It’s been six years since a batch of nude footage ended the meteoric political rise of Katie Hill, a rookie congresswoman from north Los Angeles County who appeared positioned to be a generational chief within the Democratic Party.
A scandal over the printed images and accusations of affairs with a marketing campaign employee and a congressional staffer (the latter of which Hill denied) seemingly will linger eternally on the web. But what’s gotten much less consideration since Hill left the House of Representatives in 2019 is the best way she has resurrected her life and profession.
She’s remarried to a brand new accomplice, after divorcing the husband she accused of “smearing” her with the bare photograph dump. Her son, born in what felt like a “miracle,” on condition that she has just one ovary, quickly will flip 4. And Hill simply marked one yr heading a Pasadena homeless companies company, which has been hailed as a lifeline by many individuals displaced by January’s hearth in Altadena.
Union Station Homeless Services CEO Katie Hill brings a turkey to a automotive throughout a Thanksgiving meals distribution occasion at Union Station Adult Center on Nov. 19 in Pasadena.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
“I haven’t skilled homelessness however I’ve skilled adversity and I’ve skilled life falling aside,” Hill mentioned in a latest interview in her workplace at Union Station Homeless Services. ”It’s solely due to my household assist, I didn’t find yourself in a far worse scenario … It wouldn’t have been laborious to spiral to the purpose that I misplaced every thing.”
She mentioned her odyssey, which on the nadir included ideas of suicide, has given her new perspective. “It’s vital for everyone to acknowledge that a number of fallacious turns in life … can take you to a spot that’s terrible and laborious to recuperate from. So I really feel prefer it’s vital for everyone to keep in mind that and have empathy. When you’re taking a look at any individual who’s on the road, it’s not only a collection of behavioral issues. It’s rather a lot greater than that. And we have to assist folks discover a manner out of it.”
A fast sketch of Hill’s rise: Born the daughter of a cop and a nurse, she grew up within the Santa Clarita Valley and labored her manner by way of faculty as a waitress. She obtained a Master’s in Public Administration at Cal State Northridge and shortly rose to steer the PATH homeless companies company. At simply 29 she turned a first-time candidate, difficult Republican incumbent Steve Knight for a House seat representing Simi Valley, Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley. She gained in 2018, flipping a reliably Republican seat and becoming a member of a wave of House newcomers that included Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Katie Porter. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi started grooming Hill for management, an extended profession in Washington appeared assured.
But that dizzying climb got here crashing down with the discharge of the nude pictures of her brushing one other girl’s hair, holding a bong and sunbathing. She quickly resigned and went house. But her anguish grew even deeper when her 20-year-old brother overdosed on fentanyl. Hill administered CPR however couldn’t save him. ”That completely overtook every other grief that I had,” she mentioned.
Fortunately for Hill, her work in homeless companies had left an impression of her as somebody who employed “logic, purpose, important pondering and trustworthy, genuine dialog,” mentioned Veronica Lewis, who employed her as a high administrator at HOPICS, which serves South L.A. County, after Hill left Congress.
Those qualities impressed the board at Union Station, the Pasadena company Hill took over final December. With authorities funding sources threatened, she imposed a hiring freeze to forestall layoffs on a 292-person employees. She’s hung out on the entrance line with employees, together with when she hustled turkeys and packing containers of fixings to an extended line of automobiles in a meals giveaway one week earlier than Thanksgiving.
“That form of servant management is simply actually vital,” mentioned Amanda Green, chief operations officer at Union Station. “She makes large, strategic selections and she will be able to additionally get into the weeds, which is tough to do.”
Hill largely steers away from politics, although she often blasts Trump administration insurance policies she fears will harm funding for the homeless. She additionally apprehensive in an interview that unhoused folks could possibly be rounded up and compelled into detention camps earlier than the 2028 Olympics in L.A.
Hill, 38, doesn’t miss being in Congress, particularly with Democrats within the minority. But she gained’t low cost the potential for a return to politics, saying she wouldn’t think about it till her son is grown. In her farewell speech on the ground of the House six years in the past, Hill apologized to the folks she let down. But she ended with this: “Thank you, and I yield the steadiness of my time for now, however not eternally.”
Today’s high tales
The well-known water tower at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
Paramount challenges Netflix for Warner Bros. Discovery
- Paramount launched a $78-billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, 4 days after Warner’s board unanimously chosen Netflix because the winner of the public sale.
- Last week Netflix agreed to pay $72 billion — or $27.75 a share — and tackle greater than $10 billion in Warner Bros. debt for a complete deal worth of $82.7 billion.
- Paramount’s newest bid gives $30 per share. The firm confirmed it submitted the provide hours earlier than Netflix was introduced because the winner.
- Warner Bros. mentioned its board would evaluate Paramount’s provide “in accordance with the phrases of Warner Bros. Discovery’s settlement with Netflix.”
- On Monday, Netflix shares dipped, fueling worries on Wall Street in regards to the streaming large’s capability to drag off the acquisition.
The investigation and grief following the killing of a California farming tycoon’s spouse
- Last month Kerri Ann Abatti was fatally shot in her Pinetop, Ariz., house, in response to the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office.
- Abatti was entangled in a contentious divorce battle with Mike Abatti, a rich farmer from some of the distinguished households within the Imperial Valley.
- News of the case has shaken the group of the Imperial Valley, the place the Abattis are among the many largest landowners.
Trump administration cracks down on authorized immigration
- After two National Guard members have been shot close to the White House, leaving one useless, the federal authorities launched an assault towards authorized immigration.
- The capturing suspect entered the U.S. in 2021 from Afghanistan and was accredited for asylum this yr, and the administration has since halted visa and immigration purposes of individuals from the Islamic nation.
- Decisions on all purposes filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services by folks searching for asylum even have been paused.
The 2026 Golden Globes
What else is happening
Commentary and opinions
- There is braveness missing to repair California’s deep-rooted funds shortfall, Capitol Journal columnist George Skelton writes.
- California is failing its Latino inhabitants. Here’s how, contributing author Joel Kotkin argues.
- Colleges oversold schooling. Now they have to promote connection, visitor contributor Eric Anicich writes.
- Americans nonetheless have a alternative in whether or not to let the nation flip authoritarian, visitor contributor Michael S. Roth writes.
- Closing the labor-force hole is the solely repair for the housing disaster, visitor contributor Angelo Farooq writes.
This morning’s should reads
Other should reads
For your downtime
The Culver City Hotel and tuna tartare at The Line restaurant.
(Los Angeles Times photograph illustration; Photos by Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times, Getty Images)
Going out
Staying in
Question of the day: What do you put on while you fly?
Mike Barnes mentioned, “Depends on the climate and the place I’m going, however I need to be snug. If it’s heat, I’m carrying shorts and flip flops. Otherwise, denims and ideally tennis sneakers except there’ll be snow.”
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response may seem within the e-newsletter this week.
And lastly … your photograph of the day
People stroll alongside Santa Rosa Avenue in the course of the Winter Festival and Tree Lighting Ceremony at Christmas Tree Lane on Saturday in Altadena.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
Today’s nice photograph is from employees photographer Eric Thayer of Altadena’s annual Christmas Tree Lane lighting ceremony and competition on Saturday. This occasion allowed the group to come back collectively after being ravaged by the Eaton hearth that burned down neighborhoods and left 1000’s homeless.
Have an excellent day, from the Essential California staff
Jim Rainey, employees reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend author
June Hsu, editorial fellow
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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