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California Policy and Politics Thursday
White House cuts $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California -- The Trump administration is withholding $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements to California for failing to combat fraud, escalating a feud with the state over its management of hospice care. Robert King Politico Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ Sarah Kliff in the New York Times$ -- 5/14/26
200,000 Californians create as much power as a nuclear plant to help the grid. Now that’s up in the air -- California has one of the most successful “virtual power plants” in the world, but it’s on the chopping block. Blanca Begert in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/14/26
Karen Bass, Xavier Becerra top new poll for L.A. mayor, California governor -- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass continues to hold the lead among likely voters in her bid for reelection, but not by a big enough margin to avoid a likely runoff with either Spencer Pratt or Nithya Raman, who are battling for second position, a new poll found. Noah Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/14/26
Poll: Democrats rally around Becerra, Steyer as Republicans consolidate behind Hilton -- Former Health Secretary Xavier Becerra has continued his surge in the California governor’s race as a new independent poll shows him at the top of the leaderboard followed closely by former Fox News host Steve Hilton and billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer. Grace Hase in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/14/26
Why the Migrant Child Crisis Is Roiling the California Governor Race -- The Times broke the story that has become a dominant line of attack against Xavier Becerra, the Democratic front-runner. Here are five things to know about it. Hannah Dreier in the New York Times$ -- 5/14/26
How to watch California governor candidates’ live TV debate on Thursday, May 14 -- They’ll go toe-to-toe, with the event to be broadcast on CBS stations across the state, including KCBS Channel 2 and KCAL Channel 9 in the Los Angeles area, and streamed on the stations’ digital platforms. The program will kick off at 5 p.m. with a pre-debate segment, followed by the live debate from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Linh Tat in the LA Daily News -- 5/14/26
California governor frontrunner Xavier Becerra’s playbook: Never say you’re sorry -- Democratic frontrunner for California governor Xavier Becerra has dodged weeks of criticism about his record. His dismissals reflect a confident position near the top of the polls. Jeanne Kuang Calmatters -- 5/14/26
The race for lieutenant governor has resurfaced a years-old sexual harassment scandal -- In the low-profile race for lieutenant governor, Treasurer Fiona Ma has the most name recognition and has been collecting a wide array of endorsements. Sophia Bollag in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/14/26
Newsom offers early peek at rosy budget projections -- Gov. Gavin Newsom is touting a projected $16.5-billion revenue windfall over three years, offering an upbeat fiscal outlook. Taryn Luna in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/14/26
Food Bank Rush
Amid surging inflation, L.A. food giveaway draws thousands — and runs out of supplies -- Angelenos are feeling the pinch of ongoing gas and grocery price spikes amid the U.S. war on Iran. A food distribution event in Baldwin Hills ran out of supplies Wednesday, sending scores of families home empty-handed. Clara Harter in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/14/26
Workplace
UC strike averted as tentative agreement reached with 40,000 service and hospital workers -- 40,000 unionized University of California workers averted a strike Thursday after reaching an early morning tentative deal with the University of California. The now-canceled strike by AFSCME Local 3299 was expected to disrupt medical appointments and campus dining. Jaweed Kaleem in the Los Angeles Times$ Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/14/26
L.A. moves to delay $30-an-hour minimum wage for hotel, airport workers tied to 2028 Olympics -- The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday moved to potentially delay a contentious $30 hourly minimum wage for hotel and airport workers, saying the action may be needed to stave off a business-backed ballot initiative to eliminate the city’s gross receipts tax. Suhauna Hussain in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/14/26
Silicon Valley tech giant posts record revenue, then cuts 4,000 jobs -- The reductions amount to less than 5% of Cisco’s workforce, CEO Chuck Robbins told employees Wednesday in a message posted on the company’s blog. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/14/26
Gov. Gavin Newsom to California agencies: Get ready for a four-day return to office -- Despite protests from state employees hoping to preserve their ability to telework, Newsom’s letter indicates that he intends to follow through with his unpopular return-to-office directive that recently led to allegations of labor law violations. William Melhado in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/14/26
Google’s Downtown West is paused. Its $1 billion bet on San Jose is not -- Google has placed a billion-dollar real estate bet on what it believes to be a bright future for San Jose, crafting new campuses on the north side of town even as its plans for an ambitious downtown transit village remain paused. George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/14/26
Cannabis
Cannabis retailer charged for not paying $7.1 million in sales tax in Orange, L.A. and San Bernardino counties -- From April 2019 to December 2022, Pin Hsien Hsu, now 46, allegedly operated about 30 dispensaries across Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties, failed to report his earnings and failed to pay taxes, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said. Nathaniel Percy in the LA Daily News -- 5/14/26
Marketplace
Rivian CEO’s Robotics Company Raises $400 Million -- Mind Robotics, the startup founded by Rivian Chief Executive RJ Scaringe, raised an additional $400 million from investors on Wednesday, the latest bet on an AI-powered bot revolution in manufacturing. Sean McLain in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 5/14/26
Breathe
Bay Area air regulators split on whether to move forward with ban on gas water heaters that will cost homeowners $3,500 -- A deeply divided Bay Area Air District board of directors on Wednesday decided to move forward with a final vote in October on whether to proceed with sweeping — and increasingly controversial — new rules to ban the sale and installation of natural gas water heaters in homes starting Jan. 1. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/14/26
200,000 Californians help the grid out in tough times and get paid for it. Now that’s up in the air -- California has one of the most successful “virtual power plants” in the world, but it’s on the chopping block. Blanca Begert in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/14/26
Education
Lowell High has spent years recruiting Black students. Just 7 plan to enroll as a freshman this fall -- Lowell High School has faced criticism for its lack of diversity for decades, with its academically competitive admissions process leading to a disproportionately Asian American and white enrollment. Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/14/26
Street
Lake Tahoe boat tragedy: Final desperate minutes detailed in police report -- Eight people who drowned when their boat capsized in a storm last June on Lake Tahoe declined requests from one of the passengers, a nurse, to put on life jackets, did not call 911 and tried to bail out water with a beverage cooler as heavy waves increasingly crashed overboard, according to a police report released Wednesday. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/14/26
Also
New poll shows what San Francisco residents really think about Waymo cars -- The survey of 1,077 registered voters showed that 42% of respondents consider self-driving cars “a good thing,” dwarfing the 18% who react negatively. Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/14/26
Walters: California will make less money from greenhouse gas emission auctions -- Two decades ago, when California got serious about reducing or even eliminating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, its political leaders weighed two potential tactics about industrial emissions. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 5/14/26
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China gains major edge on U.S. amid Iran war, intelligence report finds -- A confidential U.S. intelligence analysis details how China is exploiting the war in Iran to maximize its advantage over the United States across military, economic, diplomatic and other fields, said two U.S. officials who have read the report. John Hudson in the Washington Post$ -- 5/14/26
White House Explores 250 Pardons to Mark America’s 250th Birthday -- The plan is still in preliminary discussions but, if carried out, would expand Trump’s already wide use of the pardon power. AnnaMaria Andriotis and C. Ryan Barber in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 5/14/26
White House to host 9-hour prayer festival focused on Christian roots of U.S. -- Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio and Mike Johnson will speak at the event, which centers on the idea that the founders wanted the U.S. to be explicitly Christian. Michelle Boorstein, Laura Meckler and Natalie Allison in the Washington Post$ -- 5/14/26
Is Trump Tuned Out to Americans’ Financial Worries? A Remark Suggests Yes --President Trump has never been a fuzzy, feel-your-pain kind of politician. That came through in an especially striking way yesterday, when he answered a question about whether he was motivated by the financial situation of Americans to make a deal to end the war with Iran. Katie Glueck in the New York Times$ -- 5/14/26
Miami Residents Sue Over Trump’s Plan to Make His Library a Hotel -- The suit argues that the development on state-donated land would violate the Constitution’s domestic emoluments clause, which prohibits the president from accepting money or gifts from states. Patricia Mazzei in the New York Times$ -- 5/14/26
California Policy and Politics Wednesday
Bass holds lead in new L.A. mayoral poll, with Pratt and Raman neck and neck for runoff position -- Bass jumped to 30% support in the poll released Wednesday by Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics, up 10 points from the last poll conducted by the same group released in March. The new poll of 350 likely voters was conducted on May 9-10 — after a televised debate among Bass, Pratt and Raman — and has a margin of error of 5%. Noah Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/13/26
Newsom to propose fund to help California wildfire victims rebuild -- The proposal comes as improved state tax revenue from an AI boom gives the governor more financial cushion in the state budget. Taryn Luna in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/13/26
Where does California rank in homelessness? The federal report that could tell us has been delayed for months -- The federal government’s annual “point-in-time” homelessness count is used by city and county governments across the country to determine funding and gauge progress in getting people off the streets. Marisa Kendall in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/13/26
California has 6 weeks of gas supply. After that, it gets expensive -- At $6 a gallon, California drivers are paying the highest gas prices in the nation. Gasoline supplies look stable for the next six weeks but are uncertain after that as California leans more on imports. Alejandro Lazo Calmatters -- 5/13/26
A bombshell fraud case takes the spotlight in California’s high-stakes race for governor -- Xavier Becerra’s longtime advisor Sean McCluskie pleaded guilty to stealing $225,000 from the former Biden Cabinet secretary’s campaign account. Democratic and Republican rivals in the 2026 California governor’s race are seizing on the scandal to question Becerra’s fitness, warning that legal jeopardy could hand victory to Republicans. Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/13/26
Tom Steyer’s hedge fund past complicates his run as California’s anti-billionaire billionaire -- Philanthropist Tom Steyer has cast himself as the progressive billionaire who vows to take on corporate power as he vies to be the next governor of California, but past investments by his former hedge fund have complicated his path to the state’s highest office. Grace Hase, Ethan Varian in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/13/26
A bipartisan effort to reform California’s top-two primary system is underway -- Veteran Sacramento-based Democratic strategist Steven Maviglio has teamed with former California Republican Party Chair Ron Nehring to launch the “Undo the Top Two” campaign, with the goal of getting an initiative onto the November 2028 ballot to reform the system. Linh Tat, Kaitlyn Schallhorn in the Orange County Register$ -- 5/13/26
Ex-gubernatorial candidate Stephen Cloobeck arrested in Los Angeles County -- Jail records show Cloobeck, 64, was arrested before 11 a.m. and booked at the West Hollywood station on $300,000 bail, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department jail booking records. He was freed at 1:17 p.m. that afternoon, according to jail records. Joseph Serna in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/13/26
AI companies are poised to go public. California’s hoping to get rich -- Upcoming IPOs for OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX could generate billions in tax income for California. Eric He, Tyler Katzenberger and Nicole Norman Politico -- 5/13/26
Union-funded ‘attack ad’ against Pratt seems aimed at helping him make runoff, analysts say -- An attack ad against Spencer Pratt by the L.A. County Federation of Labor actually might be intended to boost his profile for conservatives in L.A., according to political analysts. Noah Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/13/26
Nancy Pelosi’s succession waiting game -- The former speaker has yet to make an endorsement in San Francisco's congressional race, though her affinity for one contender is clear. Dustin Gardiner Politico -- 5/13/26
From fading to front-runner, Becerra draws cheers at Sac State rally -- Becerra peppered his speech with bursts of Spanish. If he wins, Becerra would be the first elected Latino governor in California history, just as he previously was the first Latino attorney general and first Latino to serve as U.S. secretary of health and human services. “Yo tengo que andar,” Becerra said. “I know with whom I walk. I walk with you.” Ben Paviour in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/13/26
Newsom appoints former CFPB head to lead California consumer agency -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom will appoint Rohit Chopra, the former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to lead a new state agency focused on consumer protections and business regulation. Dustin Gardiner Politico Lia Russell in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/13/26
Crisis in ‘Chinese Beverly Hills’: Residents fear a backlash after mayor accused of working with China -- Generations of Chinese immigrants have settled in Arcadia, transforming the San Gabriel Valley suburb, a typical bedroom community, into a “Chinese Beverly Hills” with high-end real estate and luxury shopping. Hannah Fry, Brittny Mejia, Cierra Morgan and Summer Lin in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/13/26
L.A. quietly fires its first chief heat officer -- Los Angeles quietly terminated Marta Segura, the city’s first chief heat officer, last month. Segura is one of several environmental leaders to recently depart, and the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office is now down to one employee. Hayley Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/13/26
California has a public defender crisis. A new bill seeks to force the state to confront it -- A new bill in the state Legislature would require counties to report basic information about public defender services, such as how many cases attorneys handle, in an effort to compel California to confront its public defender crisis. Anat Rubin Calmatters -- 5/13/26
How to fix a ‘giant county bureaucracy’: San Diego County debates competing charter reform plans -- San Diego County wants an ethics commission and fiscal watchdogs. LA County is adding more supervisors. Both want better budgets. How California counties are updating their charters. Deborah Brennan Calmatters -- 5/13/26
ICE
ICE puts new restrictions on members of Congress inspecting detention centers -- California Reps. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano) and Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego) learned about the new policy when they made a surprise visit on Monday to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. Andrea Castillo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/13/26
Workplace
Cloudflare to eliminate 224 San Francisco jobs in latest blow to tech workforce -- Cloudflare plans to cut 224 jobs at its San Francisco headquarters this week, one of the city’s largest layoffs disclosed so far this year. The cuts are set to take effect Friday at the company’s office at 101 Townsend St., according to a filing with the California Employment Development Department. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/13/26
AI protections and a merged pension plan: SAG-AFTRA leaders tout gains for members -- SAG-AFTRA recently struck a new tentative deal with major film and TV studios. The pending contract will improve AI protections, streaming residuals and merge SAG and AFTRA’s pension plans. Cerys Davies in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/13/26
Develop
Tahoe’s ‘biggest development issue’ — building a larger ski resort — clears key approvals -- A long battle over the future of the Palisades Tahoe ski resort reached a critical milestone on Tuesday morning when the Placer County Board of Supervisors gave final approval to a major redevelopment plan aimed at upscaling the resort into a bigger, all-season destination venue. Gregory Thomas in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/13/26
Water
Lake Oroville, California’s second-largest reservoir, is 99% full and rising -- In a clear sign that California is not facing water shortages or a drought this summer, Lake Oroville, the state’s second-largest reservoir and a key component of California’s water system, has nearly filled to the top. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/13/26
Education
The nation’s students are deep in a reading recession. Here’s how L.A. and California fit in -- The nation’s students face a deepening reading crisis, with most states showing minimal progress in recent years, a new study shows. Los Angeles Unified, Compton and Modesto school districts have emerged as bright spots. Sharon Lurye, Howard Blume and Jocelyn Gecker in the Los Angeles Times$ Betty Márquez Rosales EdSource -- 5/13/26
Walters: California’s public schools need better oversight and guidance from the state -- Shortly after beginning his second stint as governor of California in 2011, Jerry Brown began promoting a two-pronged overhaul of how the state finances public schools. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 5/13/26
Plastic
California’s new plastic recycling rules spark fights from all sides -- Under new rules, plastic producers have to cut single use plastic, increase recycling rates and pay $5 billion to remedy harms from plastic pollution. Plastic producers have until June to come up with a plan for how they’re meeting state mandates. Alejandra Reyes-Velarde Calmatters -- 5/13/26
Street
LAPD’s ‘best’ anti-gang unit shut down, officers investigated for turning off body cams -- Members of the 77th Street Division gang enforcement unit are being investigated for turning off their body cameras and failing to document some traffic stops. Libor Jany and Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/13/26
Lurie touts big drop in S.F. homelessness. But change to the count complicates the picture -- Mayor Daniel Lurie touted the latest official tally of San Francisco’s homeless population on Tuesday, arguing it shows a steep decline in the number of people living outside — but there’s a catch. J.D. Morris, Megan Cassidy in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/13/26
Also
‘Never going to feel safe’: California neighborhood flooded with over 1 million gallons of sewage -- At least 75 residents of a rural Northern California neighborhood sued Lake County last week after a sewer line rupture in January unleashed around 1.38 million gallons of untreated waste, creating a moat of raw sewage around their homes for nearly 40 hours and contaminating a network of private water wells supplied by a shallow aquifer. Annie Vainshtein in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/13/26
A $10,000 buried treasure hunt has stumped San Franciscans. And it’s causing problems -- The riddle appeared on Reddit nearly two weeks ago: 103 words, each carefully chosen, meant to lead the most clever and adventurous of Bay Area residents to a treasure chest laden with $10,000 worth of gleaming dollar coins. Anna Bauman in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/13/26
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U.S. Intelligence Shows Iran Retains Substantial Missile Capabilities -- Secret new assessments say Iran has operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that its military remains far stronger than President Trump has asserted. Adam Entous, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan in the New York Times$ -- 5/13/26
Distracted and Bogged Down, Trump and Xi Enter a Summit of Reduced Ambitions -- The war in Iran has cast a shadow of uncertainty on both superpowers, dimming early hopes that they could begin to address the larger issues that have frayed their relationship. David E. Sanger in the New York Times$ -- 5/13/26
The Late-Night Truth Social Storms That Offer a Window Into the President’s Mind --The messages, mostly reposts from other accounts, falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen, aired frustrations from anonymous social-media users that Democrats hadn’t been indicted by the Justice Department and called for the arrest of former President Barack Obama. The activity is emblematic of Trump’s account, which operates as a nearly round-the-clock, high-volume amplification system that blends his own voice with a network of partisan and fringe content. Anthony DeBarros and Annie Linskey in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 5/13/26