California Policy and Politics Tuesday

Edison tower caused deadly Eaton fire that devastated Altadena, long-awaited investigation finds -- Investigators found that “two electrical arcing events” caused burning material to fall from a SoCal Edison transmission tower onto thick brush, which quickly ignited. That fire quickly grew out of control amid extreme Santa Ana winds. Grace Toohey in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/4/26

 

California sues Trump to block latest tariffs, sharing of needy families’ data with ICE -- California filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration Monday — one to block President Trump’s latest round of tariffs on international trading partners, the other to block his administration from sharing needy families’ personal data with immigration officials. Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ Ari Hawkins Politico -- 8/4/26

Democratic states urge Supreme Court to block Trump’s new limits on mail ballots -- California and the other states said it is too late in the election year to impose a new set of regulations for mail ballots. Trump’s lawyer argued that judges should stand back for now, even though the midterm elections are only three months away. David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times$ Sara DiNatale in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/4/26

Trump set to visit L.A. for fundraiser. Attacking Newsom is on the agenda -- President Trump will travel to Los Angeles on Tuesday and Las Vegas on Wednesday as part of a two-day West Coast trip aimed at highlighting his administration’s economic record ahead of the midterm elections, a White House official confirmed. Ana Ceballos in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/4/26

Walters: Which version of Gavin Newsom will voters see if he runs for president? -- All politicians are, to some extent, chameleons who align their personas with the prevailing moods of the voting public. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 8/4/26

 

How wealth tax backers won over California Democrats -- Months of behind-the-scenes organizing — capped by an appearance from Rep. Maxine Waters — helped supporters secure the state party’s endorsement. Blake Jones and Jeremy B. White Politico -- 8/4/26

California Democrats Want to Tax Billionaires. They Can’t Agree on How -- Leaders of the state Democratic Party endorsed the ballot measure slated for November, but the party remains far from united on the issue as Democrats nationwide grapple with a growing wealth gap. Laurel Rosenhall and Soumya Karlamangla in the New York Times$ -- 8/4/26

 

California Assembly GOP ousts embattled leader Heath Flora as Legislature returns -- A Sacramento Bee investigation from last year found that Flora was not living in the Central Valley home that is registered as his “legal domicile,” regularly spent campaign funds at Sacramento restaurants and bars for “district meetings,” even though it was outside of the area he represented. Stephen Hobbs in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/4/26

Workplace

Report says bill allowing state workers to telework could save California millions -- A new analysis from the Senate Committee on Appropriations shows a bill supporting telework for state workers could save California hundreds of millions of dollars, even after accounting for its implementation costs. Corey Schmidt in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/4/26

Healthcare

California nearly achieved universal healthcare. Now, millions are losing coverage -- California’s uninsured rate could nearly double by 2030, with the sharpest losses hitting Black, Asian, and Latino residents in Southern California. A new documentary reveals the human toll behind the numbers, including families navigating Medi-Cal amid immigration raids and looming benefit cuts. Kristen Hwang Calmatters -- 8/4/26

Medi-Cal is changing. Here’s what to do if you’re worried about coverage -- It’s a tumultuous time for healthcare. Federal and state budget cuts are changing the rules for public benefits. Most people with Medi-Cal won’t be affected, but it may be confusing to figure out whether your benefits will change. Kristen Hwang and Ana B. Ibarra Calmatters -- 8/4/26

Struggling to survive, South L.A.’s MLK hospital seeks greater share of county funds -- The potential closure of the community hospital serving South Los Angeles would be ‘devastating,’ said L.A. County’s Dr. Naman Shah. ‘We would have untold misery from lack of access to care.’ Connor Sheets in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/4/26

Head Start

Proposed Trump overhaul of Head Start raises anxiety for California providers and families -- The Trump administration is planning to overhaul Head Start by turning over most of its quality standards to state control and tightening requirements for parents who are homeless or unemployed, two people familiar with the deliberations said. Moriah Balingit and Kate Sequeira in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/4/26

 

JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon says S.F. is back on track. His bank is betting on it -- JPMorgan Chase & Co., the nation’s largest bank, is ramping up its Bay Area presence and designated the region as a new corporate center Monday amid a new round of local investments. Roland Li in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/4/26

JPMorgan makes $200 million bet that San Francisco’s housing freeze is thawing -- Four years after rising interest rates all but froze apartment development across San Francisco, one of Wall Street’s biggest banks is making a bet few large financial institutions have been willing to wager: that it’s time to build housing again. Laura Waxmann in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/4/26

Housing

In Menlo Park housing fight, Bonta sends a potential warning to California cities -- After nearly two years of legal conflict over one of Menlo Park’s largest proposed developments on the former Sunset Magazine headquarters site, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has sided with the developer, saying the city violated state housing law in its effort to stop the project. Laura Waxmann in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/4/26

Wildfire

Devastation in Spokane bears tragic parallels to Palisades, Eaton fires -- The destruction is familiar to those in the L.A. region because, in 2025, residents lived it. The ongoing Spokane fires, like the Palisades and Eaton blazes, exploded near residential areas, during extreme fire weather on the heels of extremely dry winters. Clara Harter in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/4/26

A Mall in the Palisades, Protected From Wildfire, Prepares to Reopen -- About 300 construction workers last month milled around Palisades Village, an outdoor shopping mall in Los Angeles, one of the few structures that didn’t completely burn down during the wildfire last year. Kim Bhasin and Shawn Hubler in the New York Times$ -- 8/4/26

Child Care

Desperate for day care: How empty TK-12 classrooms can help fix California’s child-care crisis -- Declining enrollment in California public schools is spawning a new and growing partnership that is helping to keep child-care centers in business — vacant classrooms are being filled with toddlers and babies. Kate Sequeira in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/4/26

Education

Teachers have some big wins in this year’s California budget. Here are their victories -- The funding for teacher recruitment and retention builds on the more than $1 billion California has spent since 2018 to end a persistent school staffing shortage that has left many classrooms without a fully credentialed teacher. Diana Lambert EdSource -- 8/4/26

The ‘Fraud Squad’ at Caltech Will Catch You if You Lie on Your Application -- College investigators vet every admitted student’s application as schools nationwide battle AI-fueled cheating. Roshan Fernandez, Adam Amengual in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 8/4/26

AI

California AI transparency law’s first phase cracks down on deepfakes, scams -- The first set of regulations mandated by California’s AI Transparency Act went into effect Sunday. Now, AI giants like Google and Anthropic will have to make their technologies comply with the state’s fight against pornography deepfakes and AI scams. Evelyn Ronan in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/4/26

White House Whipsaws Silicon Valley (and Itself) Over A.I. Rules -- The Trump administration has struggled over how to approach “open source” models, which are freely available to download and favored by Chinese companies. David McCabe, Mike Isaac, Ana Swanson and Kate Conger in the New York Times$ -- 8/4/26

These Employees Like Their A.I. Boss. Its Shop Is Kind of a Disaster. -- A new study of a bot running a first-of-its-kind San Francisco store finds it is really friendly, but not very smart. Heather Knight in the New York Times$ -- 8/4/26

Also

Northern California woman identified as In-N-Out worker killed in mass shooting -- Ashley Garibay, 23, had traveled from Stockton to train workers at the burger chain’s newly opened Twin Falls restaurant. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/4/26

Contraband fuel: Smuggling gasoline into Mexico earns cartels millions -- To avoid taxes and high import fees, gasoline and diesel legally purchased in the United States is being smuggled into Mexico. The scheme, known as huachicol fiscal, is the second-largest source of revenue for cartels, after drug trafficking. An astounding one-third to one-quarter of all fuel sold in Mexico may be illicit. Patrick J. McDonnell in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/4/26

POTUS 47

An Emerging Deal Could Cement Iran’s Control of Strait of Hormuz -- Iran and Oman are closing in on an agreement to reopen shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian and American officials, but if the accord goes into effect it could come at a high price — ratifying Tehran’s control over what, before the war, was an open, international waterway. David E. Sanger, Farnaz Fassihi and Eric Schmitt in the New York Times$ -- 8/4/26

As Blanche's path to confirmation is cleared, Trump's tax audit immunity remains in place -- In a document Blanche sent to the lawmakers Sunday, he said the audit immunity, struck as part of a deal to resolve the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, would not protect the president from the examination of future tax filings. Instead, he noted, it “applies by its terms only retroactively” to claims open at the time of the lawsuit’s settlement. Fatima Hussein Associated Press -- 8/4/26

Republicans Let Trump Keep Unparalleled Benefit: I.R.S. Immunity -- The rebellion against Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general, now seemingly contained, at no point fundamentally questioned President Trump’s new protections from the I.R.S. Andrew Duehren in the New York Times$ -- 8/4/26

Completely hollow’: critics denounce Blanche deal to halt Trump slush fund -- A compromise between Todd Blanche and two Republican senators that potentially cleared the way for Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general is weak, Democrats and several experts said, as it makes promises Donald Trump can easily reverse. Sam Levine and Chris Stein in The Guardian -- 8/4/26

Trump keeps making threats. The world has stopped flinching -- The president’s bombast has ceased to rattle world leaders, who have seen him fenced in by courts, rebuffed by Congress and strung along by Iran. Steve Hendrix and Anthony Faiola in the Washington Post$ -- 8/4/26