California Policy and Politics Friday

Federal judge extends block on Trump executive order seeking to limit mail voting in the midterms -- A federal judge on Friday extended her prohibition against the U.S. Postal Service implementing President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to limit mail voting during the midterms, putting another major obstacle in the way of the administration as the first states begin sending out mail ballots. Nicholas Riccardi, Lindsay Whitehurst Associated Press -- 9/4/26

 

Bass is asked to testify before Congress about waste and fraud in L.A.’s response to homelessness -- A House subcommittee has asked Mayor Karen Bass to testify in Washington about alleged waste, fraud and mismanagement in L.A.’s federally funded homelessness system. The inquiry follows HUD’s effort to suspend LAHSA from applying for and receiving federal grants, which has been blocked by a judge. David Zahniser and Doug Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/4/26

Bass returns campaign donations from leaders of anti-gang nonprofit after Times inquiry -- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is returning $9,700 in contributions from entrepreneur Danny Bakewell Sr. and other leaders of a nonprofit group that received millions of dollars in gang prevention contracts from her office, according to her campaign. David Zahniser in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/4/26

Gavin Newsom says he plans to endorse in S.F. House race to replace Nancy Pelosi -- Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he hoped to endorse in the San Francisco congressional race to replace Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, and that he would likely do so as part of a batch of endorsements in California races. Sophia Bollag in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/4/26

In South Carolina, Gavin Newsom makes an early play for 2028 voters -- Most of the crowd that gathered Thursday morning in a small church community room were fans of Gavin Newsom, eager to take a photo with the California governor and likely presidential candidate. Sophia Bollag in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/4/26

 

EPA can’t curtail California’s emission rules as judge grants injunction against agency -- A federal judge says California has legal authority to set its own clean-air standards for motor vehicles, including a future ban on new gasoline-powered cars, rejecting a challenge by the Trump administration. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/4/26

Lack of FEMA funds cuts off key recovery program for Eaton, Palisades fire survivors -- The California program helping Eaton and Palisades fire survivors access recovery resources and navigate the FEMA reimbursement process will be terminated at the end of the month because of a lack of federal funding. Clara Harter in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/4/26

Highway 1 reopens in Big Sur in time for Labor Day weekend as crews make progress on Timber Fire -- Emergency officials reopened Highway 1 in Big Sur on Thursday, providing a lifeline to restaurants, hotels and other businesses that have been largely shut down for nearly a month during the height of tourist season as the Timber Fire has burned across thousands of acres. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 9/4/26

California bill aiming to target ‘surveillance pricing’ dies in Legislature -- A California bill that aimed to prevent retailers from charging customers different prices based on personal information that they collect died in the Legislature. Stephen Hobbs in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 9/4/26

ICE

Six judges fired as Sacramento immigration court faces major overhaul under Trump -- Sacramento’s immigration court has undergone one of the most dramatic shake-ups in the country, with six of the seven judges serving there at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term fired in the past year. Mathew Miranda in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 9/4/26

Workplace

Bay Area tech layoffs already top last year as more job cuts surface -- Through the start of September, tech companies have revealed their decisions to eliminate 12,947 jobs in the Bay Area, this news organization’s review of dozens of WARN notices on file with the state Employment Development Department shows. George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 9/4/26

PayPal plans to lay off hundreds of workers at its South Bay headquarters -- PayPal plans to lay off 251 employees at its Silicon Valley headquarters, the latest Bay Area tech cutbacks from a company already undergoing a broader global restructuring. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/4/26

Walters: California’s political hopefuls remain silent on state’s job losses, unemployment -- The aspirants for those positions are making all sorts of promises to win voters’ approval. But few, if any, have mentioned a slow-motion menace affecting a fundamental facet of life: jobs. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 9/4/26

Hiring burst of 162,000 jobs in August puts the focus squarely back on inflation in the US -- The U.S. job market rebounded in August as employers added a surprising 162,000 jobs. The unemployment rate stayed at a low 4.1%. Paul Wiseman Associated Press Justin Lahart in the Wall Street Journal$ Lauren Kaori Gurley in the Washington Post$ -- 9/4/26

Climate

Trump is trying to terminate EVs in California. Is that even possible? -- Trump is moving to strip California’s emissions authority, end tax credits and erase electric vehicle sales mandates, reshaping the national market while leaving the state’s clean-car future tangled in Washington-level uncertainty. Yet California’s EV adoption keeps climbing, with nearly 1 in 6 new cars fully electric, robust used sales and hundreds of millions in state incentives replacing lost federal rebates. Hayley Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/4/26

Water

California’s biggest reservoir in decades is facing a crucial moment. Will there be enough water? -- On Thursday, state water regulators released a draft permit for the highly anticipated Sites Reservoir, outlining how much water the proposed $6 billion facility in rural Glenn and Colusa counties can draw from the Sacramento River and, importantly, when those draws can be made. Kurtis Alexander in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/4/26

Data Centers

Would CEQA changes apply to data centers under Prop. 45? Experts remain unsure -- The measure reforms the environmental review process for a number of “essential projects,” such as water systems, clean energy, health facilities and transportation. However, opposition to Prop. 45 has grown from uncertainty regarding its application to data centers, which its language does not specifically mention. Sofia Williams in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 9/4/26

Fact check: Is Sam Altman right that almonds use more water than ChatGPT queries? -- Altman claims 38,000 ChatGPT queries equal one almond’s water use. Experts say public data center water data is too sparse to verify his math. Rachel Becker Calmatters -- 9/4/26

AI

Zuckerberg opposed White House AI proposal in private call with Trump -- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed concerns about plans for a national AI regulator in a previously unreported phone call with President Donald Trump last month, marking the involvement of one of the world’s top tech executives in a fraught White House policy debate. Sophia Cai and Charles Rollet Politico -- 9/4/26

Why the Hugging Face Hack Should Make You Worry More About A.I. -- The attack by an aggressive “collective” of OpenAI agents shows the danger of artificial intelligence systems that organize themselves. Kevin Roose in the New York Times$ -- 9/4/26

OpenAI’s president claims AI is as capable as humans now -- ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s president said Thursday that the era where artificial intelligence is broadly as capable as humans has arrived, a controversial milestone that some leaders in AI have predicted would mark a major shift in human history. Gerrit De Vynck in the Washington Post$ -- 9/4/26

Develop

Investors place billion-dollar real estate bet on Silicon Valley’s future -- Betting big on Silicon Valley’s future, an investment group led by an England-based firm paid a combined $1.16 billion for six tech campuses in three cities, according to several grant deeds filed in Santa Clara County in September. George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 9/4/26

Education

Community colleges suddenly oppose plan to let them offer more bachelor’s degrees -- Two bills sent to Newsom set new rules for determining when colleges can create bachelor’s degrees and how many they can offer. Mikhail Zinshteyn Calmatters -- 9/4/26

California schools are sitting on arts money. A change in law might get them to spend it -- A bill to clarify how schools should spend California’s $1 billion annual investment in arts education is headed for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk after legislators reached a compromise with a champion of the original initiative. Carolyn Jones Calmatters -- 9/4/26

Trump targets private school tax-exempt status over race-based aid. California takes notice -- The Trump administration is proposing a new rule that would strip private colleges and private grade schools of their tax-exempt status if they provide targeted help to students based on their race, a significant escalation in the White House’s campaign to eradicate diversity programs directed at Black, Latino and other minority students. Howard Blume, Jaweed Kaleem and Collin Binkley in the Los Angeles Times$ William Melhado EdSouce -- 9/4/26

California judge rules against Trump on transgender athletes. What happens next? -- A federal judge this week dismissed a key Trump administration challenge to California rules allowing transgender students to compete on athletic teams in accordance with their gender identities. But legal experts say the decision, while significant, may not be the end of the legal saga over transgender rights and school sports. Sharon Bernstein in the Fresno Bee -- 9/4/26

Climate

As world braces for ‘super’ El Niño, research suggests global warming has increased its punch -- This year’s rapidly building “super” El Niño is forecast to be the strongest on record, prolonging extreme heat, floods and drought worldwide and threatening economic, ecological and human costs. Hayley Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/4/26

Street

S.F. Mayor Lurie launched an intensive push to improve chaos in the Mission. Did it work? -- Night had just fallen on San Francisco's 16th Street BART plaza on Wednesday when police pulled up to a frenzied scene they've confronted many times before. Abigail Vân Neely, J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/4/26

Also

Wolf spotted in California coastal mountains just north of Bay Area -- A gray wolf was spotted last week in rural Lake County, marking new territory for the endangered carnivore in California’s Coast Range. Kurtis Alexander in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/4/26

This Vintage Printing Press Has Become a Darling of Silicon Valley -- One of the companies most treasured by San Francisco’s philanthropists and tech innovators is also one of the city’s most old-fashioned: Arion Press makes books the same way Johannes Gutenberg did some 600 years ago, casting letters and numbers out of an alloy of lead, antimony and tin. Alexander Nazaryan, Poppy Lynch in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 9/4/26

SF Camerawork is reopening — and now has a $1 million boost -- SF Camerawork has secured $1 million in state funding over the next two years, strengthening its prospects after a turbulent August that included an announced closure and a sudden reorganization. Tony Bravo in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/4/26

POTUS 47

Trump again appeals to Supreme Court on mail-voting restrictions with midterm elections looming -- The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to reject an order by a federal judge that halts it from implementing a new rule regulating mail ballots, hours after being unable to tell that judge whether the computer system that would govern the entire project was operational yet. Lindsay Whitehurst, Michael Casey, Nicholas Riccardi Associated Press James Romoser in the Wall Street Journal$ Abbie VanSickle in the New York Times$ -- 9/4/26

‘We've told them he cannot come’: Republicans grapple with how to handle Trump on the trail -- Interviews with more than two dozen GOP lawmakers, candidates and operatives show a party far from unified on how to handle the president in tough races. Andrew Howard, Meredith Lee Hill and Erin Doherty Politico -- 9/4/26

Trump to Break Ground on Arch Before Getting Approval -- Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, announced plans to start work on the site of the 250-foot-tall triumphal arch. Final approval of the project is still pending. Luke Broadwater and Emily Badger in the New York Times$ Jesse Bedayn Associated Press -- 9/4/26