LOS ANGELES — With food assistance benefits being paused for millions of people across California beginning Saturday due to the federal government shutdown, local officials are swinging into action to provide help.
On Friday, two federal judges separately told the U.S. Department of Agriculture that it must begin using billions of dollars in contingency funding to provide federal food assistance to needy families despite the shutdown — but gave the agency until Monday to decide how to do so.
The court orders issued by judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island left unclear how exactly the relief should be provided, or when it will arrive, leaving nearly 1.5 million people in Los Angeles County and more than 310,000 in Orange County without CalFresh benefits for an unknown length of time…