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Nate Holden dead: Former state senator, L.A. councilman dies at 95

Former Los Angeles Metropolis Councilmember Nathaniel “Nate” Holden all the time spoke with a way of self-assuredness and a agency perception in his personal future.

It was the form of conviction it took for a Black man born in Macon, Ga., in 1929 to ascend to the very best ranks of political energy in Los Angeles — representing the area as a state senator and later serving 16 years on the Metropolis Council.

A towering determine in L.A.’s political enviornment, Holden died Wednesday at age 95, his household instructed L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn.

“Nate Holden was a legend right here in Los Angeles,” Hahn stated in a press release. “He was a lion within the State Senate and a pressure to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles Metropolis Council. I discovered loads sitting subsequent to him within the chambers as a brand new Councilmember.”

Earlier than launching his political profession, Holden served as an aide to Hahn’s father, former L.A. County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, who relied on Holden for his “distinctive model of knowledge.” The youthful Hahn stated she referred to him as Uncle Nate and regarded Holden a part of the household.

Holden was a 6-year-old in Georgia when, he stated, he heard the state’s governor on the radio vowing to proceed his mission to suppress Black individuals, who on the time have been denied probably the most primary human rights and have been frequent targets of indignant white mobs.

He recalled his childhood defiance on the racism that then was on full show within the Deep South. He would throw rocks into the native public swimming swimming pools on the times when solely white individuals have been allowed to make use of them, and as soon as instructed a white couple whereas cleansing their yard that he supposed to grow to be president of america.

His father was a brakeman for the Central of Georgia rail firm, and when his dad and mom separated when he was 10, Nate moved together with his mom and brothers to Elizabeth, N.J., the place his grandmother lived.

He was a novice boxer at 16, knocking out skilled rivals and native champs at his New Jersey gymnasium. In 1946, he lied about his age and joined the U.S. Military. He was deployed to post-World Warfare II Germany, the place he served as a navy police officer.

When Holden returned to the U.S., he determined to grow to be a draftsman. However, he stated, certainly one of his lecturers purposely gave him a foul grade to discourage him, telling him such a job was out of attain for a Black man.

When he utilized for a coaching program for navy veterans, he was once more denied and instructed he was losing his time, that it could by no means result in a job.

“I served God and nation, I’m gonna get into that coaching program,” Holden stated he instructed them. “If I don’t get it, I’m gonna go to Washington and knock on that president’s door.”

He was lastly admitted and studied design and engineering at night time whereas ending highschool. He finally labored for a number of aerospace firms, which led him to California.

Holden made his first foray into politics as a member of the California Democratic Council, a left-leaning reform group. He misplaced a bid for Congress after campaigning as an opponent of the Vietnam Warfare but in addition rose to grow to be president of the Democratic reform group.

After being elected to the California Senate in 1974, he helped write the state’s Housing Monetary Discrimination Act, which prohibited monetary establishments from discriminating based mostly on race, faith, intercourse or marital standing. He additionally championed laws to require California’s public colleges to commemorate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.

Holden left the state Senate after one time period to once more run for Congress, dropping as soon as extra. In 1971, he grew to become assistant chief deputy to L.A. County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, a well-liked white politician in a closely Black district.

By the point Holden turned his sights to the Los Angeles Metropolis Council in 1987, he had misplaced six of seven political campaigns over 20 years.

“I don’t suppose I’ve ever misplaced a race,” Holden instructed The Instances in 1987. “Possibly I wasn’t elected, however I didn’t lose the race. And each time I ran a race, I believe the group benefited.”

Holden relished the political combat, usually on the expense of his colleagues.

“There’s nothing mistaken with competitors,” he instructed The Instances in 1987. “It’s like boxing. In case you rise up in that ring and also you’re there by your self, you’re simply shadowboxing. It’s all the time good to have a contest. There’s nothing mistaken with that.”

Throughout Holden’s almost two-decade tenure on the Los Angeles Metropolis Council, he developed a fame as a lone wolf and as generally troublesome — abrasive, vindictive and partaking in political grandstanding. He ceaselessly voted towards the remainder of the council in lopsided votes and overtly referred to as his colleagues “silly,” “phony” and “lazy.”

Then-Councilmember Joan Milke Flores instructed The Instances in 1989 that she as soon as noticed Holden mark the identify of all people who went towards him on a Metropolis Council vote after which method every individual on his listing to remind them that he wouldn’t neglect the vote.

“I’m not operating any nursery faculty,” Holden stated. “I ask powerful questions of bureaucrats. Hey, politics is a tricky enterprise.”

When he was compelled off the council by time period limits in 2003, Instances columnist Patt Morrison stated L.A. can be dropping “a 16-year franchise on outrageousness, showboating and chutzpah.”

Amongst constituents, nonetheless, Holden was warmly embraced as an opponent of the political institution and a champion of his group.

Holden represented the predominately Black tenth District and have become a spokesperson for the poor and center class in South Central and southwestern Los Angeles, the place neighborhoods struggled with drug and gang violence within the late Nineteen Eighties. He labored to wrangle funding for elevated police foot patrols to cut back crime and foster a extra trusting relationship between officers and residents.

He consistently made to-do lists — pothole fixes, tree-trimming, damaged streetlights — and peppered metropolis departments with letters and cellphone calls to get the work rolling. He grew to become legendary amongst metropolis staff for berating them when issues didn’t occur quick sufficient.

“They used to name me Cease Signal Holden, ’trigger I made my district protected for pedestrians,” Holden stated. “When one thing needed to be finished, I acquired it finished.”

He additionally pushed for extra parks, libraries and leisure facilities in his district and was so invested within the neighborhoods that when a performing arts middle was in-built Mid-Metropolis in 2003, it was named in Holden’s honor.

“Nate works tougher together with his constituents and different residents of Los Angeles than he does at pleasing his colleagues,” then-Councilmember Pleasure Picus instructed The Instances in 1993. “He has road smarts and could be very populist.”

At all times on the lookout for a combat, Holden made a cross on the mayoral seat in 1989 towards the closely favored incumbent, Tom Bradley, who had beforehand represented the tenth District as a council member.

Holden made nationwide information in the course of the marketing campaign when he launched a then-unique gun buyback program, providing $300 from his personal marketing campaign battle chest to anybody who would give up an assault rifle.

Holden misplaced, however his intense campaigning mixed with a low voter turnout gave Bradley a run for his cash.

“He’s a fighter,” stated Herb Wesson, who labored as Holden’s chief of employees throughout his first time period. “If I used to be ever in a bar combat, I’d positive hope that Nate Holden was on the bar stool subsequent to me.”

Holden’s lengthy stint on the Metropolis Council was cemented partially by his courtship of Korean American constituents. Though Koreatown residents didn’t have a big voting bloc, they did have fundraising energy, donating a fourth of the marketing campaign contributions Holden acquired from 1991 to 1994.

In return, Holden helped Korean American enterprise house owners purchase liquor permits in L.A., turning the world into one of many metropolis’s scorching spots for nightlife after companies faltered throughout an financial droop within the early Nineties.

“That’s Nate Holden’s legacy in Koreatown,” Charles Kim, government director of the Korean American Coalition, instructed The Instances in 2002. “His legacy is loads of locations getting upgraded from beer and wine to full liquor licenses, and lengthening their hours from midnight to 2 a.m.”

A Instances investigative report later revealed that lots of the enterprise house owners who acquired liquor licenses had donated to Holden’s campaigns. And a few noticed duplicity in Holden’s efforts because the councilman had fought so vigorously to limit liquor licenses in South L.A. after the 1992 riots.

Exterior politics, Holden’s tenacity was evident in different methods, such because the L.A. Marathon, which he ran at 61 and once more at 62. When he ran for an Meeting seat after his council profession ended, he campaigned by marching down streets within the district and stopping each block to do a one-armed push up.

“I used to run each morning within the snow in New Jersey. Chilly climate. Earlier than faculty each morning I ran,” Holden stated. “Once I got here to California, I ran each morning — 5 a.m.”

Holden’s lengthy profession, nonetheless, was not with out blemish. Within the Nineties, Holden was hit with three separate sexual harassment allegations from former aides. The ladies accused him of inappropriate touching, offensive feedback and making a hostile work atmosphere.

Holden fought again aggressively, successful one case in courtroom and settling one other. A 3rd declare was dropped. However his authorized protection price town roughly $1.3 million.

He was additionally fined repeatedly for violating marketing campaign finance legal guidelines, racking up greater than 70 violations and $30,000 in fines. Holden acknowledged among the violations however alleged town’s ethics fee held him to a better normal than his colleagues.

Holden retired from the council in 2003 however remained lively in the neighborhood. At 92, he was nonetheless serving on the board of the South Coast Air High quality Administration District, a regulatory company that oversees air high quality for a lot of Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.

Pondering his legacy, Holden stated he needed to be remembered as “a superb man.”

“Doing the very best you may for the individuals. Regulation and order. Guarantee that individuals’s communities are protected. I did all of it,” Holden stated.

Holden is survived by sons Reginald Holden, a former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, and Chris Holden, a former member of the California Meeting and former Pasadena mayor, in addition to a number of grandchildren. His spouse, Fannie Louise Holden, died in 2013 from problems of Alzheimer’s illness.

Instances employees author Clara Harter contributed to this report.

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GOP widens UC antisemitism investigations, hitting UCLA, UC San Francisco medical schools

The UCLA and UC San Francisco medical schools have been given two weeks to submit years of internal documents to a Republican-led congressional committee about alleged antisemitism and how the schools responded, widening the federal government’s far-reaching investigations into the University of California.

The demands from House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) cited reports of Jewish people “experiencing hostility and fear” at each campus and that universities had not proved that they “meaningfully responded.”

Walberg’s letters said the committee would be investigating whether the schools violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.

The additional investigation comes as top UC officials and the Justice Department have begun negotiations over allegations that the UCLA campus overall has been hostile to Jewish students, staff and faculty. The federal government has suspended more than $500 million in health, medical and energy research grants from UCLA and is seeking $1 billion and major campus changes before restoring the funds.

The Trump administration cited alleged Title VI violations when pulling the money.

The House committee said Monday it wanted “all documents and communications” since Sept. 1, 2021, tied to complaints of antisemitic incidents at UCLA and UC San Fransisco. A similar letter was also sent to the University of Illinois College of Medicine.

Some UCLA medical school faculty are members of a broader campus organization, the Jewish Faculty Resilience Group, that has aired complaints publicly for months at UC regents meetings about antisemitism.

The group’s chair, medical school assistant clinical professor of psychiatry Kira Stein, is mentioned in the Monday letter to UCLA as a faculty member who has reported anti-Jewish incidents.

“Federal lawmakers, in their letter released today, echoed what many of us have experienced firsthand: Antisemitism at UCLA is common, corrosive, and continues to be met with silence and inaction from the university administration and local leaders,” Stein said in a statement Monday.

The committee has asked for communications with UCLA’s medical school dean, administrators who work on diversity or restorative justice-related programs, and several other positions as well as data on specific events and courses, including one on “structural racism and health equity.”

It also asked for emails from administrators “referring or relating to antisemitism or the terms Jewish, Israel, Israeli, Palestine, or Palestinian.” And it requests information about a January report focused on the medical school that a UCLA task force on anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism prepared.

That 35-page report said “students, residents and faculty in the David Geffen School of Medicine who express support for Palestinian human rights, and who offer any criticism of Israel’s violation of them, face harassment from within and outside the medical school.”

The House committee has asked for “all documents and communications since October 7, 2023 in the possession of the office of the executive vice chancellor” — UCLA Provost Darnell Hunt — related to that task force. Members of the task force have accused UCLA of not taking complaints of bias incidents against Muslims, Arab Americans and Palestinian Americans as seriously as it has reports of antisemitism.

Walberg said that, in addition to Title VI enforcement, he would use the documents to “aid the committee in considering whether potential legislative changes, including legislation to specifically address antisemitic discrimination, are needed.”

The UCLA medical school is also under a Department of Health and Human Services investigation over accusations that it “discriminates on the basis of race, color, or national origin in its admissions.” UCLA denied the charges and the department has not formally announced the results of its investigation that began in late March. But when it canceled hundreds of millions in grants to UCLA last month, the Trump administration said the action was due in part to its belief that the university illegally uses race in admissions.

In a Monday statement, a spokesperson for the UCLA medical school said it opposed antisemitism.

“Antisemitism has no place at UCLA’s medical school. Protecting the civil rights of our Jewish community members remains a top priority,” the statement said. “We are committed to fair processes in all our educational programs and activities, consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws and continue to take specific steps to foster an environment free of antisemitism and other forms of discrimination and harassment.”

A spokesperson for UC San Francisco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tense disagreements have erupted at the UCLA medical school between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students, faculty and staff since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza. Each has accused the other of discrimination, doxxing and harassment. Incidents at the school have been cited by two UCLA task forces, one that looked at antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias and the other that researched anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism.

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Abrego Garcia Detained Again After Administration Signaled It Would Re-Deport Him

A judge in Maryland barred the administration from immediately deporting Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia until he had a chance to challenge the move.

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Fed Chair Jerome Powell is worried about the job market. Here are 3 red flags for workers.

When Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday opened the door to cutting interest rates for the first time in nearly a year, he noted the tremors beginning to shake a main pillar of the U.S. economy: the labor market.

Concerns about the pace of job growth were heightened earlier this month after government data showed a sharp slowdown in hiring in July, along with much weaker payroll gains in May and June than previously thought. The disappointing numbers were alarming enough for President Trump to question their accuracy and to fire the head of the agency tasked with compiling the data.

Yet labor experts tell CBS News they weren’t surprised by the downturn, and caution that more pain could be in store for job seekers. Data released since the August 1 job numbers shows companies are delaying hiring as they adjust course to account for headwinds including fresh U.S. tariffs and the advent of artificial intelligence, they say.

“There’s a real cooling in the labor market,” Andy Challenger, senior vice president of executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, told CBS MoneyWatch. “We’re also having lots of individual conversations with companies that are letting us know to expect future layoffs.”

He added, “So for me, there is more reason to be pessimistic about the labor market than optimistic we’ll see some major bounce back.”

Here are three charts that could point to a serious downturn in the U.S. job market.

Fewer workers are getting hired

Overall, U.S. employers in 2025 have added fewer jobs on a monthly basis compared with the pace of gains in recent years, when companies sought to expand as the economy roared back from the pandemic. In 2024, employers hired an average of 168,000 workers each month, but that has slowed to an average of 35,000 over the past three months, Powell said on Friday.

The risk is that the labor market could weaken from here, which could lead to “sharply higher layoffs and rising unemployment,” Powell said.

The slowdown could spur the Fed to cut its benchmark interest rate, policymakers’ main tool for energizing the economy and job growth, at its meeting next month for the first time since December 2024. Lowering rates could bolster the labor market because it would make it cheaper for consumers to borrow, driving spending, for businesses to invest, including by adding workers.

More long-term job seekers

Another troubling sign is a recent surge in long-term job seekers, or people who have been searching for a job for more than 27 weeks. In July, about 1.8 million Americans had been looking for work for more than 27 weeks, a jump of about 64% from three years earlier and 20% from a year ago.

It may not get easier to find work anytime soon, given signs from employers that they intend to continue to cut jobs, Challenger said.

“Don’t take the summer off” from looking for new work, he advised job-hunters. “It’s hard to imagine a scenario where the labor market will be better in three to six months.”

A jump in unemployed young workers

At the same time, young workers are also having more trouble finding their first jobs, which has been blamed on everything from slowing economic activity this year to employers adopting artificial intelligence in place of entry-level workers.

To be sure, the nation’s unemployment rate remains low, at 4.2%. Yet that statistic is backward-looking, reflecting the labor market’s strength in previous months — it says little about economic conditions moving forward.

Meanwhile, for new college graduates the current job market amounts to “a perfect storm,” said career coach Tracey Newell.

“Companies are limiting new entry-level roles, and AI is replacing many traditional ‘starter’ jobs,” she added, noting that it isn’t unusual for employers these days to receive hundreds of job applications for a single position.

Aimee Picchi

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.