California Policy and Politics Monday

Trump does Epstein U-turn as House Republicans prepare to spurn him -- Before the reversal, even some House GOP leaders were mulling whether to support the effort to release DOJ files dealing with the late sex offender. Meredith Lee Hill and Mia McCarthy Politico Alex Leary, Scott Patterson and Siobhan Hughes in the Wall Street Journal$ Mariana Alfaro in the Washington Post$ Ashley Ahn in the New York Times$ -- 11/17/25

Feds: Ex-Newsom aide used job to pressure CA into settling suit with former client -- Federal officials said Dana Williamson, the Sacramento political power broker who was indicted last week, used her position while she was Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff to pressure state attorneys to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit with one of her former clients, gaming company Activision Blizzard. Lia Russell in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/17/25

Garofoli: Crypto bros spent millions attacking Katie Porter. Now she’s winning some over -- San Francisco cryptocurrency billionaire Chris Larsen has donated the maximum amount permissible — $39,200 — to Katie Porter’s campaign for governor. So has his wife, Lyna Lam. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/17/25

Skelton: Sacramento scandal a wild card for Xavier Becerra and the governor’s race -- So far, gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra has escaped the bright spotlight focused on Gov. Gavin Newsom in the money pilfering scandal involving their former top aides. But that could change. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/17/25

California Republicans are divided on Trump’s immigration enforcement policies, poll finds -- Republicans in California have diverging opinions on President Trump’s immigration enforcement policies, according to a study published by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute on Monday. Itzel Luna in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/17/25

An Amazon climate summit built on contradiction, creating unease for California delegates -- Thousands of delegates at the climate conference stayed on diesel-powered cruise ships, embodying a key contradiction at this year’s global event in the Amazon. Melody Gutierrez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/17/25

‘Shameful. It’s a disgrace.’ O.C. Vietnam vets memorial overshadowed by corruption, shoddy work -- It was announced with great fanfare and hope: a memorial in the center of Orange County to honor veterans of the Vietnam War. But two years and more than $1 million later, the memorial stands as an unlikely symbol of corruption and broken promises. Salvador Hernandez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/17/25

Chabria and Barabak: Front-runner or flash in the pan? Sizing up Newsom, 2028 -- The 2028 presidential election is more than 1,000 days away, but you’d hardly know it from all the speculation and anticipation that’s swirling from Sacramento to the Washington Beltway. Anita Chabria and Mark Z. Barabak in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/17/25

State finds Oakland Unified created ‘discriminatory environment’ for Jewish students -- In three separate rulings, the California Department of Education has determined that the Oakland Unified School District created a “discriminatory environment” against Jewish students and staff, contradicting the district’s findings. John Fensterwald EdSource in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/17/25

Fewer new international students enroll at U.S. colleges amid Trump restrictions -- The fall data was not broken down by state, so the scale of decline in California is unclear. At USC, which enrolls more international students than any other California college, overall enrollment of international students is down 3% this fall, according to a campus spokesperson. Michael Burke EdSource -- 11/17/25

Killion: What John Beam gave his players was bigger than football wins or losses -- His name was on my list of contacts to call for a project. A community resource who had devoted his life to helping kids and who could speak to the seismic changes in high school and college sports. John Beam. Ann Killion in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/17/25

Housing

After nearly three years, these Bay Area cities still lack a state-approved housing plan -- Nearly three years after the state’s deadline, a Bay Area county and three cities across the region still haven’t finalized their state-mandated housing plans, leaving them vulnerable to fines, loss of grant funding and the dreaded “builder’s remedy,” which can cost them control over land use decisions. Ethan Varian in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/17/25

One California city’s idea to tackle the housing crisis: Take the stairs -- For YIMBYs and other champions of more housing development, ditching the extra staircase has become a surprisingly buzzy cause. In Culver City, they have a test case. Ben Christopher Calmatters -- 11/17/25

Homeless

Shelter requests surged after San Diego began clearing freeway camps. Almost all failed -- Requests for shelter have risen significantly in the city of San Diego since local officials got permission to clear encampments on state land. Yet a lack of spots in the region’s overwhelmed shelter system means almost all of those pleas — about 93% — recently failed. Blake Nelson in the San Diego Union Tribune$ -- 11/17/25

Workplace

UC nurses cancel planned strike after reaching tentative deal with university -- A planned labor strike by University of California nurses has been called off after the university system and the nurses’ union reached a tentative deal on pay and benefits, both groups announced Sunday. Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/17/25

Marketplace

As Berkeley weighs a big rezoning, small businesses worry they’ll pay the price -- Nine years ago, when Fern Solomon and her daughter Lia Rose decided to open a second location of their Long Beach gift and craft store Fern’s Garden, Berkeley’s Solano Avenue felt like the perfect fit. Kate Talerico in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/17/25

Street

Lawsuits launched in six California counties challenge widespread racial sentencing disparities -- Judges throughout California are violating the state’s Racial Justice Act by sentencing minority defendants to much longer terms than whites for crimes such as robbery and burglary, according to advocates for inmates in multiple legal actions to be filed Monday. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/17/25

Also

L.A. Residents Are Obsessed With Their New B-List Neighbors: Bears -- The creatures have dipped into swimming pools, raided koi ponds and taken up residence behind a mansion while the owners were at the country club. Jim Carlton, Angela Owens in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 11/17/25

POTUS 47

Trump Tariffs Push Japan’s Economy Into Contraction -- The Japanese economy shrank by 1.8 percent compared to the same quarter last year, as U.S. tariffs dampened automobile exports and prompted a bleak outlook for growth. River Akira Davis in the New York Times$ -- 11/17/25

Here’s what’s going on with Trump’s tariffs, prices and the Supreme Court -- There are the drug-trafficking tariffs. Tariffs to fix trade balances, some pulled back. China tariffs — raised, raised again, lowered some, lowered again. Tariffs on imported cars, but not on all car parts, and less on Bentleys. Tariffs on Brazil over the prosecution of former president Jair Bolsonaro for his role in an attempted coup. Rachel Lerman in the Washington Post$ -- 11/17/25

GOP plans to replace Obamacare have failed. Here’s what lawmakers propose now -- Lawmakers are racing toward a mid-December deadline, with Republicans hoping to present side-by-side legislation with Democrats’ plan to extend ACA subsidies. Dan Diamond and Paige Winfield Cunningham in the Washington Post$ -- 11/17/25