CBC News spoke with UCLA political science professor Daniel Treisman about Melania Trump’s involvement in a temporary Russia-Ukraine ceasefire that allowed hundreds of civilians to evacuate a Russian-occupied city. Treisman suggested both countries may view her participation as a way to strengthen ties with President Donald Trump, regardless of her role in the negotiations. Read more about UCLA in today’s CNN, Los Angeles Times and other outlets.

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More highlights from UCLA in the News: November 5, 2026

JD Vance blames Iran war for Republicans’ midterm trouncing | CNN

“We’re seeing a split now within the administration trying to figure out — do the post-mortem and decide — where did the administration go wrong?” said UCLA’s Benjamin Radd.

Odds favor Nithya Raman win for LA mayor. Here’s why | Los Angeles Times

“The odds favor Raman at this point,” Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, said Wednesday morning. He’s a former city councilmember and county supervisor who closely tracks local elections. “I expect that her lead will expand.”

All 8 LA city ballot measures are passing. Here’s what changes | LAist

Zev Yaroslavsky, the director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, noted that none of the measures saw much coordinated opposition. The six measures involving amendments to the city charter (the document that functions as the city’s constitution) originated from the Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission’s recommendations to the City Council.

The federal war on voter fraud could continue | Los Angeles Times

“[T]he fact that there are no ICE (or other armed) federal agents at the polls and no federal takeover of elections is not because we are ‘lucky’ or our system is ‘strong,’” Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law, posted Tuesday. “[I]t took a ton of hard work from lawyers, election administrators and civil society.”

What we know about Latino turnout for Election Day | LAist’s “AirTalk”

Research indicates an increase in Latino voter turnout nationwide compared to the 2022 midterms. This comes as issues like immigration and the economy are top of mind for voters. (UCLA’s Gary Segura was interviewed.)

LA film students are prepared for a shrinking Hollywood | Los Angeles Times

In a hallway lined with movie posters in UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television, Tomas Carrasco was in the middle of preparing to shoot his senior capstone film: a surreal horror comedy. The senior, who’s on the director’s track of UCLA’s film and television program, said he isn’t “afraid necessarily about where the industry’s heading because there’s always going to be space for artists.”

Will the housing market crash? Probably not | Yahoo Finance

The latest economic analysis of the national economy by UCLA Anderson, released Sept. 30, described a U.S. economy that has “proved surprisingly resilient through a series of shocks.” “The tariff increases that dominated the outlook in late 2025 were followed by the war in Iran and a sharp increase in oil prices in the spring. Despite those disruptions, underlying economic growth has remained around or above 2%,” the report noted. 

Pesticide linked to increased link of Parkinson’s | KTLA-TV

In a troubling discovery from UCLA, researchers found a common pesticide may significantly increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease. The pesticide is called chlorpyrifos and it has been used in agriculture for decades.