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Editorial: Even in trying times, we find plenty to be thankful for

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This Thanksgiving, let’s be grateful for giving thanks. Analysis has proven that working towards gratitude is an effective approach to cope with stress or anxiousness. The straightforward act of claiming a honest thanks, or simply counting one’s blessings, can provide a cornucopia of mental and physical benefits.

So we’re lucky to have a nationwide vacation devoted to exhibiting appreciation, reminding us to hunt the great in our fellow People, our shared experiences and ourselves. In that spirit, listed here are a number of the individuals, occasions and extra for which we’re grateful:

— Voters within the metropolis and county of Los Angeles embraced main ethics and authorities reforms this fall. The town will get unbiased redistricting and a stronger Ethics Fee, whereas the county will acquire a bigger Board of Supervisors, an elected government (a sort of county mayor) and, for the primary time, its personal ethics fee. These adjustments ought to give residents extra illustration, transparency and accountability.

— The federal authorities designated the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary off California’s Central Coast to guard the realm’s biodiversity and cultural heritage. The greater than 4,500-square-mile protect would be the first in California to be managed in cooperation with Indigenous peoples.

— Californians handed Proposition 3, guaranteeing marriage rights for same-sex {couples}. The state’s voters had outlawed such marriages in 2008 by approving Proposition 8, and though that initiative was overturned by the courts, its language remained within the state Structure. Now voters have amended the Structure to acknowledge a elementary proper to marry and a larger measure of dignity for all.

— The Dodgers clinched their eighth World Collection title with an exciting, come-from-behind Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. Freddie Freeman’s MVP efficiency all through the collection was one thing to behold, from his walk-off grand slam within the first sport to the two-run single that helped the Dodgers win all of it.

— The Los Angeles Unified Faculty District is transferring ahead with a ban on pupil cellphone use through the college day. It gained’t be simple to pry the telephones out of youngsters’ arms, however it’s the fitting factor to do for his or her tutorial success and well-being.

— Disneyland will substitute the fume-spewing gasoline engines powering its fashionable Autopia attraction with clear, climate-friendly electric vehicles by 2026 — lastly bringing the park’s Tomorrowland again to the long run.

— Due to voters’ help for a gross sales tax enhance below Measure A, Los Angeles County will get billions of {dollars} a yr for intervention and prevention providers and inexpensive housing to alleviate the area’s homelessness disaster.

— The nation is more and more embracing the concept not everyone needs to go to college to have a significant, well-compensated profession and a full life. New alternatives in coaching and employment are opening up, and it’s about time; Switzerland has been doing this for years.

— California voters approved Proposition 4, a $10-billion state bond measure to finance clear water, local weather and conservation tasks. A few of the cash shall be spent to guard in opposition to wildfires, scale back air air pollution and cope with excessive warmth occasions.

— School admissions may turn out to be fairer now that many faculties are bringing back the requirement that candidates submit SAT or ACT scores. The standardized checks are imperfect, however they’re nearer to an goal, across-the-board measure than anything obtainable, particularly in mild of grade inflation.

— Angelenos overwhelming backed Measure HLA on the March poll, requiring town so as to add bike and bus lanes and pedestrian enhancements. The robust help despatched a transparent message that voters need safer streets and climate-friendly transportation selections.

— DreamWorks launched the humorous and exquisite animated movie “The Wild Robotic,” which reminded us of the which means of household and the liberty to like even below oppression.

— Wild creatures nonetheless handle to share our city and suburban areas with us: Deer decide their method by L.A.’s hillsides, coyotes howl at passing sirens, mockingbirds run by their repertoires like DJs making megamixes, and mountain lions slink out of canyons and into backyards earlier than vanishing once more into the darkish.

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Sen. Padilla claps back after JD Vance calls him ‘Jose’: ‘He knows my name’

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Sen. Alex Padilla blasted the Trump administration Saturday, calling it “petty and unserious” after Vice President JD Vance referred to him as “Jose” throughout a information convention in Los Angeles yesterday.

“He is aware of my title,” Padilla stated in an look on MSNBC on Saturday morning.

Vance visited Los Angeles on Friday for lower than 5 hours after a number of weeks of federal immigration raids within the metropolis and surrounding areas, sparking protests and backlash from state and native officers.

Padilla was thrown into the heated nationwide immigration debate when he was dragged to the bottom by federal legislation enforcement officers and briefly detained when he tried to ask U.S. Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem a query throughout a information convention earlier this month.

Vance characterised the transfer by California’s first Latino senator as “political theater” in his remarks.

“I hoped Jose Padilla could be right here to ask a query, however sadly I assume he determined to not present up as a result of there wasn’t a theater, and that’s all it’s,” Vance stated.

Vance served alongside Padilla within the Senate and is now the president of the higher chamber of Congress. Vance’s press secretary, Taylor Van Kirk, instructed Politico that the vice chairman misspoke and “should have combined up two individuals who have damaged the legislation.”

Padilla, in his TV interview, stated he broke no legal guidelines.

He recommended the misnaming was intentional — and a mirrored image of the administration’s skewed priorities.

“He’s the vice chairman of the USA.” Padilla stated. “You suppose he’d take the the scenario in Los Angeles extra significantly.”

Padilla stated Vance may as a substitute have taken the chance to speak to households or employers affected by raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Different California Democrats rallied behind Padilla after the misnaming incident.

“Calling him ‘Jose Padilla’ shouldn’t be an accident,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom stated in a Friday post on the social media platform X.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass highlighted racial undertones in Vance’s feedback.

“I assume he simply regarded like anyone to you, however he’s not simply anyone to us,” she said during a press conference on Friday. “He’s our senator.”

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Midwest Cities Bake as Heat Wave Blankets the Central U.S.

St. Louis, Chicago and Des Moines have been among the many cities that noticed warmth indexes hit triple digits on Saturday, with the East Coast bracing for related circumstances by Monday.

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Mahmoud Khalil arrives in New Jersey after release from ICE custody

Mahmoud Khalil has arrived in New Jersey after a federal decide ordered his release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention in Louisiana.

The Columbia College graduate and activist arrived on a flight to Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport on Saturday after spending months in ICE custody because the Trump administration fights to deport him.

“In the event that they threaten me with detention, even when they might kill me, I’d nonetheless converse up for Palestine,” he stated throughout a press convention after touchdown. “I simply wish to return and proceed the work I used to be already doing, advocating for Palestinian rights, a speech that ought to really be celebrated reasonably than punished.”

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was within the social gathering that met Khalil on the airport.

“As a result of Mahmoud Khalil is an advocate for Palestinian human rights, he has been accused baselessly of horrific allegations, just because the Trump administration and our total institution disagrees together with his political speech,” Ocasio-Cortez stated.

Khalil is a inexperienced card holder.

The Democratic congresswoman stated his detainment was a violation of his First Modification rights and “an affront to each American.”

Khalil launched after being detained by ICE for months

The Trump administration has been in search of Khalil’s deportation for his position in Columbia campus protests in opposition to Israel. He has not been charged with any crimes, however the administration says he ought to depart the nation resulting from actions it deems are aligned with Hamas.

“Trump and his administration, they selected the mistaken individual for this,” Khalil stated, addressing reporters after leaving the power on Friday to return to New York.

On Friday, U.S. District Choose Michael Fabiarz dominated Khalil is neither a risk to his group nor a flight threat. He known as Khalil’s detention “extremely uncommon” and the federal authorities’s actions “an effort to make use of the immigration cost to punish the petitioner” for his anti-Israel speech.

US Campus Protests Mahmoud Khalil — Mahmoud Khalil, an Algerian citizen and U.S. everlasting resident, heart, speaks after his launch from an ICE processing heart in Jena, La., Friday, June 20, 2025.

Matthew Hinton / AP

The federal government had stated in court docket papers that Secretary of State Marco Rubio decided that Khalil’s “presence or actions [in the United States] would compromise a compelling U.S. international coverage curiosity.”

Regardless of rejecting Rubio’s determination to proceed to carry Khalil on international coverage grounds, the decide left open a path for the federal government to proceed its effort to deport him for causes reminiscent of issues together with his inexperienced card utility.

In the end, the decide decided Khalil doesn’t should be detained whereas the deportation proceedings play out. He stated he wouldn’t order digital monitoring both.

Khalil’s arrest set off collection of protests

Khalil was arrested by federal immigration agents within the foyer of his Columbia-owned Manhattan condominium on March 8, setting off a series of protests and nationwide discussions over free speech.

Hours after his arrest, he was transferred to a detention heart in Jena, Louisiana, removed from his authorized staff and pregnant spouse. The federal government refused to launch him to attend the birth of his son.

Khalil’s arrest was the primary of a number of related incidents throughout the nation.

One other Columbia activist, Mohsen Mahdawi, who additionally has a green card, was arrested on April 14. Mahdawi was detained for allegedly posing a threat of “adversarial international coverage penalties.” He was released about two weeks later by a federal decide who dominated that he was doubtless being punished for protected speech. He graduated from Columbia after his launch.

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts College graduate pupil, was released in May on the order of a federal decide after she was detained for greater than a month. Her attorneys stated she was taken into custody over to an op-ed she wrote for a campus newspaper.

Mark Prussin

contributed to this report.

Jesse Zanger

Jesse Zanger is the managing editor of CBSNewYork.com. Jesse has beforehand labored for the Fox Information Channel and Spectrum Information NY1. He covers regional information across the Tri-State Space, with a selected give attention to breaking information and excessive climate.