.png)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Updating . . .
California Policy and Politics Thursday
The union man who unleashed a political earthquake in California -- For decades, Dave Regan has used California’s direct democracy system in a relentless campaign to shore up union power — and his own. But his newest mission is on an entirely different scale. Jeremy B. White Politico -- 3/26/26
Landmark L.A. jury verdict finds Instagram, YouTube were designed to addict kids -- A Los Angeles jury found Instagram and YouTube liable for designing their platforms to addict young users. The landmark verdict is potentially setting precedent for thousands of other pending lawsuits nationwide. Sonja Sharp in the Los Angeles Times$ Colin Lecher Calmatters -- 3/26/26
Newsom: Social media verdict should be ‘moment of reckoning’ for Big Tech -- Newsom said two recent rulings against Meta and YouTube are “two big, tectonic decisions that will have profound impact.” Tyler Katzenberger and Lindsey Holden Politico -- 3/26/26
San Diego diesel prices blow past the $7 mark. You will likely feel the effects soon -- Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.com, posted on X that the $7 mark is “not just a milestone — it’s a warning. Trucking and agriculture run on diesel. Higher costs are coming, and they won’t just stay in California.” Rob Nikolewski in the San Diego Union Tribune -- 3/26/26
Trump Says the Energy Shock Will Be Short-Lived. CEOs Paint a Scarier Picture -- Some oil and gas executives are privately expressing frustration with the administration’s optimistic messaging and say the disruption is already far-reaching. Benoît Morenne and Collin Eaton in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 3/26/26
Latino Support for Trump Is Fading in California Farm Country -- As in other Hispanic areas of the country, voters shifted toward Republicans in 2024. But there are increasing signs that this was a blip more than a durable trend. Jennifer Medina, Ariana Drehsler in the New York Times$ -- 3/26/26
He’s an election skeptic. And he’s in charge of elections in Shasta County -- From rural Shasta County, Clint Curtis has solidified his position as a torchbearer of the election denialism movement. Curtis, the county registrar of voters, has eliminated nine of the county’s 13 ballot drop boxes and hung cameras everywhere to capture election workers’ every move. Hailey Branson-Potts, Jason Armond in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/26/26
California bill would crack down on communities that suppress voting -- California Democrats are attempting to fight efforts by Republicans to restrict voting by introducing a big update to the California Voting Rights Act Wednesday meant to expand voter access. Sophia Bollag in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/26/26
Man pardoned for Jan. 6 riot runs for Madera supervisor. Incumbent is ‘not worried’ -- Benjamin Martin told The Bee he is proud to have stood up for Trump. He said he is focused on his campaign for Madera County supervisor and is not dwelling on the past. Liliana Fannin in the Fresno Bee -- 3/26/26
Feds ramp up scrutiny in yearslong dispute over California airport money -- The FAA wants California to prove it’s allocating jet fuel tax revenue to aviation. Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake. Levi Sumagaysay Calmatters -- 3/26/26
ICE
Mass deportations could jolt Bay Area economy and trigger job losses, report warns -- Mass deportations proposed by the Trump administration could strip as much as $67 billion from the Bay Area economy, hitting key industries and worsening an already fragile job market, according to a new report released Wednesday. George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 3/26/26
San Jose council wrestles with investments tied to ICE contracts -- Critics are calling on the city of San Jose to divest from companies they say are enabling federal immigration enforcement. Officials, however, say that is easier said than done. Ryan Macasero in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 3/26/26
Environment
California regulators obscured records in hazardous waste rulemaking -- California’s hazardous waste regulator added hundreds of pages of federal road accident reports to a rulemaking record — then gave the public a broken link to access them and directed anyone who wanted to read them to submit a public records request. Alejandra Reyes-Velarde Calmatters -- 3/25/2
Workplace
Meta lays off hundreds of workers amid huge AI spending -- Meta is laying off hundreds of workers, according to a person familiar with the company’s plans, adding another wave of layoffs in big tech amid huge spending on artificial intelligence. Roland Li in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/26/26
S.F. firefighters to get 14% raises under contract deal with City Hall -- The San Francisco firefighters union has secured a deal with City Hall to grant its members a 14% pay increase over four years, mirroring a similar agreement recently secured by city police officers. J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/26/26
Marketplace
Los Angeles, Miami and San Diego Are Shrinking as Immigration Slows -- Big metros depend on immigrants for growth, and people moving away are draining populations. Paul Overberg, Harriet Torry and Max Rust in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 3/26/26
Supreme Court makes it harder for music and movie makers to sue for online piracy -- In a 9-0 decision, the justices threw out Sony’s lawsuit and a $1-billion verdict against Cox Cable for copyright infringement. Sony’s lawyers pointed to hundreds of thousands of instances of Cox customers sharing copyrighted works. David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/26/26
Sony and Honda pull plug on the $100,000 EV that was set to debut in California -- The move by Sony Honda Mobility comes weeks after Honda announced a $15.7-billion writedown of its EV business and said it would cancel planned production for three of its own electric models. Caroline Petrow-Cohen in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/26/26
Street
L.A. tries to close off manhole where people live, nearly sealing someone inside -- City crews were on the verge of welding a manhole cover shut in South Los Angeles Wednesday morning when a surprise discovery stopped them in their tracks. Fedor Zarkhin and Allen J. Schaben in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/26/26
Marin congressman pushes bill to regulate e-bikes and e-motos -- A Marin County congressman is pressing a bill that would set consistent federal standards for e-bikes and other electric two-wheeled vehicles, following a rash of collisions in the Bay Area and other parts of the country. Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/26/26
S.F.’s downtown safety ambassadors were about to disappear until a $5 million lifeline arrived -- In vests and windbreakers bright as traffic cones — or, just as often, in dark navy layers — San Francisco’s safety ambassadors fan out across downtown, from Union Square to the Montgomery BART station, the Embarcadero and the edges of Moscone Center, radios crackling as they scan the shifting crowds of commuters, conventioneers and tourists. Laura Waxmann in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/26/26
Also
America’s Fanciest Restaurant Enters the Fight Over Affordable Housing -- In Napa Valley, the French Laundry and others say a planned apartment complex isn’t a good fit. Project supporters cite ‘a fear of riffraff.’ Jim Carlton in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 3/26/26
Bay Area startup’s robot joins Melania Trump at the White House -- A humanoid robot developed by a Silicon Valley startup made a rare and carefully choreographed appearance at the White House on Wednesday, a symbol of the growing prominence of artificial intelligence in education and public policy. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/26/26
Walters: California’s budget bleeds red ink with added pressure to cover Trump’s cuts -- Nine months into the 2025-26 fiscal year, state tax revenues are running several billion dollars ahead of projections in the budget that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last June. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 3/26/26
POTUS 47
The war will push U.S. inflation above 4 percent this year, according to a new forecast -- The war in Iran will lead to a surge in inflation this year, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz pushes up prices for oil, gas and other commodities, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Thursday. Eshe Nelson in the New York Times$ -- 3/26/26
Trump’s move to send ICE to airports fails to break impasse or end long lines -- Airport slogs continue to put pressure on lawmakers and the White House, but a deal remains elusive as Senate Democrats hold out for restraints on immigration agents. Isaac Arnsdorf, Dan Diamond and Theodoric Meyer in the Washington Post$ -- 3/26/26
Biden-era DOJ memo: Trump hoarded classified documents relevant to his businesses -- President Donald Trump maintained government documents relevant to his business interests after he left office, according to an internal memo from former special counsel Jack Smith’s office. The memo, viewed by Politico, was transmitted by the Justice Department to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees earlier this month. Hailey Fuchs Politico -- 3/26/26
Trump showed classified map to passengers on his plane in 2022, memo says -- President Donald Trump showed a classified map he retained from his first term in office to passengers on a 2022 private plane flight and retained another record so sensitive that only six high-ranking government officials had access to it, according to a prosecution memo released to Congress this week. Jeremy Roebuck and Maegan Vazquez in the Washington Post$ -- 3/26/26
Allies and Congress are about to lose a key window into US military plans -- The Pentagon, for the first time in decades, has no plans to release a much-anticipated review of its troop placement abroad — a move that snubs lawmakers and U.S. allies, who use the analysis to determine budgets and discern American military policy. Paul McLeary, Leo Shane III and Chris Lunday Politico -- 3/26/26
Trump’s ‘absurdly incoherent’ Iran pleas leave allies befuddled -- European countries have ruled out helping secure the Strait of Hormuz until the conflict is over — but also haven’t received any specific requests for assistance from the U.S. Victor Jack, Chris Lunday and Esther Webber Politico -- 3/26/26
‘Freaked people out’: Iran war could crimp Gulf allies’ US investments -- Any pullback on investments from Middle Eastern governments will limit the amount of capital available to U.S.-based tech startups, investment firms and big businesses. Sam Sutton, Megan Messerly and Dasha Burns Politico -- 3/26/26
California Policy and Politics Wednesday
Court denies California’s bid to halt Riverside sheriff’s recount of 2025 election ballots -- A California court on Tuesday quickly denied Attorney General Rob Bonta’s request to halt the Riverside County Sheriff Department’s effort to recount ballots from the November 2025 special election. In an unprecedented move, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican who is running for governor, seized roughly 650,000 ballots and began conducting a recount of votes. Cayla Mihalovich and Jeanne Kuang Calmatters Hailey Branson-Potts in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/25/26
Judge who OK’d ballot seizure spoke glowingly about Republican sheriff leading investigation -- The judge who approved a request for Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to seize more than 650,000 ballots last month touted the sheriff’s endorsement before he was first elected in 2022, and spoke glowingly about Bianco on a podcast in the run-up to the election that year. The two men also share other key political backers and donors. Raheem Hosseini, Sophia Bollag in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/25/26
Hasty plans for forum to replace scrapped USC governor’s debate fall apart -- Facing backlash over selection criteria that excluded all candidates of color, USC canceled its Tuesday gubernatorial debate. A last-minute forum proposed by Tom Steyer at KNBC-TV fell apart because the excluded candidates of color couldn’t attend due to other commitments. Seema Mehta and Nicole Nixon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/25/26
California Democrats’ crisis deepens as defiant governor candidates dig in -- State Democratic Party leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, appear unwilling to force lower-polling Democrats out of the race, which could help consolidate support behind a Democratic candidate and virtually eliminate the chance of a Republican becoming governor in a state where Democrats have nearly twice as many registered voters. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/25/26
As Gas Prices Spike, California Is Hit Hardest -- As gasoline prices have risen since the war in Iran began, no state has felt the pinch at the pump more than California, where a gallon costs nearly $2 more than the national average. Ivan Penn and Kurtis Lee in the New York Times$ -- 3/25/26
The Epstein files made him a political star. Then he posted six words to social media -- As fall drew to a close, Rep. Ro Khanna was riding high. Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/25/26
CA Sen. Schiff pushes bill to ban sports betting on online prediction markets -- California Sen. Adam Schiff is spearheading a bipartisan effort to prohibit prediction markets from allowing sports betting. The legislation, introduced Monday, seeks to stop the federally regulated platforms from allowing wagers that resemble a sports bet or casino-style game. Mathew Miranda in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 3/25/26
Walters: California governor’s race gets weirder with debate cancellation, new poll -- Just when we thought the campaign for California’s governorship couldn’t get any weirder, it did. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 3/25/26
T.S.A. Tipped Off ICE Agents Before Arrests at San Francisco Airport -- Transportation Security Administration officials told ICE that a mother and daughter under a detention order had planned to fly domestically, federal documents show. Hamed Aleaziz and Heather Knight in the New York Times$ -- 3/25/26
Mass deportations could jolt Bay Area economy and trigger job losses: report -- Mass deportations could jolt the Bay Area economy, erode the region’s already shaky job market, undermine federal, state and property tax revenue, and dampen retail and restaurant spending, according to a new economic report. George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 3/25/26
She uncovered a terrifying lab hidden in California, with alleged ties to China -- Code enforcement officer Jesalyn Harper discovered a clandestine biolab in a Reedley, Calif., warehouse containing dangerous pathogens including HIV, malaria, COVID-19 and Ebola. Hannah Fry in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/25/26
As L.A. jury deliberates, another social media lawsuit ends in $375-million verdict -- A jury in Santa Fe, N.M., returned a $375-million verdict against Meta in a lawsuit that alleged the company knew its products were harmful to children. Jurors have been deliberating for eight days in a similar landmark lawsuit in Los Angeles County. Sonja Sharp in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/25/26
California AG says social media’s ‘hypocrisy’ on kids’ safety echoes tobacco companies -- California Attorney General Rob Bonta equated social media giants like Meta, Snap and TikTok to the tobacco industry in public remarks Tuesday, accusing the companies of prioritizing profit over safety by marketing addictive products to kids. Tyler Katzenberger Politico -- 3/25/26
In California, the war on ultraprocessed foods moves to the supermarket -- A California Democrat is pushing a bill to create the nation’s first seal of approval for non-ultraprocessed foods — and require grocery stores to prominently display those products at the ends of aisles and other visible locations. Nicole Norman and Rachel Bluth Politico -- 3/25/26
OpenAI will shut down its Sora tool -- OpenAI plans to shut down its Sora text-to-video tool, a stunning move that comes three months after Walt Disney Co. pledged to invest $1 billion in the artificial intelligence company and allow the use of dozens of beloved characters. Samantha Masunaga and Nilesh Christopher in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/25/26
A new COVID variant is showing up in California — here’s what to know -- A newly emerging coronavirus variant with signs of immune escape has been detected in California wastewater, offering an early signal that the virus continues to evolve even as COVID-19 activity remains low across the state. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/25/26
Wildfire
Sorry your house burned down. Here’s a $23,000 HOA bill — due next month -- A luxury Altadena community levied a $23,614 HOA bill on all residents after fire damage, giving homeowners 34 days to pay. The hasty deadline and threats of liens sparked fierce neighbor-to-neighbor conflict and litigation against residents whose homes burned or were damaged in the Eaton fire. Jack Flemming in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/25/26
Workplace
Napa Valley’s famed French Laundry sued for alleged labor violations -- A former French Laundry employee has sued the three-Michelin-starred restaurant over lost wages and several other alleged California labor code violations. Jess Lander in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/25/26
‘Fortnite’ video game maker lays off over 1,000 workers -- The Cary, N.C.,-based company that has offices in San Francisco has also identified over $500 million in cost savings around contracting, marketing and closing open positions. Roland Li in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/25/26
ICE
Why a private company is investigating rapes at an ICE detention center instead of the sheriff -- San Diego County Sheriff’s officials failed to investigate at least seven reported sexual assaults at the privately run Otay Mesa immigration detention center in 2025, and records show the agency has ceded control of the cases to civilian administrators employed by the nation’s largest for-profit prison contractor. Wendy Fry and Nigel Duara Calmatters -- 3/25/26
Housing
Four-story buildings allowed in some single-family zones under L.A.’s plan to delay SB 79 -- L.A. City Council voted Tuesday to adopt a strategy to upzone 55 single-family and low-density areas citywide in order to delay SB 79 implementation. The strategy permits 4-16 unit buildings up to four stories — far less aggressive than SB 79’s 6-9 story allowance near transit stops. Jack Flemming in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/25/26
Homeless
A new homelessness strategy is sweeping California -- Homelessness prevention shows promising results in California, as advocates push to spread it statewide and nationally. Marisa Kendall Calmatters -- 3/25/26
USC
USC is latest to join a college ‘megatrend’ — and its acceptance rate will totally change -- Admission to the University of Southern California is about to change dramatically as USC joins a national “megatrend” transforming how elite colleges accept students — and making it even harder for many to get in. Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/25/26
SF Schools
San Francisco students to stay in school 5 days longer this year -- Summer break will start a week later this year for San Francisco students, possibly delaying family vacations or other plans as officials try to make up for school days lost during last month’s teachers strike. Anna Bauman in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/25/26
POTUS 47
Iran dismisses US ceasefire plan, as strikes land in Tehran and across the Mideast -- Iranian state television’s English-language broadcaster quoted an anonymous official on Wednesday saying that Iran had rejected America’s 15-point ceasefire proposal. Bridget Brown, Lorian Belanger, Brian P. D. Hannon, Curtis Yee, Bernard Mcghee Bridget Associated Press -- 3/25/26
A ‘Wannabe Strongman’ Rises in Iran as Trump Seeks a Dealmaker --Iran’s combative Parliament speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, is emerging as an unlikely figure in Washington’s search for a deal to halt a widening Middle East war. Laurence Norman and Benoit Faucon in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 3/25/26
Army paratroopers ordered to Middle East as U.S. weighs next Iran move -- The orders follow weeks of speculation about whether the 82nd Airborne would join the war, after its headquarters unit abruptly pulled out of a training exercise this month. Dan Lamothe and Noah Robertson in the Washington Post$ Eric Schmitt in the New York Times$ -- 3/25/26
The Oil Supply Crunch Is Spreading From the Gulf to the Rest of the World -- At the center of the supply squeeze in the Middle East, traders are paying an eye-watering $160 a barrel for the Emirati oil that can dodge the Strait of Hormuz, far above those global benchmarks. Those sky-high prices, traders say, are a harbinger of where the rest of the market could be heading if the Persian Gulf isn’t reopened soon. Joe Wallace in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 3/25/26
How Jack Smith connected the dots between GOP lawmakers, Trump aides in 2020 election probe -- Former special counsel Jack Smith’s office sought to map a vast web of contacts between President Donald Trump’s most vocal Republican allies in Congress and key players in his bid to subvert the results of the 2020 election, according to newly released records of the Smith-led investigation. Hailey Fuchs and Kyle Cheney Politico -- 3/25/26
Prosecutor admits government lacks evidence of misconduct by Fed chair -- The admission during a closed-door hearing undercuts President Donald Trump’s claims of “criminality” in the central bank’s $2.5 billion office renovations. Salvador Rizzo and Andrew Ackerman in the Washington Post$ -- 3/25/26