President Donald Trump said consumers should 'wait a little longer' for mortgage rates to drop further, a plea for patience from the electorate as voters show dissatisfaction with his handling of the economy and affordability issues.

Also see: Southern California homebuying remains below Great Recessions crash

Potential homebuyers should 'save a little money, wait a little longer, youre going to get a mortgage for a very low rate,' Trump said Friday ahead of boarding a flight to Texas.

The remark echoed his comment about the issue in his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, which tacitly acknowledged limits to the federal governments ability to affect housing prices.

'Lower interest rates will solve the Biden-created housing problem while at the same time protecting the values of those people who already own a house that really feel rich for the first time in their lives,' Trump said in his speech.

Also see: Heres how the California Legislature wants to address housing this year

Trump has expressed optimism that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates under Kevin Warsh, his choice to replace Chair Jerome Powell. But what the Fed will do, and whether its policies will filter through to mortgage rates, is uncertain.

With affordability issues topping voters concerns in multiple surveys in recent months, the administration has floated a handful of trial balloons aimed at lowering the cost of buying a home, to mixed results. Some proposals ' such as having banks offer 50-year mortgages or 'portable' mortgages ' were later dismissed by the financial industry or the president himself.

One proposal the administration stuck with was Trumps order to have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled companies underpinning the mortgage market, purchase $200 billion in mortgage bonds. That is expected to drive down mortgage rates by as much as 50 basis points. The interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage loan dropped to 5.98% this week, according to Freddie ' the lowest level in more than three years.

The White House is also pushing Congress to take up legislation barring institutional investors from buying additional single-family homes. But small investors account for more than 90% of the market of investor owners, so its not clear such a ban would significantly move the needle on prices. Large institutional investors own about 2-3% of the nations single-family rental stock, or less than 0.5% of the total housing stock.

Josh Wingrove at Bloomberg contributed to this report.

BOSTON (AP) ' The court-ordered deadline for the U.S. government to return a Babson College freshman mistakenly deported to Honduras was set to expire Friday, as her lawyers accused federal officials of stalling and said she had been pressured to board a flight that could have resulted in her detention.

Her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, said his legal team is prepared to continue fighting the case through appeals and vowed that 19-year-old Any Lucia Lopez Belloza 'is not coming back in handcuffs.'

Lopez Belloza, who has no criminal record and has been studying remotely from Honduras, said she will remain there for now as her legal team continues to press for her return.

'No one should have to feel this powerless. All Im asking is for honesty and fairness,' she said, speaking to reporters Friday via Zoom. 'Im asking to be treated like a human with rights.'

Lopez Belloza was detained at Bostons Logan International Airport in November while trying to fly to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. She was deported to Honduras, the country she left at age 7, less than two days later despite a court order barring her removal while her case was pending. Federal prosecutors later acknowledged in court that immigration authorities had mistakenly deported her.

In previous statements, the Department of Homeland Security has said Lopez Belloza received 'full due process' and had a final order of removal issued years earlier by an immigration judge. Immigration officials did not immediately respond Friday to an email request for comment about the expired deadline and the proposed return plan.

Lopez Belloza has said she did not know she had a removal order against her and was 11 years old when the immigration case was decided. Pomerleau has said that when he initially reviewed her immigration records, he did not see an active removal order reflected in the system.

In court filings in January, government attorneys said an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer failed to properly activate an alert system that would have flagged the judges order blocking her removal. The administration apologized for the error but argued that the mistake did not invalidate the prior removal order.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns ordered the government to facilitate her return within two weeks, saying the courts ' not the executive branch ' must determine her rights and the legality of her removal. The deadline was set to expire at midnight Friday.

Government attorneys have argued that the federal court in Boston lacks jurisdiction to undo her removal order.

Lopez Belloza and her attorney said federal officials sought to arrange a government-facilitated flight to the United States in the past 24 hours but would not clearly state whether she would be released upon arrival. Pomerleau said court filings indicate the government plans to detain her in Texas and could seek to deport her again within days.

'Theyre interpreting the judges facilitation order to the extreme,' Pomerleau said. 'The judges order says to facilitate her return to the United States to maintain the status quo. And in their view, the status quo is that she was in handcuffs in a jail in Texas. So theyre going to bring her back, put her in handcuffs and leave her in that same jail in Texas.'

Two correctional deputies found Mario Solis unresponsive in his trash-littered cell, flooded with toilet water, at 1 a.m. Sept. 3, 2022. The 31-year-old Riverside man was pronounced dead 39 minutes later after failed attempts by correctional and medical staff to resuscitate him.

Court records indicate Solis died of asphyxia after swallowing a toothbrush, two plastic bags containing bars of soap, a plastic cap and a golf pencil, which punctured a jugular vein. The coroner ruled Solis death accidental despite his history of suicide attempts and a prior threat to kill himself with a pencil, according to court records.

Solis’ mother, Sara Solis, sued Sheriff Chad Bianco and his department in May 2023, alleging that jail staff failed to protect her son from harm or provide adequate medical care, and that the department’s policies and practices resulted in her son’s death.

The six-day trial concluded Feb. 3 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles with a unanimous jury verdict that sheriffs deputies and jail medical staff did not violate Solis 14th Amendment rights through unconstitutional conditions of confinement, inadequate medical care or failure to protect him.

Solis’ death was featured in a recent Southern California News Group series investigating in-custody deaths across four Southern California counties, particularly focusing on how they handle medical treatment and suicide prevention for severely mentally ill detainees.

The family’s attorney, Denisse Gastelum, called Solis’ death one of the worst she has ever seen in the carceral system.

Bianco, who testified at the trial, said in a statement Friday: “We were confident from the beginning that the jury would find in our favor. What is reported in the media and the theatrics by attorneys does not represent fact. I am heartbroken for the families who lose loved ones.”

Bianco, a leading candidate for California governor in early polls, said the Sheriff’s Department “is committed to the safety and security of not only our inmates, but the residents of Riverside County.”

Gastelum said she will appeal the verdict.

Solis had been in custody on a second-degree robbery charge after allegedly attempting to steal a bag of Skittles from a supermarket in April 2022 that resulted in a scuffle with a security guard.

Solis, who had a history of schizoaffective disorder, major depression, anxiety and alcohol abuse, was housed in three jails during his five months in custody. He was “shuttled in and out of safety cells” and twice admitted to Riverside University Health System Medical Center for 72-hour psychiatric holds.

He later was assigned to a special housing unit at Cois Byrd for severely mentally ill inmates considered a danger to themselves or others, court records show.

Solis was one of 19 people to die in Riverside County jails in 2022, the highest death rate there in 15 years.

The deaths fueled a spate of wrongful death lawsuits against the Sheriff’s Department and Bianco in 2022 and 2023 amid ongoing scrutiny over inmate deaths in Riverside County jails. It also prompted an investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office in February 2023 that is still ongoing.

WASHINGTON (AP) ' President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. is in talks with Havana and raised the possibility of a 'friendly takeover of Cuba' without offering any details on what he meant.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House as he left for a trip to Texas, Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in discussions with Cuban leaders 'at a very high level.'

'The Cuban government is talking with us,' the president said. 'They have no money. They have no anything right now. But theyre talking to us, and maybe well have a friendly takeover of Cuba.'

He added: 'We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba.'

Trump didnt clarify his comments but seemed to indicate that the situation with Cuba, a communist-run island that has been among Washingtons bitterest adversaries for decades, was coming to a critical point. The White House did not respond to requests for more information Friday.

The president also said that Cuba 'is, to put it mildly, a failed nation' and 'they want our help.'

His remarks came two days after the Cuban government reported that a Florida-registered speedboat carrying 10 armed Cubans from the U.S. opened fire on soldiers off the islands north coast. Four of the armed Cubans were killed, and six were injured in responding gunfire, according to Cubas government. One Cuban official also was injured.

Cuba has been on Trumps mind since at least early January, after U.S. forces ousted one of Havanas closest allies, Venezuelas socialist President Nicolás Maduro. Trump suggested in the aftermath of that raid that military action in Cuba might not be necessary because the islands economy was weak enough ' particularly in the absence of oil shipments from Venezuela that stopped after Maduro was taken into custody ' to soon collapse on its own.

'Weve had a lot of years of dealing with Cuba. Ive been hearing about Cuba since Im a little boy. But theyre in big trouble,' he said Friday.

Then, noting the exile community from the island living in the U.S., Trump said there could be something coming that 'I think (is) very positive for the people that were expelled, or worse, from Cuba and live here.' He did not elaborate.

The U.S. has maintained a strict trade embargo on Cuba since 1962, the year after a failed, CIA-sponsored invasion of the island at the Bay of Pigs. Trump nonetheless indicated earlier this month that talks with Cuban officials were underway.

Cubas government confirmed earlier this week that it was communicating with U.S. officials following the shooting of the American boat. Rubio has said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Coast Guard are investigating what happened.

An executive order that Trump signed in late January pledged to impose tariffs on countries providing oil to Cuba, threatening to further cripple a country already plagued by a deepening energy crisis, though U.S. authorities have since indicated that oil from Venezuela can be sold to Cuban interests in some cases.

Carlos Fernández de Cossío, Cubas deputy foreign minister, posted on social media Friday that 'the US maintains its fuel embargo against Cuba in full force, and its impact as a form of collective punishment is unwavering.'

'Nothing announced in recent days changes this reality,' he wrote on X. 'The possibility of conditional sales to the private sector already existed and does not alleviate the impact on the Cuban population.'

Meanwhile, 40-plus U.S. civil society organizations sent a letter to Congress on Friday asking that it 'press the Trump administration to reverse its aggressive policy towards Cuba' and saying that efforts to cut oil shipments to the Caribbean island would spark a humanitarian collapse.

Signees included the Alliance of Baptists, ActionAid USA and the Presbyterian Church.

'Policies that deliberately impose hunger and mass hardship on millions of civilians constitute a form of collective punishment, and as such are a grave violation of international humanitarian law,' the letter reads.

Associated Press writer Dánica Coto contributed from San José, Costa Rica.

The armed forces said in a statement that a Swedish naval vessel detected a drone taking off from a Russian signals intelligence ship in the Öresund strait, which separates Sweden from Denmark.

It said that systems on board the Swedish ship took countermeasures to jam the drone.

The French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is in the southern Swedish city of Malmö this week as part of regular NATO exercise activities. Malmö is located on the Öresund, opposite Denmarks capital, Copenhagen.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. APs earlier story follows below.

STOCKHOLM (AP) ' Swedens military has intercepted a suspected Russian drone off the south of the country as a French aircraft carrier was docked in the port of Malmö, officials said.

The armed forces said Thursday that a Swedish naval ship observed the suspected drone during a patrol in the Öresund strait, which divides Sweden from Denmark. They said that unspecified countermeasures were taken to disrupt the drone, and that contact with it was then lost.

The French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is in the southern Swedish city of Malmö this week as part of regular NATO exercise activities. Malmö is located on the Öresund, opposite Denmarks capital, Copenhagen.

French military spokesperson Guillaume Vernet told The Associated Press that the drone was detected on Wednesday and handled by Swedish forces integrated into a security system around the carrier. He said Friday that the drone was more than 6 miles from the Charles de Gaulle.

'This system showed it is robust, and this event had no impact on the activity of the aircraft carrier battle group,' Vernet said.

Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson told public broadcaster SVT Thursday evening that the suspected violation of Swedish airspace by a drone happened in connection with a Russian military ship being in Swedish territorial waters. Asked what country he thinks the drone belongs to, he replied: 'Probably Russia.'

The Russian ship continued into the Baltic Sea, and Swedish authorities have been in close contact with Denmark about the incident, Jonson said. The armed forces said that no further drones were observed.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said during a visit to the French ship on Friday that 'everything implies that it is a Russian violation of Swedish airspace,' but he wouldnt go into detail. He added that 'it is serious and maybe not surprising,' as Russia dislikes Western exercises and the West dislikes Moscows actions.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who also visited the Charles de Gaulle, emphasized that the security of the aircraft carrier wasnt threatened.

'If indeed … there is a potential Russian origin for this incident, it would be a ridiculous provocation,' he said. He said that he had no information of his own on the source of the drone.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he didnt know about the incident. Asked by reporters about Swedish officials linking the drone to the Russian ship, Peskov said that 'its quite absurd' to claim that the drone was Russian just because a Russian ship was nearby.

Western officials say Russia is masterminding a campaign of sabotage and disruption across Europe. An Associated Press database has documented well over 100 incidents. Not all of them are public and it can sometimes take officials months to establish a link to Moscow.

While officials say the campaign ' waged since Russia launched an all-out war against Ukraine in 2022 ' aims to deprive Kyiv of support, they believe Moscow is also trying to identify Europes weak spots and divert law enforcement resources.

WASHINGTON (AP) ' A crowd gathered at a commuter gate at Reagan National Airport on Friday as fog-laden Washington skies caused an hourlong ground stop that backed up passengers hoping to head out from American Airlines Terminal D.

But soon the already densely packed area swelled even more, as word spread across nearby gates that, of the hundreds of air travelers coming and going, only one among them was accompanied by a U.S. Secret Service detail, along with uniformed local police officers: former President Joe Biden.

Biden, who has rarely made public appearances since leaving office last year, sat, like many of his fellow passengers, awaiting a flight that would take him to Columbia, South Carolina, for an evening event with the South Carolina Democratic Party.

Passengers whispered and gaped in wonder: Why would a man who for a time was leader of the free world be, like they were, at the mercy of airport travel delays, even as he sat ensconced in his security detail?

Maybe for Biden it made more sense than for some other former presidents. Known for years as Amtrak Joe, Biden as a senator prided himself on becoming arguably the nations biggest Amtrak fan, regularly taking the train home to Delaware rather than taking up residence in Washington. Now, as a former president, hes been spotted riding the rails since, taking selfies with and chatting up his fellow passengers.

On Friday, the vibe was about the same, as Biden ' seated in the third row of the tiny first class cabin on the commuter jet ' boarded the flight ahead of other passengers, along with his detail, members of which were spread throughout the plane.

'God bless you, sir,' one woman said, as she filed past Biden in his window seat, newspaper in his lap.

'Thank you for your service,' a man said, shaking Bidens hand.

The woman who took the aisle seat next to the former president first set down her coffee on the arm rest they shared, deposited a bag in the overhead compartment, then sat down and realized her seatmate was the nations 46th president.

Biden set his hand on her cup to steady it, then met her gaze with a hello as she took her seat.

'I feel like Im about to cry,' the woman said, as they shook hands and, over the course of the next hour, chatted throughout the flight.

Former presidents and their spouses receive lifelong Secret Service protection under federal law, but there are no provisions guaranteeing the elite levels of private travel that were necessary features of their time in office.

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.

That quote from longtime California Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas is cited often when people speak of the states ongoing effort to find just the right balance between development and public access to the shore.

The California Coastal Act, co-authored by Douglas, is celebrating a milestone 50 years since it was signed into law in 1976. It is hailed as the blueprint for shaping the future and identity of Californias 1,200-mile coastline, the third largest in the United States.

During those first five decades, the Coastal Act and the California Coastal Commission ' formed to navigate the line in the sand between overdevelopment and public access and maintaining natural landscapes ' have largely kept massive high rises off the shoreline, negotiated large-scale projects to include public access and, in some cases, turned down proposals that would compromise sensitive habitats or public recreation.

'We have this powerful law and we find ways to improve and protect our resources, which includes views, access, a beautiful restorative place people can enjoy,' Coastal Commission Executive Director Kate Huckelbridge said. 'I think that one of the most beautiful gifts weve given to the state is the Coastal Act. It has withstood the test of time.”

Environmentalism spawns Prop. 20

In the late 1960s, high-rise beachfront buildings in Long Beach started popping up, a vibe more like Miami Beach than Southern California, with plans for more. Up north, contamination concerns were swelling in the San Francisco Bay.

A massive oil spill in Santa Barbara in 1969 spurred worries about the health of the Pacific Ocean, and more plans for gated communities with private beaches along the coast drew concerns.

'Large swaths of property, especially coastal properties, were being bought up by private developers ' proposals that would result in closing off large sections of coast to the public,' said Huckelbridge. 'I think the public, who was used to having access to its land, started to see this as a threat to enjoying their own coastline.'

Environmentalists were successful in getting the McAteer-Petris Act passed to try to protect the San Francisco Bay from contaminants. But creating similar statewide legislation was proving no easy task.

'They said, ‘Lets parlay this into statewide, lets protect the whole coast,’' Sarah Christie, legislative director for the commission, said. 'That bill got defeated every year in the legislative process. The opponents were very well funded and connected politically.'

So advocates went to the public, creating Prop. 20 for the voters decide. Needing a simple majority to pass, it earned a 55% vote of approval.

'I think of Prop. 20 as a David and Goliath story. You have everyday working residents, families in California, who were seeing their access to a clean and healthy coastline being cut off. It sort of galvanized the interest of these ordinary folks and pitted them against corporate interests,' said Huckelbridge. 'It was up and down the coast, and it was really a bunch of dedicated and scrappy activists who really worked tirelessly to make sure that everybody in California knew what was at risk, and make them understand that everybody had skin in the game.'

Its passage created a temporary Coastal Commission and regional commissions, requiring all new development within the coastal zone to first gain approvals from those bodies.

'In order to get a coastal development permit, a project could not fill wetlands, could not harm coastal views, it could not disrupt sensitive habitat, it could not block public access. It could not convert agricultural land,'  Christie said. 'So it set a pretty high bar for creating new development in the coastal zone ' but only for four years.'

During that period ' 1972 to 1976 ' the Coastal Commission held a series of public hearings on what should go into a bill to make permanent coastal planning, which Prop 20 said had to be passed by the legislature by the end of 1976.

Opponents of Prop 20 figured that planning requirement would be a 'poison pill,' Christie said.

'They thought there was no way a brand new state agency would be able to do all of the permit workload and be able to accomplish this gargantuan statewide planning task,' Christie said. 'They thought it would be a flash in the pan, it would be over in four years and they could get back to business as usual.'

Coastal Act becomes law

But the commission delivered a coastal plan with just enough time for the legislature to translate it into the California Coastal Act of 1976, just as Prop. 20 sunsetted.

The Coastal Act and the Coastal Commission became permanent.

A year’s worth of celebrations and discussions are in the works to highlight the milestone law, passed by then Gov. Jerry Brown in September of that year, as he noted, “beaches are for all people. On a hot day you find millions of people at the beach, and it is the whole spectrum, from rich to poor.”

Already this week, lawmakers in Sacramento introduced a resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary and California Natural Resource Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot held an online discussion for his Secretary Speaker Series themed “A Coast for All: 50 Years of Coastal Stewardship.” The Coastal Commission is asking the public to share on its website their favorite memories of enjoying the coast, and a beach party is planned for later this year.

Early permits that were approved by the commission were significant examples of stewardship, said Huckelbridge, citing a Sea Ranch development in Sonoma County that ended up calling for public access not in the original plan.

'It was kind of an indicator of how the Coastal Act was going to be implemented in a way that did allow for development, but in a way that was responsible for public access and protected the coastal resources,' she said. 'I think theres examples like that up and down the coastline, where there was development planned that eliminated or impeded access or trampled on coastal resources that were reinvisioned.'

Mel Nutter, a lawyer in Long Beach in the late ’60s, became one of the first regional commissioners and later, in 1977, one of the first state commissioners.

In his town, two tall buildings had popped up along Ocean Boulevard after Long Beach leaders changed zoning so proposed structures there had to be at least five stories tall.

'That was one of the reasons people were in favor of Prop 20, they thought it was a pretty bad planning situation,' Nutter, now 86, said. 'The people who lived on 2nd Street figured they would be in a continual shadow with those high-rise structures.'

Nutter and the rest of the Coastal Commission took issue with Long Beach’s plans for beachfront development, requiring the city to get rid of the zoning if it wanted more local control of its coastal planning and development.

Once it was all worked out, Nutter handed Long Beach Mayor Eunice Sato the keys to the city and a “Coastal Bureaucratic Thugs” T-shirt ' a joke after a politician at the time called the commission the insult.

'Everything has a challenge,' Nutter said. 'But theres an awful lot of things up and down the coast that have been saved, preserved or protected, or didnt happen, thanks to the commission.'

Coastal planning

Regulating the use of the most valuable land in the state means there will inevitably be controversy, Huckelbridge said.

'I think weve been successful in working through that conflict; while there are outliers, the numbers speak for themselves, ” she said.

Of projects that go before the commission, 99% are approved, she said; and while they may look different once the process is completed, its rare the commission will give a flat-out denial, she added.

The projects that go before the commission can be as small as a private property owner wanting to expand a deck in the coastal zone or large-scale developments that would have massive impacts on the coast. If a city wants to change the rules for short-term rentals or an agency needs to make an emergency fix, the commission weighs in.

Many proposals, especially larger ones, reach compromise, with developers scaling down their project or giving back to the environment as 'mitigation' to get the go-ahead to move forward.

The Bolsa Chica wetlands, for example, were created with funds in return for projects approved at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. A widening of the I-5 freeway also required the creation of a pedestrian and bicycle path in San Diego.

Some projects turn out much differently than originally envisioned, such as Crystal Cove State Park, once planned to be a luxury hotel, but today a rustic and beloved set of cottages.

Under then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, there was a deal with the developer of Post Ranch Inn, located in Big Sur, to redevelop whats now known as the Crystal Cove Historic District into a luxury resort,  Christie said.

Douglas, at the commissions helm at the time, was friends with the developer, but warned: 'Youre never going to get approval, it will not meet the requirements of the Coastal Act.'

The public also rallied against the proposal.

'He could see the writing on the wall, and he walked away,' Christie said, adding that the state bought the property so the developer didnt lose financially. 'That cleared the way for the historic preservation.'

What followed is one of the most in-demand State Park 'campgrounds' that offered low-cost visitor access to the coast.

But some projects simply have too much impact on the environment to find any kind of compromise, officials said.

Plans for a 241 toll road extension through south Orange County toward the San Diego border was a project that would have had significant negative impacts on the regions environmental resources, Huckelbridge said.

The 'Save Trestles' campaign galvanized surfers, environmentalists and others who protested the plan, filling Coastal Commissions meetings to voice their concerns.

When the projects coastal development permit came to a vote in 2016, the commission denied the application using the Coastal Act.

Another, more recent commission denial was for a proposed desalination project in Huntington Beach.

The commission has approved desalination plants for converting ocean water into drinking water before and after ' the same group had gained approval for one in Carlsbad ' but the system proposed in Huntington Beach, commissioned feared would have had an 'enormous adverse impact on marine life, it would suck in ocean water and obliterate all life in every gallon of water taken into the plant,' Huckelbridge said.

'What we know is that there are other ways, and better ways, that have been developed to bring in brackish sea water and create drinking water,' she said. 'The commission denied that project, in part, because of the impacts. It was too big to mitigate; the impact was too large.'

Everyones beach

There are few places along the California coastline where the public is shut out ' not necessarily something that can be said in coastal states around the country.

California owns land seaward of the mean high tide line, and the Coastal Act makes sure the public maintains the right to use that area of beach.

The exceptions out there are remnants from the days before the Coastal Acts inception, including the Emerald Bay development in Laguna Beach, which is why its still a gated, private beach today.

Hollister Ranch, a private 14,500-acre gated community up near Santa Barbara, is a 10-mile stretch of coastline where, historically, the only access was a private road ' the development was approved just weeks before the Coastal Act became law.

In 2019, new legislation required a public access plan for Hollister Ranch, 'so the public can enjoy its own space,' Huckelbridge said.

Its not just about giving physical access to a beach, officials said, it is also about who is allowed to enjoy the coast in an equitable way.

A decade ago, the commission took issue with the Mavericks big wave surf contest in Northern California, which wasnt allowing women to compete. Commissioners denied the contest a permit until women were included, citing the Coastal Act.

In the ‘80s, the private membership Jonathan Club in Santa Monica wanted to expand its footprint. The Coastal Commission granted the necessary permit, but with one condition: open the club to women and minorities.

'They sued and it went to the Supreme Court, we prevailed,' Huckelbridge said. 'Thats how the Jonathan Club became open to women and people of color.'

In Palos Verdes, a citizen group used the Coastal Act to sue the Lunada Bay Boys, local surfers known to harass visitors to prevent outsiders from accessing the waves.

'The judge found that what they were doing was not only unpermitted development,' Christie said, 'but the activities themselves ' harassment, vandalism, threats ' was in violation of the Coastal Act because it was keeping people off the beach.'

Criticisms of delays and overreach

Cities and counties have now incorporated coastal protections into their local planning so the commission ' once intended to be temporary ' has outlived its usefulness, argues developer Sanford Edward, behind The Strand at Headlands project built two decades ago in Dana Point. In his opinion, the commission now holds too much control over what happens along the coast.

Years before he purchased property in Dana Point near the headlands, the city had said it could be developed with 370 homes and a 400-room hotel. When he came in to actually develop the property, he points out, he and the city came up with a plan for a maximum of 125 homes, a smaller hotel and 62 acres of open space, approved by the city in 2002.

But it still took two years for the proposal to get through the Coastal Commission ' the staff was recommending denial.

'The original mandate was to provide coastal access, and to make sure that beaches remained in the public domain, which was a good and worthy goal,' but instead the Coastal Act created a way for 'radical environmental groups to thwart any kind of development on the coast,” Edward argues.

'Whether it is a desal plant that would provide water or someone building a home, the knee-jerk reaction is that they are opposed,' he said.

Huckelbridge said the commission always tries to work with applicants. And while there is also criticism that it does not work fast enough, it is a small agency with a big territory.

'But honestly, I think a lot of the criticism comes from the fact that its just our role, were going to have people who bump up against us,' she said.

The commission recently changed some of its rules to ease the path for affordable housing construction in the coastal zone; it’s been getting an earful in recent years from housing advocates and some elected leaders about being a barrier to addressing the state’s need for more housing affordable to more people.

Some argue the commission has too much 'green tape' for projects to overcome.

Assemblywoman Laurie Davies, R- Laguna Niguel, authored a bill in 2024 that would require specialized expertise be brought into the process for a more scientific approach to the commissions decision making.

Shes also concerned that the commissions focus doesnt reflect coastal communities concerns.

For example, coastal cities in her district consistently seek help with sand replenishment issues, yet 'those pleas seem to be ignored or placed on the back burner,' she said.

“I encourage the commission as we move forward to continue building relationships with coastal residents and take to heart their desire for streamlining and access to resources to help maintain our regions natural resources,' she said.

The futures tides

The biggest challenges Huckelbridge sees moving forward are how California will adapt to sea level rise, how erosion and loss of beaches will impact public access and how storm damage and flooding will impact the coast, she said.

Its a 'huge, complex challenge' with no easy solution, she said, adding people want their communities to look the way they always have.

'Thats inevitably going to be a huge challenge in the future for all of us,' she said.

Nutter has been around long enough to see how political wills can ebb and flow with whos in power, saying that can play out in how the commission votes.

'The fact of the matter is, anytime you had a new commissioner come in, or taken out, the dynamic would change with the personalities,' he said. 'For many years, all of the Coastal Commissioners served at the pleasure of their appointing powers, which means they could be removed at any time.'

These days, the commission has 12 voting members, appointed equally (four each) by the governor, the Senate Rules Committee, and the speaker of the assembly. Six of the voting commissioners are locally elected officials and six are appointed from the public.

When asked what the California coast would be like if the Coastal Act hadnt been put in place 50 years ago, Huckelbridge said it would be 'unrecognizable.'

In Honolulu, massive hotels and buildings line the coast. In New Jersey, you have to pay to go to the beach. In Florida, there are huge swaths of beach that are blocked off to public access.

'When you go to other coastlines around the world, and even within this country, you can see examples of what the California coast could have been,' said Amy Hutzel, executive director for the California State Coastal Conservancy.

The conservancy, created as a sister entity, is a non-regulatory coastal zone management agency that can help plan, design, purchase or grant land to become open space. It also turns 50 this year.

Through the years, there have been 500,000 acres conserved through land acquisitions and habitat restoration, such as wetlands and the California Coastal Trail, which runs from Oregon to Mexico, said Hutzel.

The conservancy has made its mark around Southern California. In 2001, it gave $2 million to help acquire Crystal Cove State Park, and more recently, it funded Crystal Cove Beach Cottage Restoration with nearly $30 million in grants.

In Newport Beach, the conservancy gave $11 million to the Trust for Public Land for the purchase of Banning Ranch, now known as the Randall Preserve, once planned as a big development but now dedicated open space.

Its not just physical access, but also reducing barriers for anyone to enjoy the coast, such as ensuring affordable places to stay along the coast or adding beach wheelchairs for people with disabilities to enjoy a day at the beach.

The two groups together have forged 1,000 partnerships with nonprofits, public agencies, tribes and community groups and have restored 100,000 acres of coastal habitat. An estimated $2 billion has been invested in coastal conservation, restoration and climate resilience, officials said.

'Its easy to imagine that the coast would not be a public resource; it could have been privatized and access to beaches or sections of the coast could have been not available for most people,” Hutzel said. “California has an iconic coast. It is a driver of our economy. People come to California to visit the coast, people who live in California love the coast. And it could have been very different.'

Some of those proposals could grow housing access for vulnerable communities amid potential changes at the federal level to housing assistance. Others confront technology’s emerging presence in rental properties, from artificial intelligence falsifying property image listings to portable solar energy powering up apartments.

The housing proposals in the statehouse follow a big year for housing policy in 2025, particularly after catastrophic wildfires destroyed 12,000 structures throughout Los Angeles, altering some environmental regulations as rebuilding efforts got underway. Gov. Gavin Newsom suspended CEQA requirements and coastal regulations in order to expedite rebuilding in affected areas, for example, and lawmakers later legalized CEQA exemptions for residential developments on vacant urban land.

This year, some of the new proposals could build on those changes, including one bill that aims to expedite permits for multifamily buildings in coastal zones and another that would establish a framework for mortgage repayments for future natural emergencies.

Here are just some of the proposals lawmakers are considering this year.

Trump-proofing housing assistance

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is considering a rule to add time limits and work requirements to recipients of federal housing assistance. If enacted, it could affect hundreds of thousands of Californians, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Assembly Bill 2128, proposed by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton, aims to counter such changes at the federal level, if they occur, by prohibiting housing authorities and other housing providers in California that use HUD subsidies from imposing work requirements and time limits on tenants.

If approved, state regulations would remove the burden on housing providers to opt into such federal mandates, according to Dawn Adler, Quirk-Silva’s legislative director.

The Trump administration has made work requirements for government assistance, including housing and rental aid, a priority. Advocates for this argue that certain requirements can promote self-sufficiency and would spread assistance across a larger number of recipients. Critics, meanwhile, say requirements cause undue hardship at a time of high housing unaffordability and homelessness.

Bill status: recently introduced and waiting to be referred to a committee.

Curbing AI deception

Building on a newly enacted law to flag AI images in online home sale listings, Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz, wants to extend the regulations to include rental listings. Violations for both would be a criminal offense.

Assembly Bill 2025 would require those who digitally alter an image for a rental ad or promotion to disclose it as such. And if it’s online, the original image would also need to be included, according to the bill text.

“They can do a lot of creative things with AI,” Pellerin said. “A lot of time renters don’t have the time to see the place before signing a lease, and when they move in, it looks completely different.”

Bill status: recently introduced and waiting to be referred to a committee.

Scaling up portable solar

Portable solar energy devices are old news in Germany, where more than 1 million devices were connected to the country’s electric grid by the end of 2025, according to the German Solar Industry Association, a trade group.

Known as “balcony solar” and as an alternative to rooftop solar paneling, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, wants the technology to make waves in California, especially for renters.

With paneling similar to that seen on rooftops, the “plug and play” system includes sheaths that can be fitted around balconies and then plugged into an electrical outlet.

Under Wiener’s proposed Senate Bill 868, similar to one that passed in Utah last year, the devices would be exempt from certain interconnection electricity regulations used on technologies such as solar panels.

Consumers would be exempt from paying an electrical corporation or a publicly owned utility for the electricity the device feeds into a building’s electrical system, according to the bill. In addition, the bill says electric companies or utilities would not be liable for any damage or injury caused by a portable solar device. 

Use of portable solar devices has been found to lower reliance on utility companies as well as electricity costs, Wiener’s office said.

“Renters and residents of apartment buildings, in particular, deserve options to lower costs and access clean energy the same way homeowners can access rooftop solar,” Wiener said in a press release.

Bill status: in committee.

Emergency mortgage relief

The California Emergency Mortgage Relief Act is being touted as a first-of-its-kind legislation offering statewide protection to homeowners impacted by a wildfire, flood, earthquake or other natural disaster.

Introduced by Assemblymember John Harabedian, D-Pasadena, Assembly Bill 1842 would establish a framework so that when the governor or federal government declares a state of emergency, a homeowner may request a forbearance to pause mortgage payments on a home that has become uninhabitable as a direct result of the emergency.

If eligible, the homeowner would be approved for an initial forbearance period of 180 days, which could later be extended for up to 12 months.

“California is facing more frequent and severe natural disasters, and families should not have to worry about mortgage payments on homes they cannot live in,” Harabedian said.

Bill status: in committee.

Homelessness funding

Authored by Assemblymember José Luis Solache, D-Lynwood, the HHAP Pathways for Cities Act would make the 469 cities in California that have fewer than 300,000 residents eligible for grant funding through the state’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention program.

Funds from that grant could be used for social services and affordable housing programs.

Now, these grants are only available to cities with populations greater than 300,000, and all 58 counties and the 44 Continuums of Care ' which are groups of agencies working together to address homelessness.

“AB 1708 will provide an equitable pathway for all cities to access critical state homelessness funding,” said Solache, the former mayor of Lynwood, a city with about 64,000 residents.

Bill status: in committee.

Coastal development

A bill proposed by Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, D-Hollywood, would modernize California’s coastal permitting process, aiming to make it easier to build multifamily housing in certain transit-rich urban communities in coastal zones.

Eligible communities must have at least one “high-quality transit corridor” or transit priority area, a city plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fatal or severe injury crashes and certain bicycle facilities.

Current state law requires anyone seeking to build in a coastal zone to obtain a coastal development permit from the California Coastal Commission or local government. This bill would remove that requirement for specific projects.

“Streamlining multifamily housing approvals in existing urbanized areas along California’s coast will both address our housing crisis and increase access to our amazing coastal resources,” Azeen Khanmalek, executive director of Abundant Housing LA, which is co-sponsoring the legislation, said in a statement.

Bill status: in committee.

ST PAUL, Minn. (AP) ' Two American cardinals and the Vaticans ambassador to the U.S. denounced the mass deportations in Minnesota under the federal governments immigration crackdown, but they urged everyone to repair strained relations and work together toward humane solutions.

In St. Paul on Friday, Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington addressed growing concerns with immigration enforcement while highlighting the need to be peacemakers on the polarizing issue after a Mass for migrants he celebrated with his fellow prelates and the Twin Cities archbishop.

McElroy depicted this winters enforcement surge as 'almost a siege' that unfolded in 'literally the heartland of our country.'

'Catholic teaching supports the nations right to control its border and, in these cases, to deport those whove been convicted of serious crimes,' he said. 'Seeking to deport millions of men and women and children ' families who often lived here for decades, many children who dont know other countries ' is contrary to Catholic faith and, more fundamentally, contrary to basic human dignity.'

McElroy joined Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey; Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States; Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and more than two dozen other Catholic bishops for the Mass. A part of their show of solidarity with migrants, the morning service was held in the chapel of the University of St. Thomas, where they were attending a conference.

'Im very proud, personally, to see our church, you know, be on the side of those who suffer,' Pierre said, adding that Pope Leo XIV agreed with the U.S. bishops support of migrants.

In his homily, Hebda spoke of his anger when migrant communities were too fearful to come to church while ' masked men ' ' a reference to federal law enforcement ' roamed the streets and violence erupted during this winters immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities.

But he encouraged the faithful ' including seminarians, members of the college community and school principals packing the pews ' to cultivate kindness and focus on peace.

'That ministry of reconciliation has to be ours, in the Twin Cities and around the world,' Hebda preached.

How immigration enforcement unfolded in Minnesota

Minnesota became a global flashpoint of tensions over arrests and deportations. An immigration enforcement surge saw thousands of federal officers in daily confrontations with activists and protesters, two of whom ' Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens ' were killed in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Many faith leaders across denominations joined the protests, including about 100 clergy who were arrested after refusing orders to disperse at Minnesotas largest airport during one of the biggest days of mobilization last month.

The local Catholic leadership, however, struck a more conciliatory tone.

In the immediate aftermath of both fatal shootings, Hebda highlighted the need 'to lower the temperature of rhetoric' and 'to rid our hearts of the hatreds and prejudices that prevent us from seeing each other as brothers and sisters.' He pointedly noted that held true 'for our undocumented neighbors' as much as 'for the men and women who have the unenviable responsibility of enforcing our laws.'

Similarly, on Friday, the prelates spoke of praying for everyone who has been affected ' from the families of those killed to migrants and those assisting them to 'the ICE men and women, too,' in McElroys words referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

'We all need to engage in healing and reconciliation,' he added. 'It will take a long time.'

Politics, faith and immigration views mix in America

Asked whether Catholics ' the majority of whom voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 ' might see advocacy for migrants as involving the church in politics, the cardinals said religion and politics both should be about the good of society.

The first allegiance is to God alone, Tobin added, but Scriptures exhort more often to do no harm to the foreigner and welcome the stranger than to love ones neighbor.

'The Creator figured that there was a better chance wed love people who we thought looked like us. We had to be reminded frequently about everybody else,' Tobin said.

Advocacy for migrants was a priority for the late Pope Francis, who had sparred over U.S. border policies with Trump ever since the latter was first a candidate for the White House a decade ago.

Under Leo, the first U.S. pontiff, the Catholic Church has continued to call for the humane treatment of immigrants around the world and for immigration reform in the United States specifically ' something that has eluded Congress for decades.

'The longer we refuse to grapple with this issue in the political arena, the more divisive and violent it becomes,' Hebda had remarked in January.

McElroy and Tobin, alongside Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, recently took to task the Trump administration over morality in foreign policy. In a January statement, they said U.S. military action in Venezuela, threats over Greenland and cuts in foreign aid risked bringing vast suffering instead of peace.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday that 30 more people have been indicted for allegedly taking part in an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a Minnesota church.

In a social media post, Bondi said 25 people had been arrested with more arrests to come later in the day.

'YOU CANNOT ATTACK A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. If you do so, you cannot hide from us ' we will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you,' she wrote in the post. 'This Department of Justice STANDS for Christians and all Americans of faith.'

Those arrested will have an initial court appearance and a magistrate judge will set conditions for their release.

Others arrested include independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, and prominent local activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, who was the subject of a doctored photo posted by the White House showing her crying during her arrest. They have pleaded not guilty to civil rights charges.

In total, 39 people have been charged over the church protest and all are charged with conspiracy against religious freedom and interfering with the right of religious freedom.

Protesters descended on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18 after learning that one of the churchs pastors also serves as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official. The protest drew swift condemnation from Trump administration officials and conservative leaders for disrupting a Sunday service.

The indictment says the 'agitators' entered the church in a 'coordinated takeover-style attack' and engaged in acts of intimidation and obstruction.

'Young children were left to wonder, as one child put it, if their parents were going to die,' the indictment says.

A lawyer for the church praised the Justice Department for charging more people.

'The First Amendment does not give anyone ' regardless of profession, prominence, or politics ' license to storm a church and intimidate, threaten, and terrorize families and children worshipping inside,' Doug Wardlow said in a statement.

The revised indictment adds new allegations when compared to the original filed in January.

It says two people 'conducted reconnaissance' outside the church a day before the protest and recorded their visit on video, with one saying, 'My thoughts are to be able to close up this whole alleyway right here.'

The video was sent to Armstrong, who is accused of helping to lead the effort, to use to prepare for the protest, the indictment says.

Armstrong has pleaded not guilty and said she and others were being targeted for speaking out against the 'the tyranny of the Trump administration.'

The church protest came amid a tense couple months for Minnesota, where the Trump administration sent thousands of federal officers for Operation Metro Surge after a series of government fraud cases where the majority of defendants had Somali roots. Federal officers frequently deployed tear gas for crowd control in neighborhood clashes with activists, often detaining them along with immigrants.

On Jan. 7, a federal officer shot and killed 37-year-old mother Renee Good in south Minneapolis. In another fatal shooting one week after the church protest, a federal officer killed 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti.

Nationwide demonstrations erupted in response, followed by a change in Operation Metro Surges leadership and the eventual wind-down of the immigration enforcement operation in mid-February.

Since then, the Twin Cities have grappled with the impact to communities and the local economy. The city of Minneapolis said it suffered an impact of $203.1 million due to the operation, with tens of thousands of residents in need of urgent relief assistance.