Program For Veterans Faces Major Funding Cuts

Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, November 17, 2025…

• In Oceanside in San Diego County, there’s a small nonprofit that’s become a steady place of support for Marines and veterans working through the hardest parts of coming home. The group trains dogs to work alongside service members, helping them rebuild routines, confidence, and a sense of stability. But now the program is facing a financial hit. A major source of federal funding is set to run out at the end of the year and it’s unclear how many people the nonprofit will be able to keep serving without it.
• A federal judge in San Francisco says the Trump administration cannot immediately cut the University of California’s funding or threaten fines over claims of discrimination. 
• In Los Angeles, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in the ongoing case involving immigration raids across the region. The ruling says the federal government likely violated the Fifth Amendment  by denying immigrants access to attorneys at a detention facility in downtown Los Angeles.

Funding Cuts Threaten Service Dog Program For Wounded Warriors

When Charlie Service came home from Vietnam, he tried to leave the war behind. But it never really let him go. “In Vietnam, it was definitely combat,” he said. “And there was a lot of things in there that we did that we shouldn’t do, or things that I don’t even talk about today.” The retired Army veteran earned three Purple Hearts for his service. But medals didn’t ease the invisible wounds he carried — flashbacks, anger and sleepless nights that would last decades. “You come back with severe PTSD,” he said. “That’s what I have.”

A psychiatrist at the Department of Veterans Affairs eventually suggested a service dog. That’s how Service met Chance, a yellow Labrador retriever who would become his constant companion. “Initially, you don’t know anything or what you’re going to do,” he said. “You’re coming in, you’re going to train with a dog, but you don’t have any idea what the outcome is.” Service and Chance trained at Freedom Dogs, a San Diego nonprofit that pairs specially trained service dogs with veterans and active-duty service members coping with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries. At a training center in Oceanside, veterans practice real-world situations — like going to restaurants and visiting public spaces — with their dogs by their side. For many, it’s the first time they’ve felt safe enough to rejoin the world outside.

But, the organization may soon lose its largest source of funding. “We had a grant this past year for about $247,000. That was 42% of our operating budget,” said Peggy Poore, the nonprofit’s executive director. “So it’s a significant impact.” The grant comes from the Department of Defense, which funds similar service-dog programs across the country. But this year, that funding is stuck in Congress’s annual defense bill negotiations.

Freedom Dogs currently supports about 25 veterans and service members. Without new funding, that number could drop by half. “We will receive our final payment in December this year,” Poore said. “And then we’re done.” At a time when more than 6,000 veterans die by suicide each year, Poore said losing this support could be devastating. A 2022 study found that veterans paired with service dogs experienced fewer PTSD symptoms, less suicidal ideation and better social functioning than those without them.

Judge Indefinitely Bars Trump From Fining University Of California Over Alleged Discrimination

The Trump administration cannot fine the University of California or summarily cut the school system’s federal funding over claims it allows antisemitism or other forms of discrimination, a federal judge ruled late Friday in a sharply worded decision.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction barring the administration from cancelling funding to UC based on alleged discrimination without giving notice to affected faculty and conducting a hearing, among other requirements.

The administration over the summer demanded the University of California, Los Angeles pay $1.2 billion to restore frozen research funding and ensure eligibility for future funding after accusing the school of allowing antisemitism on campus. UCLA was the first public university to be targeted by the administration over allegations of civil rights violations. It has also frozen or paused federal funding over similar claims against private colleges, including Columbia University.

In her ruling, Lin said labor unions and other groups representing UC faculty, students and employees had provided “overwhelming evidence” that the Trump administration was “engaged in a concerted campaign to purge ‘woke,’ ‘left,’ and ‘socialist’ viewpoints from our country’s leading universities.”

Judge Says Government Is Still Blocking Immigrants’ Access To Attorneys At LA Detention Facility

A federal judge on Friday said the Trump administration is still violating detained immigrants’ constitutional rights by restricting their access to attorneys at a detention facility in Los Angeles and ordered the government to remedy the matter.

Immigrant advocacy groups filed the lawsuit in July accusing the administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during its ongoing immigration crackdown. Immigrant advocates accused immigration officials of detaining someone based on their race, carrying out warrantless arrests, and denying detainees access to legal counsel at a holding facility in downtown LA.

Judge Maame E. Frimpong in Los Angeles said the ruling builds on a temporary order in July that required the government to provide detainees with access to free confidential phone calls with their lawyers. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said “All detainees are provided ample opportunity to communicate with their attorneys and family members. Every single detainee receives due process.”

The judge said that the plaintiffs had provided evidence that the government had not fully abided by the July order. It required the detention facility to be open for attorney visitation seven days per week, for a minimum of eight hours per day on weekdays and a minimum of four hours per day on weekends and holidays. While the government has complied with that, the court also required officials to notify the plaintiffs in the lawsuit within four hours if they needed to close the detention facility for any reason, and that the closure not stretch longer than “reasonably necessary.”