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California Policy and Politics Sunday
S.F. nanny released 12 hours after being seized by ICE agents -- A 66-year-old nanny who was seized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers outside of her employer’s San Francisco home Friday morning was released 12 hours after exhaustive efforts by lawyers prompted a federal judge to intervene on her behalf, her attorney said. St. John Barned-Smith in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/15/26
‘Know your rights,’ but also ‘know your risks’: Experts weigh in on safety for ICE observers -- Ensure your phone is encrypted by keeping it locked. Law enforcement requires a warrant to seize or search your device. If they ask you to delete content from your phone, you have the right to refuse. Do not use face or fingerprint unlocking for your phone. Instead, use a passcode. Courts have been clear that law enforcement cannot force you to give your passcode without a warrant. Record without unlocking your phone — instead, simply open your camera app from your locked phone screen. Keep your phone on airplane mode to reduce the number of signals your phone emits and limit tracking. Kristen Taketa in the San Diego Union Tribune -- 2/15/26
More Than Ever, Videos Expose the Truth. And Cloud It, Too -- Is seeing still believing? Based on the evidence of the past week, it is hard to say. Charles Homans in the New York Times$ -- 2/15/26
California Supreme Court has had a vacancy for over three months. Here’s how it impacts cases -- As a result, one of the temporary justices — appointed by the governor to a lower court, but never nominated to the state’s highest court or reviewed for that court by a state confirmation panel — could cast the deciding vote on the validity of a California law or the legality of a death sentence. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/15/26
California’s billionaires pour cash into elections as big tech seeks new allies -- Gavin Newsom, California’s tech-friendly governor who’s been quick to veto legislation that cramps the sector’s unfettered growth, is reaching his term limit. That means Silicon Valley needs to find a new ally. The industry may have found its candidate in an upstart mayor from San Jose, Matt Mahan. Dara Kerr in the Guardian -- 2/15/26
Bass helped Raman win reelection. Now Raman wants to unseat her. Some call it ‘a betrayal’ -- Two years ago, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass went to Sherman Oaks to cut a quick campaign ad for a trusted ally: Councilmember Nithya Raman. Standing next to Bass, Raman looked into the camera and praised the mayor’s work on homelessness, saying she was “honored” to have her support. David Zahniser in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/15/26
Newsom says Trump’s attacks are bringing Europe together -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom handed his arch nemesis a backhanded compliment on Saturday, noting President Donald Trump’s attacks on Europe have united the continent in critical ways. Gregory Svirnovskiy Politico -- 2/15/26
The two separate lives of Gavin Newsom detailed in new memoir -- Gavin Newsom writes in his upcoming memoir about San Francisco’s highborn Getty family fitting him in Brioni suits “appropriate to meet a king” when he was 20 years old. Then he flew aboard their private “Jetty” to Spain for a royal princess’s debutante-style party. Back home, real life wasn’t as grand. Taryn Luna in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/15/26
Barabak: This district is key to control of the House. That’s about all people agree on -- Elizabeth H. paused recently outside the post office in this small, high-desert community, not far from where Easy Street meets Nonchalant Avenue. She felt neither easy nor nonchalant. Mark Z. Barabak in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/15/26
Factory-built housing hasn’t taken off in California yet, but this year might be different -- For decades engineers, architects, futurists, industrialists, investors and politicians have been pining for a better, faster and cheaper way to build homes. Ben Christopher Calmatters in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/15/26
A California county’s only hospital cleared a federal hurdle, but it still needs millions to reopen -- Congress restores critical access status for Glenn Medical Center, but the shuttered California hospital still needs $40-50 million to reopen. Ana B. Ibarra Calmatters -- 2/15/26
Workplace AI
Workers Are Afraid AI Will Take Their Jobs. They’re Missing the Bigger Danger -- Enterprise AI systems capture employee knowledge and work processes, potentially making workers more replaceable as their expertise becomes company property. Matthew Call in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 2/15/26
Cardrooms
California cardrooms anticipate thousands of layoffs as gambling rules change -- California’s $5.6 billion cardroom industry may be holding a losing hand. A few days before Christmas, California Attorney General Rob Bonta proposed new rules that would drastically alter how casinos run blackjack, baccarat, pai gow and other card games. Pat Maio in the LA Daily News -- 2/15/26
Also
The Tiny Lake Tahoe Enclave With Some of America’s Priciest Waterfront Homes -- Crystal Bay’s median list price of $14.9 million makes it one of the most expensive places to buy property in the U.S. Jessica Flint, Ryan Angel Meza in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 2/15/26
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The Economy May Have Stuck the Soft Landing. Nobody Wants to Jinx It -- Inflation is easing, jobs are holding up, and growth is solid. But declarations of victory feel premature. Nick Timiraos in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 2/15/26
If not for this one industry, the U.S. labor market would look a lot worse -- Nearly all of the jobs added to the U.S. economy in recent months have come from one industry: health care. Abha Bhattarai and Luis Melgar in the Washington Post$ -- 2/15/26
Trump claims victory on affordability as public anxieties persist -- But public attitudes about the economy have not risen to match the record-breaking stock market and expectations-beating inflation and jobs report, defining the challenge for the president’s party in November’s midterms. Isaac Arnsdorf and Natalie Allison in the Washington Post$ -- 2/15/26
Trump’s Relentless Self-Promotion Fosters an American Cult of Personality -- President Trump has engaged in a spree of self-aggrandizement unlike any of his predecessors, fostering a mythologized superhuman persona and making himself the inescapable force at home and around the world. Peter Baker in the New York Times$ -- 2/15/26
‘South Texas will never be red again’: Home builders warn GOP over Trump’s immigration raids -- Home builders are warning President Donald Trump that his aggressive immigration enforcement efforts are hurting their industry. They’re cautioning that Republican candidates could soon be hurt, too. Myah Ward and Megan Messerly Politico -- 2/15/26
Once the Americans Warned of the Russian Threat. Now, It’s the Europeans’ Turn -- In Munich, European leaders were also talking about “de-risking” from the United States, citing President Trump’s unpredictability. David E. Sanger in the New York Times$ -- 2/15/26
U.S. Deports Nine Migrants in Secret, Ignoring Legal Protections -- In a secret deportation arrangement, the Trump administration flew nine people, nearly all of whom had been granted U.S. court protections from being sent back to their home countries, to the African nation of Cameroon in January. Pranav Baskar and Hamed Aleaziz in the New York Times$ -- 2/15/26
Ex-watchdogs warn rush to give power to local police in immigration crackdown risks ‘threat to civil rights’ -- Homeland Security watchdogs who were forced out of their jobs warn that the Trump administration’s “alarming” rush to deputize hundreds of local police departments to enforce federal immigration law – while gutting independent oversight – risks “a threat to civil rights nationwide.” José Olivares in the Guardian -- 2/15/26
California Policy and Politics Saturday
Casey Wasserman Is Putting His Talent Agency Up for Sale After Epstein Fallout -- Casey Wasserman is putting his eponymous talent and marketing agency up for sale, he said in a memo to staff Friday night. The move follows the release of suggestive emails he exchanged years ago with Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and the departure of high-profile talent from his firm. Jessica Toonkel in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 2/14/26
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna walks back four of six names he concedes are not linked to Epstein -- Four days after releasing the names of six men he uncovered in the Epstein files without citing evidence of any wrongdoing by them, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna acknowledged Friday that he named four of them in error and they have no connection to the late New York financier at the center of a wide-ranging sexual abuse scandal. Julia Prodis Sulek in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/14/26
Newsom tells world leaders Trump’s retreat on the environment will mean economic harm -- Gov. Gavin Newsom told world leaders Friday that President Trump’s retreat from efforts to combat climate change would decimate the U.S. automobile industry and surrender the future economic viability to China and other nations embracing the transition to renewable energy. Phil Willon and Hayley Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ Jeremy B. White Politico Sophia Bollag in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/14/26
Who pays for Newsom’s travel? Hint: It’s not always taxpayers -- Gov. Gavin Newsom’s international climate trips are largely funded by a nonprofit foundation financed through corporate donations. The arrangement raises concerns that corporations gain political access in exchange for bankrolling the governor’s travel and diplomatic events. Melody Gutierrez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/14/26
The plot twist shaking Los Angeles -- A fierce race between incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and ally-turned-rival Nithya Raman could prove to be an improbable comeback story or a generational revolt. Melanie Mason Politico -- 2/14/26
L.A. County wants a healthcare sales tax. Cities are in revolt -- It’s one thing most everyone agrees on: federal funding cuts have left the Los Angeles County health system teetering toward financial collapse. But the supervisors’ chosen antidote — a half-cent sales tax to replenish county coffers — is being condemned by a slew of cities as its own form of financial catastrophe. Rebecca Ellis in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/14/26
Reported ICE arrest of San Francisco nanny draws response from Mayor Lurie -- A Friday morning immigration action in a quiet San Francisco neighborhood ignited concern among immigration advocates and drew a response from Mayor Daniel Lurie. Aldo Toledo in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/14/26
Study: ICE raids hit Panorama City, North Hills and Mission Hills hardest -- Weeks before a new county report detailed the economic fallout of immigration enforcement in the region, an employee at a small Panorama City ice cream shop had already noticed the shift: fewer customers, shorter lines and a lingering sense of unease. Teresa Liu in the LA Daily News -- 2/14/26
Activists celebrate as immigration agents depart Terminal Island. ‘The people kicked them out’ -- Federal immigration agents have departed from the Coast Guard site at Terminal Island in San Pedro, which for months was used as a base of operations while the Trump administration conducted immigration raids across Southern California. Jenny Jarvie and Clara Harter in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/14/26
Federal agent injured in clash with protesters in downtown L.A. during student walkout -- A federal agent was injured during a clash with protesters in downtown Los Angeles on Friday afternoon, authorities said. The incident occurred as scores of local students walked out of class in protest of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. Clara Harter in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/14/26
Who won and lost the S.F. teachers strike, and how will the district pay for the $183 million deal? -- The first San Francisco teachers strike in nearly 50 years ended just before dawn Friday, after four tense days that left families scrambling for child care as district and labor leaders debated whether the district faces dire financial deficits or is flush with cash and has room to spend. Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/14/26
New worries surface about Mayor Lurie’s plan to combat public drug use in S.F. -- One of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s most aggressive steps yet to combat the drug crisis was approved this week by San Francisco lawmakers despite questions about the program’s model and legal standing. Alyce McFadden in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/14/26
Garofoli: San Jose politicians back billionaire governor candidate, slam billionaire-supported mayor -- California’s race for governor took a bizarro turn Friday when progressive supporters of Tom Steyer, the race’s lone billionaire, ripped San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan for being supported by too many billionaires, even as one Steyer supporter said he didn’t think “we should have billionaires.” Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/14/26
Hollywood Workplace
TikTok’s Chinese Parent Has an App to Replace Hollywood -- The company behind TikTok has developed an artificial-intelligence model that can turn a single text prompt into a high-quality video with a story line, scene changes and distinctive characters. Raffaele Huang in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 2/14/26
Water
As a Colorado River deadline passes, reservoirs keep declining -- The leaders of seven states announced Friday, one day before a Trump administration deadline, that there is still no deal to share the diminishing waters of the Colorado River. Ian James in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/14/26
Oil
Notoriously hazardous South L.A. oil wells finally plugged after decades of community pressure -- A two-acre Los Angeles oil drill site near the St. Vincent Elementary School in University Park, had been releasing noxious fumes for years. Finally, the wells have been shut down. Tony Briscoe in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/14/26
Four takeaways on PG&E’s ‘unacceptable’ response to massive S.F. blackouts -- During a roughly three-hour hearing, executives from PG&E answered tough questions Thursday from supervisors about a massive power outage in late December that left more than 130,000 people in the dark at its peak. Alyce McFadden in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/14/26
San Francisco’s HIV prevention at risk after $8 million CDC cut, officials say -- The San Francisco Department of Public Health said Friday that the federal government has terminated four previously awarded Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants totaling more than $8 million, a move city officials warned could quickly disrupt HIV prevention, disease monitoring and frontline care. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/14/26
Street
‘Growing epidemic’: Bay Area teen’s 40-mph crash reveals overlooked dangers of e-bikes -- Young people like Lilia have embraced e-bikes as a way to shed their reliance on a mom or dad for a ride to school, a pizza place or a friend’s house. But with this new freedom has come a growing number of e-bike crashes involving young riders that is raising deep concern — and confusion — across the Bay Area. Brooke Park in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/14/26
AI
When AI Bots Start Bullying Humans, Even Silicon Valley Gets Rattled -- An AI bot wrote a blog post attacking an engineer because he had rejected lines of code the bot had submitted to an open-source project. Some AI company staffers are expressing concerns about new tools, citing the risks they pose like autonomous cyberattacks, mass unemployment, and unhealthy attachments. (An artificial-intelligence tool created this summary, which was based on the text of the article and checked by an editor. Read more about how we use artificial intelligence in our journalism.) Sam Schechner and Georgia Wells in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 2/14/26
Also
Lopez: In 50-year fight to protect California’s coast, they’re the real McCoys, still at it in their 80s -- In the long history of conservation in California, few have worked as long or as hard as the McCoys. Through the Tijuana River Estuary window, they see a planet in peril. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/14/26
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Homeland Security Wants Social Media Sites to Expose Anti-ICE Accounts -- The department has sent Google, Meta and other companies hundreds of subpoenas for information on accounts that track or comment on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials and tech workers said. Sheera Frenkel and Mike Isaac in the New York Times$ -- 2/14/26
Agents Suspended After Their Story of Shooting an Immigrant Falls Apart -- A judge dropped charges against the immigrant and another man after the top federal prosecutor in Minnesota said new evidence was not consistent with the agents’ testimony. Mitch Smith and Hamed Aleaziz in the New York Times$ -- 2/14/26
Standoff over masked agents fuels the latest partial government shutdown -- A dispute over whether federal immigration agents should be allowed to wear masks during enforcement operations has become one of the biggest obstacles to keeping the Department of Homeland Security funded, pushing the government toward a partial shutdown early Saturday. Ana Ceballos and Andrea Castillo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/14/26
Republicans worry shutdown will overshadow Trump’s State of the Union -- President Donald Trump is barreling ahead with the first State of the Union address of his second term, despite concerns among Republicans that it’s set to hit during a partial government shutdown. Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney, Mia McCarthy and Hailey Fuchs Politico -- 2/14/26
Trump pushes voter ID ‘whether approved by Congress or not!’ -- President Donald Trump insisted Friday that voter ID requirements will be in place for this year’s midterm elections regardless of congressional approval, escalating his push for sweeping changes to how Americans vote. Finya Swai Politico -- 2/14/26
A Pilot Fired Over Kristi Noem’s Missing Blanket and the Constant Chaos Inside DHS -- Throughout her tenure as secretary of Homeland Security, a sprawling agency charged with carrying out Trump’s central campaign promise of a mass deportation, Noem has attempted to burnish her personal stardom at every turn. With Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, at her side, she has staged a headline grabbing immigration crackdown while sidelining rivals and dissenters. Michelle Hackman, Josh Dawsey and Tarini Parti in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 2/14/26
White House Sees Win After 2 Strong Economic Reports -- Solid jobs data and a soft inflation reading for January are welcome news for President Trump. But the bigger economic picture is less encouraging. Lydia DePillis and Sydney Ember in the New York Times$ -- 2/14/26
Trump Team’s Planned ACA Rule Offers Its Answer to Rising Premium Costs: Catastrophic Coverage -- The Trump administration has unveiled a sweeping set of regulatory proposals that would substantially change health plan offerings on the Affordable Care Act marketplace next year, aiming, it says, to provide more choice and lower premiums. But it also proposes sharply raising some annual out-of-pocket costs — to more than $27,000 for one type of coverage — and could cause up to 2 million people to drop insurance. Julie Appleby KFF Health News -- 2/14/26
Why Trump Accounts may be a tax headache waiting to happen — especially in California -- The new Trump Accounts for children have been billed as an easy way to grow savings from a young age, with significant tax benefits. But they also come with new tax complications, especially for people in California. Kathleen Pender in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/14/26
New images of White House ballroom show clearest look yet at Trump project -- The planned 90,000-square-foot project would represent the most significant change to the White House grounds in decades and is advancing even as it is challenged in court and questioned on Capitol Hill. Dan Diamond, Jonathan Edwards and Aaron Steckelberg in the Washington Post$ -- 2/14/26