Rough & Tumble ®
A Realtime Snapshot of California Public Policy and Politics		  
 
 
   
 
 
 

California Policy and Politics Monday

He was willing to testify against the cartel — but ICE got to him first -- Javier Hernandez agreed to testify against two men arrested alongside him when DEA agents seized nearly 22 pounds of meth in 2015. Hernandez says he received graphic death threats against his family members but was still willing to cooperate with authorities. Six months before he could take the stand, he was detained by ICE and deported. Prosecutors lost the case against his co-defendants soon after. James Queally in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/6/26

The farmworker movement made César Chávez famous. But Filipinos started it -- ‘There would be no UFW without Larry Itliong,’ one Filipina historian said. Kyle Martin in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 4/6/26

Costs soar for troubled state program that pays workers up to $1,700 weekly for various ailments -- 'It's a well-intentioned program that's lost its way and run amok with real consequences for taxpayer-funded agencies,' said a reform group spokesperson. Tony Saavedra in the Orange County Register$ -- 4/6/26

 

A stunning new California beach preserve has drawn hordes of visitors. Where should they park? -- The secret is out: A new hiking destination along the Sonoma Coast allows visitors to walk down to a beautiful beach that was all but off-limits to the public for more than a century. Visitation there has surged — and the question is: what to do about it? Gregory Thomas in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/6/26

Imperial Beach presses forward as pollution crisis persists -- Years of raw sewage and industrial waste flowing north from Tijuana have closed beaches, sickened families, and stigmatized a small beach town. Life goes on anyway. Walker Armstrong in the San Diego Union Tribune -- 4/6/26

Street

San Bernardino police slammed handcuffed teen to the ground, lawsuit alleges -- An 18-year-old woman sued San Bernardino police after an officer allegedly body-slammed her face-first to the pavement while handcuffed, causing a concussion and injuries. Ruben Vives in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/6/26

Rough & Tumble

For more than 30 years — day in, day out — he’s chronicled California. One paragraph at a time -- The Sacramento-based Rough & Tumble may be California’s longest-running aggregator of politics and policy. Mark Z. Barabak in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/6/26

Also

The eaglets have landed for Big Bear couple Jackie and Shadow -- It’s an Easter Sunday to remember for Big Bear bald eagles Jackie and Shadow, who welcomed a pair of eaglets this weekend in front of 2.5 million social media followers. Stephen Battaglio in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/6/26

A stunning new California beach preserve has drawn hordes of visitors. Where should they park? -- The secret is out: A new hiking destination along the Sonoma Coast allows visitors to walk down to a beautiful beach that was all but off-limits to the public for more than a century. Visitation there has surged — and the question is: what to do about it? Gregory Thomas in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/6/26

POTUS 47

Iran dismisses Trump’s expletive-filled threat over Strait of Hormuz -- A defiant Iran struck infrastructure targets in neighboring Gulf Arab countries and threatened to restrict another heavily used waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Arabian Peninsula. Lorian Belanger, Brian P. D. Hannon Associated Press -- 4/5/26

Oil Prices Climb Further After Trump’s Threats to Tehran -- U.S. oil futures opened higher Sunday evening after President Trump ramped up his threats toward Iran ahead of a Tuesday deadline he has set for the country to allow tanker traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz oil-shipping lane. Ryan Dezember in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 4/6/26

Trump’s Lesson From Risky Rescue: Threaten to Go Harder at Iran -- In an expletive-laced social media post, the president said Iran should open the Strait of Hormuz or he would bomb bridges and power plants. David E. Sanger in the New York Times$ -- 4/6/26

ICE Agents Detain Newlywed Spouse of Soldier Training to Deploy -- The 22-year-old wife of an Army staff sergeant came to the U.S. as a toddler. She was taken from a military base where the couple planned to live. Miriam Jordan in the New York Times$ -- 4/6/26

On Easter, Pope Leo delivers commanding message of peace to a world at war -- “Let those who have weapons lay them down!” the first American pope declared. The White House’s war in Iran and nativist agenda at home are testing the Vatican. Anthony Faiola in the Washington Post$ -- 4/6/26

The war’s economic impact could get worse for Americans -- Amazon is adding a fuel surcharge to its e-commerce deliveries. Mortgage rates have risen to their highest mark in seven months. And consumers may soon see higher prices for soda bottles and detergents. David J. Lynch in the Washington Post$ -- 4/6/26

 

California Policy and Politics Sunday

Under L.A. mayor’s $300-million homeless program, 40% have returned to the street -- The longer Inside Safe exists, the greater the share of participants who have returned to “unsheltered” homelessness, according to a Times analysis. David Zahniser, Genaro Molina in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/5/26

 

California election experts sound alarm as rate of rejected ballots quadruples -- A significant number of mail-in ballots arrived too late to be counted in the Nov. 4 special election for Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s successful measure to reconfigure the state’s congressional districts, according to state data. Dakota Smith and Vanessa Martínez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/5/26

House Democrats to hold California ‘shadow hearings’ on midterm election security -- House Democrats will hold a pair of “shadow hearings” in California next week on the upcoming midterm elections — part of a broader party effort to defend state voting systems against mounting critiques and threats of intervention from the Trump administration. Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/5/26

Garofoli: In race to replace Pelosi, a difference in styles -- The top three Democrats running to succeed Nancy Pelosi largely agree on the main issues, but differ stylistically on how they would approach the job. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/5/26

Could Democrats win all San Diego County’s seats in Congress? That all depends on one North County race -- A handful of Democrats find themselves running in a very different 48th Congressional District — and against a very different Republican. Lucas Robinson in the San Diego Union Tribune -- 4/5/26

Politicians are debuting holograms at airports. It’s either innovation or the ‘height of inauthenticity.’ -- From Jacksonville to San Francisco and Las Vegas, holograms are starting to make inroads in American politics. Daniel Miller Politico -- 4/5/26

 

Trump administration arrests relatives of dead Iranian general in Los Angeles -- The Trump administration announced on Saturday the arrests of two Los Angeles-based relatives of a high-ranking member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020. Noah Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/5/26

Arellano: Birthright citizenship secured my family’s American dream. No wonder Trump hates it -- I’m the beneficiary of birthright citizenship three times over. My maternal grandmother, Marcela Fernández, was born in 1914 in an Arizona copper town to parents who fled the Mexican Revolution before returning to their mountain pueblo in Zacatecas. Gustavo Arellano in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/5/26

President Trump bashed State Farm on social media: Why it didn’t come out of the blue -- State Farm, California’s largest home insurer, is under investigation for how it has handled January 2025 wildfire claims. In a statement responding to the president’s post, it said it has received 13,700 claims, paid out $5.7 billion and expects total payments could reach $7 billion. Laurence Darmiento in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/5/26

 

Judge blocks Trump administration demand for race, GPA data of California college applicants -- A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s demand for seven years of applicant data from public universities in California and 16 other Democratic-led states. The requested data included grade-point averages, test scores, race, family income for hundreds of thousands of applicants. Jaweed Kaleem in the Los Angeles Times$ Bianca Quilantan Politico -- 4/5/26

 

These California research stations prepare for fire risk. The Trump administration is shutting them down -- The Trump administration announced this week it will shut down six of eight U.S. Forest Service research facilities in California as part of a major national reorganization that could leave the state underequipped to manage escalating wildfire and drought threats. Kate Talerico in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/5/26

Who controls your home insurance? A high-stakes California race could decide -- Few statewide elections stand to matter more this year than the race for insurance commissioner — the primary official tasked with stemming a wildfire-stoked home insurance crisis that has sent rates soaring across California. Ethan Varian in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 4/5/26

Endangered salmon returned to Northern California, then the money dried up -- Two years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a strategy to save declining salmon — spotlighting a historic partnership with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe to reintroduce endangered winter-run Chinook to the vital cold waters upstream of Lake Shasta in far Northern California. Rachel Becker CalMatters in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/5/26

Workplace

What an LAUSD strike would mean for students, families and schools -- With a potential strike looming in the Los Angeles Unified School District, students and families are facing a key question: what would happen if teachers and school workers walked off the job? Teresa Liu in the LA Daily News -- 4/5/26

Writers Guild forges tentative contract deal with studios -- The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have reportedly reached a tentative four-year deal for a new contract. Cerys Davies in the Los Angeles Times$ Brooks Barnes in the New York Times$ -- 4/5/26

UC execs sit on boards of university vendors. A new bill would outlaw these financial ties -- A proposed state bill would bar companies from contracting with the University of California if any executive or their family is paid by the business, including through board service, with violations triggering a 10-year ban. Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/5/26

More Americans Are Breaking Into the Upper Middle Class -- Research shows that ranks of higher earners have grown markedly over last 50 years, while lower rungs of middle class have shrunk. Rachel Louise Ensign, Joseph Bui in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 4/5/26

LA28

You could pay more than $5,000 for a single ticket to the 2028 L.A. Olympics -- TV Director Alberto Belli went on X to display an online shopping cart for what it would have cost him to take a family of four to the Opening Ceremony: $10,418. “The “LA Exodus” summarized in a single checkout cart,” he wrote. “For ‘OK’ seats. Guess I’m watching from the couch.” James Rainey in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/5/26

Also

For more than 30 years — day in, day out — he’s chronicled California. One paragraph at a time -- The Sacramento-based Rough & Tumble may be California’s longest-running aggregator of politics and policy. Mark Z. Barabak in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/5/26

POTUS 47

Trump Warns Iran He Could Strike ‘Every Power Plant,’ in WSJ Interview -- ‘If they don’t do something by Tuesday evening, they won’t have any power plants and they won’t have any bridges standing’ Meridith McGraw in the Wall Street Journal$ Aaron Boxerman, Greg Jaffe, Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger in the New York Times$ -- 4/5/26

How the C.I.A. Helped Locate a U.S. Airman Hiding on an Iranian Ridgeline -- The intelligence agency also executed a deception campaign aimed at drawing Iranian forces away from where the missing Air Force officer was hiding. Julian E. Barnes in the New York Times$ Alex Horton, Tara Copp, Ellen Nakashima and Dan Lamothe in the Washington Post$ -- 4/5/26

Iran’s Downing of Plane and U.S. Rescue Leave Both Sides Dangerously Emboldened -- After Iran shot down a U.S. plane and U.S. forces pulled off a risky ground operation to extricate a stranded airman, both sides claimed victory. That confidence could fuel further escalation. Erika Solomon in the New York Times$ -- 4/5/26

US service member missing after Iran shot down fighter jet has been rescued -- A U.S. service member who has been missing since Iran shot down a fighter jet has been rescued, according to two U.S. officials who spoke early Sunday on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement. Matthew Lee, Konstantin Toropin Associated Press Greg Jaffe, Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper in the New York Times$ Marcus Weisgerber and Shelby Holliday in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 4/5/26

Stephen Miller Is Still Pursuing His Immigration Agenda, but More Quietly -- The architect of President Trump’s mass deportation campaign wants “a moratorium on immigration from third world countries until we can heal ourselves as a nation.” The chaos in Minneapolis has not pushed him off that course. Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Hamed Aleaziz, Christopher Flavelle, Emily Cochrane and Glenn Thrush in the New York Times$ -- 4/5/26

Trump files emergency appeal to keep building White House ballroom -- “Time is of the essence!” Justice Department lawyers wrote, saying a ruling to pause construction puts the president at risk. Dan Diamond and Jonathan Edwards in the Washington Post$ -- 4/5/26

‘Proactively fall in line:’ Holocaust Memorial Museum quietly changed content after Trump returned to office -- Two former employees said they believed the museum was altering its content preemptively to avoid unwanted negative attention from the Trump administration. Irie Sentner Politico -- 4/5/26