California Policy and Politics Tuesday

Dolly Parton, music star, actor and beloved figure who spanned generations, dies at 80 -- Dolly Parton, the country music icon whose soaring vibrato vocals, poignant songwriting and sparkling costumes defined her rise from a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains to the height of stardom and acclaim, has died. She was 80 years old. Parton died peacefully Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee, her publicist said in a statement. Kristin M. Hall Associated Press -- 8/25/26

 

Supreme Court for now allows Trump to plan new mail ballot rules. California to sue again -- The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for President Trump to continue seeking new limits on the use of mail ballots, though their implementation remains in dispute as the November election rapidly approaches. California leaders immediately noted the limits of the high court ruling and said they would file a lawsuit to prevent Trump’s desired changes from taking effect. David G. Savage and Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ Sara DiNatale, Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Naomi Taxay in the Sacramento Bee$ --8/25/26

California Supreme Court appears skeptical of sheriff’s authority to seize ballots -- California Supreme Court justices hammered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco over his seizure of hundreds of thousands of Proposition 50 ballots in a pair of back-to-back hearings on Monday, appearing poised to order the ballots returned and sharply limit the sheriff’s power to snatch similar election materials in the future. Sonja Sharp in the Los Angeles Times$ Sharon Bernstein in the Sacramento Bee$ Ben Christopher Calmatters --8/25/26

Tech Leaders Haven’t Stopped the Billionaire Tax So Far. Will Ads Work? -- The latest opposition effort is led by Sergey Brin, a co-founder of Google, who has contributed more than $100 million this year toward California campaign efforts. Laurel Rosenhall and Theodore Schleifer in the New York Times$ -- 8/25/26

Assembly leaders reject elements of Newsom’s utility wildfire proposal -- Leaders of the California Assembly are rejecting elements of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s bid to change the way California handles the financial aftermath of utility-caused wildfires. But lawmakers appear committed to reaching a deal on the issue in the final week of the legislative session. Andrew Graham and Stephen Hobbs in the Sacramento Bee$ --8/25/26

Senator resurrects California immigration detention facilities oversight bill -- Sen. Sasha Pérez, D-Alhambra, resurrected legislation Friday to increase state oversight of conditions in private civil detention facilities. Sofia Williams in the Sacramento Bee$ --8/25/26

Gov. Gavin Newsom puts Sacramento-area home on market for $7.5M -- The gated Fair Oaks residence at 7640 Tobia Way sits on 8.2 acres along the bluffs near the American River and includes a roughly 12,663-square-foot residence designed in a Santa Barbara style, according to the property listing. The secluded grounds offer sweeping views and landscaped outdoor spaces. David Caraccio in the Sacramento Bee$ --8/25/26

Fed up with high prices, California weighs penalties against hospitals, other entities -- California is weighing stiff penalties for hospitals and other healthcare entities that don’t stay undxxer state spending limits, potentially levying hundreds of millions of dollars in fines if these providers don’t take steps to rein in rising healthcare costs. Claudia Boyd-Barrett KFF Health News in the Los Angeles Times$ --8/25/26

Assembly Republicans ask for independent analysis of 5 bills’ cost to Californians -- California Assembly Republicans gathered at the Capitol Monday to call for independent analyses by the Legislative Analyst’s Office of the consumer costs associated with five pending bills they argue would make gas, food and other expenses more costly. Naomi Taxay in the Sacramento Bee$ --8/25/26

State bill targets abandoned funds. When can California seize your forgotten stocks? -- Proposed legislation to streamline California’s ability to seize abandoned stocks and mutual funds is drawing opposition from business groups and dividing Democratic lawmakers. Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ --8/25/26

Walters: California’s local governments rush to ask for tax increases before voters get the chance to curb them -- November’s ballot is dominated by measures that would alter how California levies taxes, including one that would make it more difficult for local governments to gain voter approval of tax hikes. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 8/25/26

 

California Judge Says Recalled Officials Are Unlawfully in Office -- The mayor and three other council members of Avenal, Calif., had refused to leave despite a certified vote by residents to recall them. They will now step down, a city official said. Livia Albeck-Ripka in the New York Times$ --8/25/26

Garden Grove aerospace firm to pay up to $100 million to residents who evacuated over chemical leak -- A major aerospace company responsible for a chemical leak in Garden Grove in May will pay up to $100 million to residents forced to evacuate during the emergency, under an agreement the company reached with the Orange County district attorney. Fedor Zarkhin in the Los Angeles Times$ --8/25/26

Oil

California’s water shortages partly due to climate pollution from big oil and gas, study finds -- The world’s biggest oil, gas and cement companies are partly responsible for California’s water shortages, a new study finds, with their planet-warming emissions shown to reduce the state’s snowpack by an annual amount roughly equal to what would fill Shasta Lake. Kurtis Alexander in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/25/26

Wildfire

Federal wildfire crews are stretched thin. California is stepping in to help -- As fire season takes hold, California is managing fuels and fire on federal lands. Does California have the money to keep this up? Rachel Becker Calmatters -- 8/25/26

Map: Timber Fire in Big Sur still growing; evacuation covers 150 square miles -- As Highway 1 reopened and residents were allowed to return to homes on the coast, the fire expanded inland into rugged terrain. The item is in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/25/26

Marketplace

Prominent Latino group blasts proposed Paramount-Warner merger -- Prominent Latino civil rights group urges California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to keep fighting Paramount Skydance’s $111-billion Warner Bros. Discovery takeover, warning it would devastate Latino workers, small businesses and creative voices in Los Angeles. Meg James in the Los Angeles Times$ --8/25/26

Workplace

Government Proposes New Six-Figure Fee for H1-B Visas -- The Trump administration proposed a new $103,265 fee for H-1B visas that would apply to most new applicants, including those already in the U.S. Michelle Hackman in the Wall Street Journal$ Madeleine Ngo in the New York Times$ Ted Hesson and Lauren Kaori Gurley in the Wall Street Journal$ --8/25/26

U.S. Tariffs Could Price Canadian Firms Out of U.S. and Threaten Thousands of Jobs -- Up to 90,000 jobs in Canada could be lost, according to calculations by Trevor Tombe, a trade economist at the University of Calgary in Alberta. Those include jobs at companies not directly affected by tariffs. For example, demand for truck drivers will dry up once Canadian firms are shut out of the U.S. market. Ian Austen in the New York Times$ --8/25/26

5 things California state workers should know as legislative session nears end -- California state workers are watching the state legislature this week as policy debates could affect their workplace. Corey Schmidt in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/25/26

AI

A.I. Is Becoming So Powerful, It’s Stumping Those Trying to Contain It -- Irregular, an Israeli start-up, worked with OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta to assess the security of their A.I. models. It made a mistake. Then the tests went off the rails. Sheera Frenkel in the New York Times$ -- 8/25/26

By Opening a Model, a Chinese A.I. Lab May Test the World’s Cybersecurity -- In July, an unreleased OpenAI model went rogue and demonstrated remarkable hacking abilities. This week, a lab called Z.ai will release a similarly powerful system to everyone. Cade Metz in the New York Times$ -- 8/25/26

Lineage

Lineage admits its ‘104%’ cleanup completion claim was misleading -- Lineage Logistics walked back its report that it had removed more than 100% of food waste from its burned Boyle Heights warehouse, acknowledging the figure misled residents about how much rotting food remains inside. Christopher Damien LA Local -- 08/25/26

Education

Why sex abuse survivors and broke school districts are at odds in Legislature’s final days -- California counties and school districts have been flooded since 2019 with lawsuits from people who say they were sexually abused as children in schools, foster care and juvenile detention facilities. State lawmakers are struggling to balance counties’ and schools’ financial health with the incalculable cost of survivors’ trauma. Maya C. Miller Calmatters -- 8/25/26

How much are California’s public universities paying athletes? CalMatters is suing to find out -- Universities have refused to share information about the money they’re giving student athletes. CalMatters is suing UCLA and UC Berkeley for the data and sharing what we know so far, including the contracts universities sign with students and details about some of these payments. Adam Echelman Calmatters -- 8/25/26

Also

Mark Walter flipped the Lakers for a record price. Did Bob Iger and Josh Kushner overpay? -- Josh Kushner and Bob Iger agreed to pay a record $12.5 billion for the Lakers, bailing out embattled owner Mark Walter and instantly topping the team’s already unprecedented $10-billion sale last year. Steve Henson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/25/26

Silicon Valley’s Newest Status Symbol Is a Super-Rare Sam Altman Swiss Watch -- Custom watches for OpenAI’s founder and six others with the company are among the newest tech-titan timepieces. Andrew Zucker in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 8/25/26

POTUS 47

Canada Targets U.S. Metals, Foods, Motorcycles in Retaliatory Tariff Package -- Among the products targeted by Canada are U.S. steel, aluminum, motorcycles, washers and dryers, chain saws, processed cheese, clams and frozen octopus. U.S. steel and aluminum were already subject to a 25% tariff, but that will now double to 50%, officials said. Paul Vieira in the Wall Street Journal$ Rob Gillies Associated Press Ian Austen in the New York Times$ -- 8/25/26

The Warnings That Came Before a War Now Reaching the Six-Month Mark -- Then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard outlined assessments from America’s intelligence apparatus. According to people familiar with the meeting, she told Trump that killing Iran’s supreme leader would likely usher in a more hard-line regime open to acquiring nuclear weapons. Tehran would rush to close the Strait of Hormuz, destabilizing the global energy market. And it would strike U.S. forces and partners in the Middle East, prompting questions about American resolve and reliability with allies. Alexander Ward, Lara Seligman and Alex Leary in the Wall Street Journal$ --8/25/26

U.S. Says Oil Is Pouring Through Hormuz. Trackers Can’t Find It -- The Trump administration says large volumes of oil are slipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The trackers whose job it is to count the world’s oil shipments see much less. Georgi Kantchev, Rebecca Feng and Summer Said in the Wall Street Journal$ --8/25/26

Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on mail voting restrictions ahead of midterms -- The Supreme Court opened a path Monday for possible implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting, though it remains unclear how much can be put in place before the fast-approaching midterm elections. Lindsay Whitehurst, Nicholas Riccardi Associated Press Abbie VanSickle and Ann E. Marimow in the New York Times$ Justin Jouvenal, Patrick Marley and Julian Mark in the Washington Post$ --8/25/26

Iran Pledges to Defy Trump’s Escalating Sanctions -- Seyed Ali Madanizadeh, the finance minister, said that Iran was already prepared to deal with American efforts to further isolate it from the world economy. Aaron Boxerman, Sanam Mahoozi and Ephrat Livni in the New York Times$ --8/25/26