in the most rapid stage of brain development. They have immediate needs that need to be met,” said Melissa Boteach, chief policy officer at Zero to Three, an advocacy organization for kids 3 and under.The U.S. Senate has until Friday night to approve a package of funding measures or else risk another government shutdown. That package includes funding for child care subsidies, Head Start, and other services for young kids. Senate Democrats have said they oppose the spending measure because it also includes funding the Department of Homeland Security. They want new restrictions on immigration enforcement, and to split it off from the other funding bills in the package in the In addition to Head Start and child care, the bills in the six-part package include funding for infant and early childhood mental health, maternal health, and home-heating assistance, “There is no reason that funding for children, for babies, for meeting their very basic needs should be contingent on whether or not ICE gets funding,” said Melissa Boteach, the chief policy officer at Zero to Three, an advocacy organization for babies and young kids. “ are in the most rapid stage of brain development. They have immediate needs that need to be met.”. Boteach said there may be a few centers that are immediately affected, and others later on if a shutdown drags on, depending on when the center’s grant cycles starts. Those most at risk are programs that have a Feb. 1 start date, said Melanee Cottrill, executive director of Head Start California, of which she estimated there are around 6-10. Head Start is a federally-funded program that provides early education and other services to children in low-income families. “ For many of these children, these are also the most nutritious meals that they get every day ,” Cottrill said. “It's not guaranteed that they'll close their doors if there is a government shutdown. It really depends on whether they have other funding sources,” she added. Federal funding for childcare subsidies for low-income children is also part of the funding package. Earlier this month, President Trump said he would freeze that funding to California, though “There's already been a good deal of instability in these programs and for families who rely on them and are just hopeful that the Congress can finish this off and, uh, be able to move forward,” said Donna Sneeringer, president of the Child Care Resource Center, which runs Head Starts and child care subsidy programs in the Los Angeles area. “ feel very insecure — these temporary pauses… the family's lives don't pause,” said Mary Ignatius, who heads Parent Voices. “ Real harm happens to the child care providers, the families, and the children who cannot afford any delays."The LAX People Mover is scheduled to begin shuttling travelers around airport terminals and to the greater L.A. Metro system later this year.A major subcontractor working on the airport train has alleged that it hasn’t received tens of millions of dollars from a more than half billion-dollar settlement from 2024 meant to address the compensation and schedule disputes that have plagued the completion of the project.In August 2024, the city approved a settlement with the main contractor on the train, LINXS. Five months later, LINXS sued Rosendin Electric claiming the subcontractor provided deficient work. Rosendin Electric has hit back at LINXS, saying the main contractor is “manufacturing excuses” to withhold settlement proceeds it says it’s owed.The city’s relationship with LINXS has been contentious. The lawsuit here details how the contractor’s relationship with its subcontractors has also frayed.Part of the 2024 settlement agreement was to have the train open to the public by December 2025. That schedule has been pushed back due to additional, separate disputes. It’s still scheduled, as of now, to begin passenger service later this year.for more details into the battle over tens of millions of dollars and the LAX People Mover builder’s alleged “secretive” behavior.to pay more than a half-billion dollars to resolve a substantial number of schedule and compensation related disputes with the main contractor it hired to design, build and operate the LAX Automated People Mover. It was thought at the time that some of that money would be passed down to subcontractors who were working on the 2.25-mile long elevated train, which is still scheduled to begin shuttling travelers around airport terminals and to the greater L.A. Metro systemA year and a half later, a major subcontractor alleges it still hasn’t received a penny of the tens of millions of dollars it says it’s owed from the settlement, which the city funded using public money it generates from airport-related fees and charges. Early last year, LINXS, the main contractor, initiated a lawsuit blaming the subcontractor, Rosendin Electric, for deficient work. Rosendin Electric has responded in court filings, calling the lawsuit part of LINXS’ scheme to withhold settlement proceeds. The subcontractor has accused LINXS of engaging in “secretive, deceptive and improper conduct” and blocking testimony on key documents. “Subcontractors whose work generated those funds are entitled to understand and recover their rightful share,” lawyers for Rosendin Electric wrote in court documents from October 2025. “Transparency here is not merely procedural; it is a matter of public trust and legal obligation.”leading to cost overruns that have eroded public confidence in the last piece of a rail-only connection to LAX. The case involving Rosendin Electric is one of at least two lawsuits that detail how LINXS’ relationship has frayed with the people the contractor hired to bring the long-awaited train into service. LAist’s reporting for this story is based on publicly available documents related to the legal battle.Jake Adams, deputy executive director overseeing $5.5 billion in LAX upgrades, including the People Mover, said Los Angeles World Airports “provides contract‑level oversight, but does not track how a developer allocates funds internally.“Rosendin Electric anticipated completing its role on the project in July 2022, three years after it entered into a nearly $262 million contract with LINXS, according to court documents. LINXS hired the subcontractor to provide the labor, construction and assembly of various electrical components of the project, including the technology that powers the train and fire and life safety systems, according to an excerpt of the subcontract included in court filings.LINXS stands for LAX Integrated Express Solutions. It is the name of the group that formed in 2018 to design, build and operate the Automated People Mover. It’s made up of four large engineering and construction companies: Fluor, Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, Flatiron West and Dragados. Rosendin Electric’s lawyers said in court documents that despite “pervasive disruptions,” the subcontractor has continued to work on the project. The subcontractor’s lawyers continued, saying the company “relied on the expectation” that it would receive its “fair share” of any compensation the city provided to LINXS related to project delays.to the Board of Airport Commissioners, city staff said the settlement would be “advantageous” because it would ensure “subcontractors are paid sooner…providing cashflow to facilitate schedule certainty.” In August 2024, L.A. City Council approved the agreement, known as the global settlement, to cover a wide swath of issues, including timeline, access to the airport’s IT network and compensation. The settlement was to be paid out in increments as LINXS completed certain project milestones. All of the project milestones have been met except the final one, which is opening the train to the public. So far, that means the city has paid out more than $430 million. Five months after the settlement was approved, LINXS filed a lawsuit against Rosendin Electric claiming breach of contract. LINXS, which is a joint venture between four large international engineering and construction companies, alleges in its complaint that Rosendin Electric provided “defective construction services” that “deviated from technical requirements” and caused delays to the project.LINXS’ alleged “secretive, deceptive and improper conduct” Rosendin Electric claims the legal action LINXS initiated soon after the global settlement agreement was forged amounts to “excuses” that the contractor “began manufacturing” to avoid paying out settlement proceeds. Among other allegations in its cross-complaint over breach of contract, Rosendin Electric claims LINXS:“Embarked on a scheme” to retain all of the settlement proceeds for itself by going after subcontractors who assert a “rightful claim to a share of recovery.” Stopped paying Rosendin Electric entirely, including “routine progress payments” unrelated to the settlement. In the latest development in the legal battle, Rosendin Electric’s lawyers said LINXS is trying to avoid testifying about two documents that “conclusively demonstrate that is entitled to prompt payment of tens of millions of dollars” from the settlement.Cases filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County can be accessed online or in person. Images of the documents filed as part of each case are accessible, too. If you’re looking online, you’ll only be able to see a preview of each document and will have to pay to access the entire document. You don’t have to pay to view the court documents at kiosks at Superior Court locations throughout the county. Printing the documents will cost money, though. The identification number for the case between LINXS and Rosendin Electric is 25TRCV00236. For information on the case between LINXS and HDR, the identification number is 24TRCV02989.Within a month after the 2024 settlement was secured and before its legal action against Rosendin Electric, LINXS had also sued the design and engineering firm it hired in 2018 for breach of contract. In its September 6, 2024 complaint, LINXS alleges that HDR overcharged for its services and produced work that “deviated from technical requirements.” That subcontractor denied the claims and later issued a cross-complaint, alleging LINXS owes more than $57 million for the work it’s done on the project.“LINXS could only advance this position after securing the LAWA Settlement because claims of fundamental design defects by its own design team would otherwise have provided LAWA with powerful defenses against LINXS’ claims for delay and compensation,” lawyers for the company have argued.After coming close to closing permanently just a few years ago, The Bob Baker Marionette Theater's is about to have its biggest year yet, complete with their first fully original show in 40 years.During the pandemic, the theater made a public plea for $365,000 to stay open for a year, and co-executive director Mary Fagot says “the community turned up, and we had the support that we needed in less than a month.”, marking the beginning of what the nonprofit theater’s leadership is calling a “milestone” year.After coming close to closing permanently just a few years ago, the historic Bob Baker Marionette Theater is about to have its biggest year yet., marking the beginning of what the nonprofit theater’s leadership is calling a “milestone” year.is a celebration of Los Angeles that was first performed in 1981. It was the last original show produced by the theater’s founder, Bob Baker, who passed away at age of 90 in 2014. When the show was revived in 2024, it was updated to better reflect the diversity of L.A. history, with additions like a Grizzly Bear named Huunot and a rainbow trout named Wiggles explaining the significance of the L.A. River to the Gabrieleño Tongva people.a very rough year for Los Angeles and we thought it was a perfect time to mount the show and celebrate everything that's special about the city.” The new additions include Mexican hat dancers, a marimba player and a mariachi band with costumes modeled on the local LGBTQ+ mariachi band,, which has been in the works for the past five years. The idea is that the audience is on a train ride across America, looking out the window and having their imaginations sparked by things like a giant moose singing about the Pacific Northwest, glow in the dark bats, trees on skis and a sea lion singing a sea shanty. “This is the first time,” Evans says, “that we have the resources, the support of the community — we had an incredible fundraising campaign at the end of last year — so we have truly just hit this milestone of being able to do it, and it is tons of work and tons of money to put on a puppet show, and we’re so proud that we’re at that juncture now."The milestone is all the more significant considering where The Bob Baker Theater was in 2020, along with so many other live performance venues. Just four months after opening their new Highland Park location , the pandemic shut them down. They pivoted to socially distant shows, created walk-through experiences for small groups and did performances online, but that wasn’t enough to keep things running. So they made a public plea for $365,000 to stay open for a year, and Fagot says the community"turned up, and we had the support that we needed in less than a month.” That led to “a lightbulb moment” for the theater’s leadership, where they realized, “This isn't just about scraping by and trying to keep this alive. This is about building something for the future of the city because the community wants it.” And all the big things happening for the theater this year, Fagot says, “ that's thanks to the support of the community here in L.A. and reflective of their desire for us to thrive and survive.”If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.This weekend, support community at Irresistible Resistance, go to a free outdoor synth show, get jazzy at the Miles Davis Centennial, help plant the first Miyawaki Forest in L.A. and more of the best things to do.Fela Kuti’s longtime manager, Rikki Stein, will recount stories from a life with Fela, including their time on the road with Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead and more. The party at De La Playa Records & Leisure goes all afternoon.There’s no snow here, but you can embrace the East Coast’s winter storm vibes at this apres-ski themed event in North Hollywood at Bier & Bavaria. Soprano Tiffany Townsend’s bold new recital, developed with the Long Beach Opera, focuses on major stage moments of women in opera and the inner lives of these characters. The first Miyawaki Forest in L.A. is being planted in Gloria Molina Grand Park, and you can be a part of it!It’s been a heavy week, so it’s impossible for me to tell you to go out and forget about the heaviness. But theresome fun events you can check out right here in L.A. this weekend and beyond that support our immigrant communities. Events like Saturday’sThere’s also a lot of good to celebrate, like the first trail accessibility program opening in the Valley — thehas your Grammy weekend music picks. Friday is a good night for punk, with Punk Rock Karaoke at the Lodge Room, or check out Black Flag with the Dickies & Angry Samoans at the Observatory. Plus, Tan Universe will be live at Licorice Pizza. If you’re lucky enough to score a ticket, you could attend the Annual MusiCares Person of the Year gala honoring Mariah Carey. On Saturday, you could go old-school and see New Edition, Boyz II Men and Toni Braxton at the Forum, or Jason Isbell at the Orpheum, Cate Le Bon at the Belasco, the Album Leaf at Zebulon, or the one-and-only Charo at Cal State Long Beach. And, of course, the Grammy Awards are on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena, airing live on CBS and Paramount+. You can root for top nominees like Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter and SZA.Fela Kuti’s longtime manager, Rikki Stein, will recount stories from a life with Fela, including their time on the road with Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead and more. The party at De La Playa Records & Leisure goes all afternoon with food, drinks and music .There’s no snow here, but you can embrace the East Coast’s winter storm vibes at this apres-ski themed event in North Hollywood at Bier & Bavaria. There will be “real” snow in the parking lot, shotskis at the bar, raclette, live music and more. Put on your puffy coat!High-density, native species are planted to create a self-sustaining urban forest in a method called the Miyawaki Forest, developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki. Now, that science comes to L.A. in an historic environmental milestone as the first Miyawaki Forest is planted in Gloria Molina Grand Park. And you can be a part of it! The community will come together for a planting event to break ground and plant 200 plants within a 650-square-foot piece of land located in the park’s Block Two, between Olive Court and Hill Street, north of the Performance Lawn. The day also includes a land acknowledgement ceremony, a Legacy Workshop for students and more.I’ve spent a lot of time in East London’s Brick Lane, and it’s famous for its beigels and smoked salt beef. Get a little taste of Jewish London here in L.A. at UK transplant hotspot Tomat in Westchester with their Sunday morning Bad Luck Bagels collaboration, featuring smoked trout and pastrami on homemade bagels. A portion of the proceeds will go toThe tastiest way to resistance comes from Chef Jonathan Perez, who will be bringing his inventive Mexican cuisine to this food and music event supporting immigrant communities in L.A. There will be a performance from, a queer Latine musician and performance artist who"uses 'novela' inspired performances to tell stories about colonization and heartbreak with the aims of liberation and healing."OK, I don’t have a lot of info on this one, but synthesizers in the park sounds like a pretty great Saturday afternoon. So whether you’re a synthesizer nerd or just an outdoor music enthusiast, the electronic musicianwill be performing an improvised synthesizer show outdoors somewhere in L.A. . Geller’s latest EP,Theater is a powerful way to tell stories and create empathy. As we recently passed the first anniversary of the Eaton Fire, this event pairs theater-makers from In Other People's Shoes with therapists working with young people to script their experiences of the fires and share them back with the community. The performance is done by professional actors reading the young people’s words verbatim. It’s also the last day the Altadena Library is open before it closes temporarily for renovations; there will be two more performances held at Pacific Clinics in Pasadena on Sunday, February 1, and at Lineage Performing Arts Center in Pasadena on February 2.Jazz legend Miles Davis would be 100 this year; celebrate the great with his music and an all-star ensemble led by Grammy Award-winning producer/drummer Vince Wilburn Jr., and featuring Darryl Jones, Robert Irving III, Munyungo Jackson, Jean-Paul Bourelly, Antoine Roney, Keyon Harrold, DJ Logic and special guest musicians at the Carpenter Center.Opera can be notoriously hard for novices to approach, but Soprano Tiffany Townsend is out to change that with a bold new recital developed with the Long Beach Opera. The piece focuses on major stage moments of women in opera and the inner lives of these characters. The program takes the audience through opera history with a new lens on the lives of the women portrayed, who are often “pushed to their psychological and emotional limits.” Townsend embodies a number of recognizable female characters in opera, and incorporates dance, music and imagination into the work.The Anti-ICE Supper Club is being launched in L.A. with two fundraising dinners hosted by chef Daniel Patterson of forthcoming Jacaranda and Guelaguetza owner Bricia Lopez on Jan. 31 and Feb. 3. All net proceeds will benefit Al Otro Lado, a nonprofit providing direct legal support to immigrant families in Southern California and across the U.S.-Mexico border.Roads & Kingdoms, the Emmy- and James Beard Award-winning travel and media company that was Anthony Bourdain's longtime publishing partner, is organizing the national effort. The organization previously launched the Banned Countries Dinner Series in 2017 during the first Trump administration. The Anti-ICE series will expand to Minneapolis, Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C., later this year.Restaurants depend almost entirely on immigrant labor — from growing and harvesting food to cooking and serving it — and these dinners demonstrate how chefs are using their platforms to support the communities that sustain their industry.Bricia Lopez has spent years inviting friends from Oaxaca to visit her in Los Angeles. Lately, they have declined.Lopez came to Los Angeles from Oaxaca when she was 10, shortly after her parents, Fernando Lopez Sr. and Maria Monterrubio, opened Guelaguetza on Eighth Street in 1994. Growing up undocumented, she was terrified of the police, convinced"everybody was immigration" who could"snatch us up any time." She was naturalized in the early 2000s. When the restaurant outgrew its space and moved to Olympic Boulevard, Lopez worked the floor as a hostess. Bricia Lopez, owner of Guelaguetza, is hosting a $55 tlayuda experience on Feb. 3 as part of the Anti-ICE Supper Club fundraising series.In 2012, her father retired and returned to Oaxaca, turning the business over to Bricia and her three siblings. Now running the much-loved institution, Lopez describes herself as"the byproduct of the bravery that my parents had," and said she sees the fear she once felt now reflected in her community. She's also experiencing its effects at the restaurant. When she started as a hostess, she said parties of 25 to 30 would walk in on any given Sunday. Those gatherings rarely happen anymore — and some of her own staff have even returned to Oaxaca. That's why on Tuesday, Feb. 3, Guelaguetza will host a tlayuda experience as part of the Anti-ICE Supper Club, a fundraising dinner series launched byThe series, which will expand to Minneapolis, Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C., later this year, feels like a continuation of Bourdain's advocacy for immigrant restaurant workers, said Matt Goulding, co-founder of Roads & Kingdoms. "Bourdain was a very outspoken proponent of the role that Latin American cooks play in the restaurant world in the United States," he said., a nonprofit based in San Ysidro that provides free legal support to refugees and immigrants on both sides of the border. Roads & Kingdoms has previously partnered with the organization, Goulding said.Meanwhile, at the other end of the price spectrum, is the $1,000 per person, 11-course tasting menu being offered on Saturday Jan. 31 by Daniel Patterson, the two-Michelin-star chef behind San Francisco's Coi and co-founder of community-focused fast-food venture LocoL, and his wife Sarah Lewitinn, a music industry veteran known professionally as Ultragrrrl., which regularly seated 14 people at a private residence. By the end of the night, said Lewitinn, the other guests"were not your family when they entered the room, but they're your family when they leave." Their immigration stories make the cause deeply personal: Patterson's mother's side were Russian Jews escaping pogroms in 1908, while his father's side were Irish potato farmers who immigrated in the early 1900s. Sarah's parents are religious refugees from Egypt, forced to leave in 1956 for being Jewish. Her mother was"brought to tears" watching current events, Sarah said, because"it reminds her a lot about what she experienced as a child." A dish from chef Daniel Patterson's Jaca Social Club popup, which ran out of his home for four months in 2024. The Anti-ICE dinner will feature an 11-course tasting menu.For Patterson, who's been working in restaurants since he was 14, supporting the immigrant workforce isn’t just part of the restaurant industry — it's central to it. "Restaurants have always been a place where people who don't have a formal education or are new to the country, who need multiple jobs," he said."The movements of ICE disproportionately affect the food world," he said."The individuals who grow our food, cook our food, serve our food form vital links in the food chain that is at the heart of the daily American diet. And to dismantle that chain is both a terribly inhumane thing and also an incredibly damaging one for our society."
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