California Policy and Politics Friday

California’s jet fuel stockpile hits two-year low as war strangles oil supplies -- Isolated from the national pipeline network, California is uniquely vulnerable to fuel shortages, and budget carriers like Spirit Airlines face potential bankruptcy if costs don’t stabilize soon. Caroline Petrow-Cohen in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/26

 

Eric Swalwell paid $40K in campaign funds to lawyer defending him against assault claims -- A financial disclosure filed Thursday evening says Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign paid the fee to lawyer Sara Azari, who began representing him after the allegations broke this month. Sophia Bollag in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/24/26

Under fire, Tom Steyer leans into his climate brand -- Turns out that Tom Steyer wants to be the climate guy in the governor’s race after all. After launching his campaign with an ad focused on affordability and eschewing any mention of climate, the Democratic billionaire has changed his tune. Camille von Kaenel Politico -- 4/24/26

Arellano: Stop being so chill, Xavier Becerra. Fight for California’s future -- Xavier Becerra needed to land a knockout punch, even more so than the five other candidates for California governor he was facing at Wednesday night’s debate. Instead, he fired off some slaps. Gustavo Arellano in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/26

Democratic governors, including potential presidential candidates, attend major L.A. fundraiser -- The event at liquor heiress Ellen Bronfman Hauptman’s L.A.-area home featured California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and others. Seema Mehta in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/26

California election officials face false choice: count votes quickly or count them right -- California’s notoriously long ballot-counting process has sown distrust in the state’s election systems. But experts can’t agree on how to speed up the process; some say a delayed result is better than potentially disenfranchising voters. Maya C. Miller Calmatters -- 4/24/26

Walters: California’s candidates for governor must prioritize schools’ education deficits -- In a very recent Public Policy Institute of California poll, responses were mixed about whether the public school system is moving in the right direction, but 89% said it needs to change. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 4/24/26

 

Trump and Newsom agree hospice fraud is a problem. They’re feuding over it anyway -- President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom both say they’re waging war on hospice fraud, or networks of sham businesses billing for nonexistent end-of-life care. But what might be common ground for the rivals has turned into the latest bout of one-upmanship between the state and the federal government. Sara DiNatale in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/24/26

‘In-your-face racism’ at an elite campus: Black students raise alarm at Pomona College -- Pomona College is grappling with multiple anti-Black incidents, including slurs used at athletic and social events and in the classroom. Black students describe the cases as part of a pattern that’s eroding trust at the selective Claremont liberal arts campus. Jaweed Kaleem, Jason Armond in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/26

San Diego guts arts funding to balance budget as California cities make deep spending cuts -- San Diego is slashing funding for arts, libraries and recreation centers, as it stares down a $146 million budget deficit that’s forcing unpopular spending cuts. It’s not alone. Deborah Brennan Calmatters -- 4/24/26

 

California lawmakers seek protections for hospital patients in ICE custody -- California lawmakers alarmed by the treatment of people brought to hospitals by federal immigration agents want to strengthen protections for detained patients receiving care at medical facilities, including by making it easier for their families and attorneys to find them. Claudia Boyd-Barrett, KFF Health News in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/24/26

ICE quietly opens another detention center in a former California prison -- California now has eight ICE detention centers. Two opened since President Trump took office in 2025, with both operating in former state prisons. Wendy Fry Calmatters -- 4/24/26

Federal judge orders release of Pasadena man who is plaintiff in lawsuit against immigration raids -- U.S. District Judge Michelle Williams ordered the government to immediately release Isaac Antonio Villegas Molina, a Pasadena resident who was detained a week ago during a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Brittny Mejia in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/26

Too many cases, not enough judges. How immigration cases strain Sacramento court backlog -- The longstanding judicial emergency in the federal court district that includes Sacramento has grown dramatically worse in recent weeks, with an existing backlog of cases strained more by a flood of legal actions stemming from the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement. Sharon Bernstein in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 4/24/26

Workplace

Meta to Lay Off 10% of Employees in May -- Meta Platforms will lay off 10% of staff, or roughly 8,000 people, in May as it seeks to streamline its operations and pay for massive investments in artificial intelligence, the company said Thursday in an internal memo. Meghan Bobrowsky in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 4/24/26

Behind Meta’s Huge Layoffs Is a Relentless Shift Toward AI -- Meta Platforms just offered a glimpse at what it thinks the future of work looks like: training and supervising artificial-intelligence systems to do what used to be your job. And that’s if you still have a job at all. Meghan Bobrowsky in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 4/24/26

Nike to Cut 1,400 Jobs as Part of Its Turnaround Plan -- Most of the layoffs will affect tech workers as the athletic giant tries to reverse a yearslong sales slump. It’s the second round of cuts this year. Kim Bhasin in the New York Times$ -- 4/24/26

Microsoft Targets About 7% of Its U.S. Workers With Buyout Offer -- The tech giant is offering long-serving employees early retirements as it continues to invest aggressively in artificial intelligence. Karen Weise in the New York Times$ -- 4/24/26

Effort to hold Uber legally responsible for sexual assaults by drivers heads to ballot -- California’s trial attorneys and Uber — longtime courtroom foes — are officially bringing their fight to the November ballot. Rebecca Ellis in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/26

Wildfire

California legislator wanted to guarantee home insurance. Companies fought back -- Insurance companies on Wednesday beat back the latest effort to force them to sell homeowner policies to Californians who take certain steps to make their properties less likely to burn, over the urging of wildfire victims and efforts to make a proposed bill more agreeable to the influential businesses. Stephen Hobbs in the Sacramento Bee$ Laurence Darmiento in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/26

Develop

California Supreme Court limits Coastal Commission’s power to block development -- But once a local government has won the commission’s approval for its overall development plan on coastal lands, Guerrero said, the commission cannot “edit” that plan by vetoing specific projects or ordering new restrictions. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/24/26

Education

Bay Area student sues teachers and principal, alleging ‘unrelenting’ antisemitic harassment -- The lawsuit is more fallout from the Israel-Hamas war in Bay Area schools, where accusations of antisemitism and Islamophobia have pitted students, parents and teachers against each other. Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/24/26

California tests limits of school phone ban movement -- Smartphone ban tensions boiling over in California reflect a broader, national debate that crosses party lines. Tyler Katzenberger Politico -- 4/24/26

Street

Daughters of homeless man killed by Tustin police are awarded $17 million. City calls shooting justified -- A jury awarded the daughters of a man killed by Tustin police $17 million. Police responded to a report of a man with a knife. Ruben Vives in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/26

Officers called out serious problems at firearms training facility; LAPD retaliated, jury finds -- A Los Angeles Superior Court jury found that the L.A. Police Department retaliated against four officers who attempted to raise concerns about unsafe working conditions at a firearms training facility. Ruben Vives in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/26

California Republicans call it the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’. Here’s who it’s supposed to help -- California gradually expanded a privacy program for crime victims and workers in sensitive industries. This year, Republicans call it a threat to fraud investigations and citizen journalism. Lynn La Calmatters -- 4/24/26

Also

Michael Tilson Thomas and Metallica: Revisiting an unforgettable San Francisco collaboration -- Michael Tilson Thomas, the longtime San Francisco Symphony music director whose death has prompted tributes across the music world, left behind a legacy that stretched far beyond the concert hall. Among the most vivid examples was S&M2, the pair of concerts that united Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony for the opening of Chase Center in San Francisco. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/24/26

World’s Top Producer of Condoms Raises Prices as Iran War Rattles Supply Chains -- The world’s largest condom maker is raising prices of its products by up to 30 percent, warning that shortages of raw materials and chemicals because of the Iran war could disrupt production. Zunaira Saieed in the New York Times$ -- 4/24/26

Dementia patient beaten, set on fire and killed in downtown L.A., prosecutors say -- A wandering dementia patient died Monday after a homeless man in downtown Los Angeles punched and kicked him in the head, slammed him to the ground and set him on fire, prosecutors said Thursday. Fedor Zarkhin in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/26

POTUS 47

Persian Gulf Oil Damage Will Ripple Long Past the End of the War -- Even if the strait opens tomorrow, the hit to the global economy will be long lasting. Ed Ballard, Joe Wallace and Summer Said in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 4/24/26

Iran War Has Drained U.S. Supplies of Critical, Costly Weapons -- Since the Iran war began in late February, the United States has burned through around 1,100 of its long-range stealth cruise missiles built for a war with China, close to the total number remaining in the U.S. stockpile. The military has fired off more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, roughly 10 times the number it currently buys each year. Eric Schmitt and Jonathan Swan in the New York Times$ -- 4/24/26

Tariffs Raised Consumers’ Prices, but the Refunds Go Only to Businesses -- Many families felt the sting of the president’s now-illegal tariffs, but companies have said little about whether they will share the $166 billion coming back to them. Tony Romm in the New York Times$ -- 4/24/26