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California Policy and Politics Monday

California Lottery confirms $1 million winner was homeless man -- The California Lottery has identified a homeless man who once lived in the Bay Area as the winner of a $1 million prize from a scratcher purchased in San Luis Obispo earlier this year. The winner, Armando Vidal, said he bought two $10 Triple Red 777 Scratchers in April at Sandy’s Deli & Liquor, where he is a regular customer. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/14/25

California, other states sue Trump for withholding $6.8 billion in critical education funds -- California officials on Monday announced that the state is suing the Trump administration for holding back an estimated $939 million in education funds from the state — and about $6.8 billion nationwide — that school districts had expected to begin receiving on July 1, calling the action “unconstitutional, unlawful and arbitrary.” Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/14/25

ICE arrested her selling tamales at Lowes. Then she suffered a heart attack. ‘I told them: I can’t breathe’ -- An immigration sweep on June 19, in which a woman had a heart attack, is one of many that have taken place in Southern California and encapsulates the chaotic methods employed to detain people over the last month. Ruben Vives in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/14/25

Details emerge about pot-farm immigration raid as worker dies -- Trump administration officials defended the aggressive campaign to find and deport unauthorized immigrants even as a cannabis farmworker was taken off life support two days after he plunged from a roof amid the mayhem of a Ventura County raid. Dakota Smith, Christopher Goffard and Jeanette Marantos in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/13/25

Local police, increasingly present at ICE raids, walk tightrope to stay out of immigration enforcement -- Distaste for the federal arrests rubs off on local officers called on to keep the peace. Alexandra Mendoza, Teri Figueroa in the San Diego Union Tribune$ -- 07/13/25

Troops, terror and tears in Los Angeles as Ice raids show no sign of slowing -- Raids have left residents of LA’s MacArthur Park scared to go to trusted local businesses – and outside in general. Helen Li and Maanvi Singh The Guardian -- 07/13/25

‘What if we stay in Mexico?’ With chances in the U.S. dashed, migrants make new lives south of border -- The plan wasn't to stay in Mexico, but many asylum seekers have decided to make a go of it as legal avenues to immigrating to the U.S. have been closed by the Trump administration. Alexandra Mendoza in the San Diego Union Tribune$ -- 07/14/25

Living ‘A Day Without a Mexican’ in L.A., 21 Years Later -- The 2004 indie film imagined an absurd, Latino-less California. As fears of immigration raids empty out parts of Los Angeles, the film’s premise feels all too real, its creators say. Matt Stevens in the New York Times$ -- 07/14/25

Climate

California reaches new record clean energy milestone -- California has hit a new record for clean energy. Solar, wind, hydropower and other carbon-free sources made up 67% of the state’s retail electricity supply in 2023, the most recent year that data is available, according to new statistics released Monday by the California Energy Commission. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 07/14/25

California’s wind and solar projects face new federal hurdles -- Clean-energy projects have new deadlines for federal tax credits and limits on foreign parts, taking aim at California’s climate agenda. Eleven major solar projects and one onshore wind project now face potential delays or cancellation. Alejandro Lazo Calmatters -- 07/14/25

Savings

Trump’s tariff threats are back. What should you do about your 401(k) and investments? -- Wall Street seems to be shrugging off President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariff threats. Should you? Jessica Roy in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/13/25

Reparations

Reparations bill, amid headwinds, could skirt California’s affirmative action ban -- With diversity programs under full assault by the Trump administration, California lawmakers are considering a measure that would allow state colleges to consider whether applicants are descendants of African Americans who were enslaved in the United States. Sandra McDonald in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/14/25

Housing

Developer building ‘micro-studios,’ and yes, people are renting them -- The size of a typical studio apartment is 500 to 600 square feet. The studios that Riaz Capital is building around the Bay Area measure on average 300 square feet — which is on the small side, even for a standard hotel room. But the Oakland-based developer sees micro-studios as a way to provide “affordability by design” in a state where the cost of housing is a major financial burden for many residents. Kate Talerico in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 07/14/25

Homeless

San Jose has just as many homeless people as it did two years ago, despite sheltering many of them -- Two years into an aggressive push to address homelessness, San Jose has managed to bring more people indoors — but the total number of unhoused residents remains stubbornly unchanged. Kate Talerico in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 07/14/25

Demographics

The Bay Area is getting old — fast. It will change everything -- Combined with rising housing costs and growing hostility toward immigration, the graying of cities and towns means the region’s continued prosperity is in doubt. Dan Kopf, Roland Li and Nami Sumida in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/14/25

Education

UC Berkeley chancellor heads to D.C. for congressional grilling on campus antisemitism -- UC Berkeley’s top leader on Tuesday will face an influential congressional committee that is aligned with President Trump’s political goal of reshaping higher education by punishing campuses he sees both as bastions of leftist ideologies and as institutions that have tolerated anti-Jewish hate. Jaweed Kaleem in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/14/25

The Federal Government Is Retreating From Student Lending -- New tax-and-spending law could push as many as half of graduate student borrowers into private loans. Dalvin Brown and Oyin Adedoyin in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 07/14/25

Buffeted by change, California charter schools continue to grow amid scrutiny -- State lawmakers are pushing for stricter financial oversight following high-profile fraud cases. Kathryn Baron Edsource -- 07/14/25

Street

Deputies beat her son bloody. Why is L.A. County keeping parts of the case secret? -- Five years after her son was beaten so badly by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies that he needed more than 30 stitches and staples to his face and head, Vanessa Perez is still looking for answers. So are county officials tasked with holding the department accountable for misconduct. Connor Sheets in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/14/25

Southern California trash pileup spreads as workers stand with East Coast strikers -- In one corner is Republic Services, the nation’s second-largest trash and recycling company. In the other stands the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the large and tenacious labor union that represents thousands of Republic employees. Matt Hamilton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/14/25

Public asked to help after deputies lose assault rifle. It may have fallen out of squad car -- The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating how an assault rifle went missing from — and potentially fell out of — the trunk of a squad car in South L.A. Matt Hamilton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/13/25

Steffes

Straight-shooting advisor George Steffes always had Reagan’s ear -- If there were more people like George Steffes in politics, the public wouldn’t hold the institution in such low esteem. There’d be a lot less bull and much more thoughtful debate. Paralytic polarization would give way to problem solving. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/14/25

POTUS 47

Trump threatens Russia with tariffs if war on Ukraine isn’t resolved -- President Donald Trump said Monday he would punish Russia with tariffs if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days, the latest example of his growing anger with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump made the announcement during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Michael Warren and Curtis Yee Associated Press -- 07/14/25

Patriot System Will Be Sent to Ukraine, Trump Says -- President Trump said Sunday the U.S. will send Patriot air-defense systems to Ukraine that will be paid for by the European Union, and he again criticized Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Tarini Parti and Brett Forrest in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 07/14/25

Trump to announce "aggressive" Ukraine weapons plan -- President Trump will announce a new plan to arm Ukraine on Monday that is expected to include offensive weapons, two sources with knowledge of the plans tell Axios. Sending offensive weapons would be a major shift for Trump, who had until recently been at pains to say he would provide only defensive weapons to avoid escalating the conflict. Barak Ravid, Marc Caputo Axios -- 07/14/25

It’s No Bluff: The Tariff Rate Is Soaring Under Trump -- The president has earned a reputation for bluffing on tariffs. But he has steadily and dramatically raised U.S. tariffs, transforming global trade. Ana Swanson in the New York Times$ -- 07/14/25

The megabill’s Medicaid cuts shocked hospitals, but they may never happen -- The most painful health care provisions in the new Republican law don’t take effect for years, giving lobbyists plenty of time to undo them. Robert King, Amanda Chu and David Lim Politico -- 07/14/25

Trump gets mixed reception at soccer final, a test run for the World Cup -- In one indication of the mixed relationship the “America First” president has with the global game, some on Sunday cheered his attendance, chanted “USA! USA!” and turned to take photos. But when he appeared on the jumbo screen during the national anthem, boos rose up before the camera quickly turned elsewhere. Matt Viser in the Washington Post$ -- 07/14/25

How the Trump shooting supercharged beliefs in a divine right of MAGA -- On the road from Pittsburgh to Butler, past the cornfields and farm stands, before the fairgrounds where a shooter nearly killed Donald Trump a year ago Sunday, billboards quote 1 Corinthians and Psalm 27. Another sign advertises a local church with a photo of an American flag twisted into the shape of a Y. Isaac Arnsdorf in the Washington Post$ -- 07/13/25

Under Trump, the government mobilizes in response to fringe theories -- Trump officials have assigned government workers and spent taxpayer dollars to address conspiracy theories and easily disproven assertions. Naftali Bendavid in the Washington Post$ -- 07/14/25

Biden Says He Made the Clemency Decisions That Were Recorded With Autopen -- Donald J. Trump and his allies have begun investigations to support their claims that Joseph R. Biden Jr. was incapacitated and his staff conspired to take presidential actions in his name. Charlie Savage and Tyler Pager in the New York Times$ -- 07/13/25s

Balz: Musk says he wants a new political party, and many agree. Can he pull it off? -- Would-be independent candidates have been searching for what they say is a sensible center of the electorate for a long time. No one has found it. Dan Balz in the Washington Post$ -- 07/13/25