Updating . . .

California Policy and Politics Monday

Lockheed Martin, PG&E, Salesforce and Wells Fargo team up to help battle wildfires -- The companies announced a new venture on Monday to help firefighters prevent, detect and respond more quickly to wildfires. Queenie Wong in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/26

Another shutdown likely after ICE killings in Minnesota prompt revolt by Democrats -- The killing of a second U.S. citizen by federal agents in Minneapolis is deeply complicating efforts to avert another government shutdown in Washington as Democrats — and some Republicans — view the episode as a tipping point in the debate over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. Ana Ceballos and Gavin J. Quinton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/26

San Francisco’s top cop says blue cities must draw a line with Trump after killings -- Months ago, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins warned she would consider prosecuting Trump's immigration agents if they broke the law. Now, she sees the fatal shootings in Minneapolis as a call to action. Dustin Gardiner Politico -- 1/26/26

Angry protesters spill into streets of L.A., decry second killing by U.S. agents in Minnesota -- Protesters in Southern California and elsewhere in the nation on Sunday angrily denounced the fatal shooting over the weekend of a 37-year-old man in Minneapolis. Jack Flemming and Suhauna Hussain in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/26

Sacramento ICE protesters ‘stand in solidarity’ after attack, Minneapolis killings -- A man who was assaulted two weeks ago while protesting outside the federal building where Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates in Sacramento continued to demonstrate Sunday, the day after the killing of a second Minneapolis protester. Camryn Dadey in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/26/26

California sues the Trump administration over plans to restart oil pipelines along the coast -- California sued the federal government Friday for approving a Texas-based company’s plans to restart two oil pipelines along the state’s coast, escalating a fight over the Trump administration’s removal of regulatory barriers to offshore oil drilling for the first time in decades. Sophie Austin Associated Press -- 1/26/26

Is California’s proposed billionaire tax smart policy? History holds lessons -- In the roiling debate over California’s proposed billionaire tax, supporters and critics agree that such policies haven’t always worked in the past. But the lessons they’ve drawn from that history are wildly different. Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/26

Feds move on after $1.1M pilot program to clean Tijuana River washed away -- The federal government awarded a $1.1 million contract to an Ohio company to conduct a pilot project deploying a technology to kill bacteria and eliminate odors in the sewage-tainted Tijuana River. It failed, in large part because the company had never used the technology in an environment with such a large amount of solid waste pollution and with unpredictable changes in water flow. Walker Armstrong in the San Diego Union Tribune -- 1/26/26

Workplace

Thousands of Kaiser workers walk out as labor dispute escalates -- More than 31,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and other health care workers walked off the job early Monday, launching an open-ended strike across California and Hawaii that could disrupt operations at dozens of hospitals and hundreds of clinics. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/26/26

CA departments lacked thousands of workstations before RTO order, documents show -- California state departments were short thousands of workstations needed to accommodate returning government employees ahead of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office directive last spring, documents show. William Melhado in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/26/26

Housing

Housing costs are crippling many Americans. Here’s how the two parties propose to fix that -- California says it needs to add 180,000 housing units annually to keep up with demand. President Trump has endorsed a $200-billion mortgage bond stimulus, which he said would drive down mortgage rates and monthly payments. Gavin J. Quinton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/26

Airbnb rules have literally split this Bay Area beach town in two -- Many California towns are divided over how to regulate short-term rentals like Airbnb, but few more so than Pacifica. Anna Bauman in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/26/26

Homeless

Officials believe San Diego is well positioned as cities compete for dwindling state homeless dollars -- Municipalities must adopt strong encampment policies and show they are ‘pro-housing’ to qualify for a shrinking pool of state money. Kelly Davis in the San Diego Union Tribune -- 1/26/26

Education

California lawmakers weigh reforms to child abuse law amid costly litigation -- In what’s likely to be one of the most contentious issues facing the California Legislature in 2026, lawmakers are again debating whether to reform a 2020 law that lifted the statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse lawsuits. Thomas Peele EdSource -- 1/26/26

Street

California cities just saw their lowest homicide rates in decades. It’s not clear why -- Homicides in California surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, killings are down to historic lows in Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco and many other cities. Nigel Duara Calmatters -- 1/26/26

Also

Skelton: Newsom tried to punch over his weight class in the Alps -- When a California governor goes to Europe and lectures world leaders that they must “grow a spine” and “stand tall” against the American president, I wince. Not that they shouldn’t, nor that President Trump doesn’t deserve almost any nasty thing said about him. It just seems a tad arrogant. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/26

Arellano: Under Trump, the bootlickers have come out in force. Minneapolis cements it -- President Trump has an army of bootlickers that seems to stretch to the sunset. Many of them creep around on social media and almost certainly legions of them come from bot accounts on X. Then there’s Bill Essayli. Gustavo Arellano in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/26

California Post brings brash New York-style tabloid news to the West Coast -- Aiming to shake up the Golden State’s media landscape, the California Post launched on Monday with a new tabloid newspaper and news site that brings a brash, cheeky and conservative-friendly fixture of the Big Apple to the West Coast. Christopher Weber Associated Press -- 1/26/26

POTUS 47

Trump Says Administration Is ‘Reviewing Everything’ About Minneapolis Shooting --In a five-minute telephone interview with The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Trump didn’t directly answer when asked twice whether the officer who shot Alex Pretti had done the right thing. Pressed further, the president said, “We’re looking, we’re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination.” Administration officials have publicly defended the officer. Josh Dawsey in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 1/26/26

Trump sends border czar Homan to Minneapolis amid shooting scrutiny -- Sending Homan, who has backed a more targeted approach to deportations, suggests a shift in the administration’s strategy. Eric Bazail-Eimil Politico -- 1/26/26

A battle over the truth erupts after deadly Minneapolis shooting -- In the wake of another fatal shooting involving immigration agents, Trump administration and Minnesota officials are locked in a heated dispute over what exactly transpired and who’s to blame for the death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti. And they don’t just disagree in their interpretation of the events — they fundamentally differ on what exactly took place and what triggered it. Cheyanne M. Daniels and Jacob Wendler Politico -- 1/26/26

How the Trump Administration Rushed to Judgment in Minneapolis Shooting -- The administration was in a race to control the narrative around the killing of Alex Pretti, even as videos emerged that contradicted the government’s account. Tyler Pager and Hamed Aleaziz in the New York Times$ -- 1/26/26

Killing Prompts Only a Defiant Response From Trump -- Even as the second death of a protester in Minnesota brought demands for accountability, the president, insulated from dissenting voices, stuck to his pattern of reflexively blaming opponents. Katie Rogers in the New York Times$ -- 1/26/26

Minneapolis police chief says it appears more than one agent fired on Pretti -- “I know the initial responding officers on the scene believe that there was at least, there was more than one agent who fired,” O’Hara told The Washington Post in an interview Sunday. “I’m not sure if the video necessarily corroborates that. My understanding is that it does.” Molly Hennessy-Fiske in the Washington Post$ -- 1/26/26

Border Patrol sidesteps questions about fatal shooting; police chief criticizes agents -- The head of the U.S. Border Patrol sidestepped key questions about the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, including how many shots were fired and whether the victim brandished a weapon, as other Trump officials have alleged. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara noted that Pretti appeared to be exercising his First and Second Amendment rights. O’Hara told The Washington Post that “it’s very obvious from a lot of these videos that this is not what professional policing looks like in this country today.” The item is in the Washington Post$ -- 1/26/26

Alex Pretti’s Friends and Family Denounce ‘Sickening Lies’ About His Life --People who knew a man fatally shot by federal agents pushed back against what they called a smear campaign by federal officials. “He was a good man,” his family said. Talya Minsberg, Corina Knoll and Julie Bosman in the New York Times$ -- 1/26/26

Trump’s playbook falters in crisis response to Minneapolis shooting -- The Trump administration has blamed the death of an American citizen at the hands of immigration agents in Minnesota on the victim within hours of their killing for the second time this month, calling Alex Jeffrey Pretti an “assassin” and “domestic terrorist” without opening an independent investigation. Michael Wilner in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/26

Obamas condemn federal immigration agents’ conduct: ‘This has to stop’ -- “The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy,” the Obamas wrote in a lengthy statement posted on social media. “It should also be a wake up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.” Meg James in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/26