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Updating . . .
California Policy and Politics Friday
Newsom rips into notorious troll account on social media -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom slammed a notorious troll account on X Thursday for publicly questioning whether he would condemn a purported threat against ICE officers conducting a raid. “Of course I condemn any assault on law enforcement, you s— poster,” Newsom responded to the Libs of TikTok account. “Now do Jan. 6.” Sara Libby in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/11/25
ICE
L.A. will provide cash assistance to immigrants affected by raids -- The aid will be distributed using cash cards with a “couple hundred” dollars on them, which should be available in about a week, Bass said at a news conference. “You have people who don’t want to leave their homes, who are not going to work, and they are in need of cash,” she said. Noah Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/11/25
About 200 arrested in chaotic immigration raid at cannabis farm, one worker reportedly dies in fall -- Federal immigration agents carried out immigration sweeps at two Southern California cannabis farms on Thursday, arresting about 200 suspected undocumented immigrants and prompting a heated standoff between authorities and hundreds of protesters at a Ventura County site and reports of a farmworker who died in a fall. Ruben Vives, Jeanette Marantos, Jessica Garrison, Melissa Gomez, Clara Harter and Grace Toohey in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/11/25
FBI investigating man who appeared to shoot at agents during Camarillo immigration raid --The FBI is investigating a possible shooting that took place Thursday during an immigration enforcement operation at a cannabis farm in Camarillo where hundreds of protesters clashed with federal agents. Clara Harter in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/11/25
ICE plans to open its largest California detention center at Kern County prison -- Federal authorities plan to open the largest immigration detention center in California at a former state prison in a Kern County desert town about an hour southeast of Bakersfield. Melissa Montalvo in the Fresno Bee -- 07/11/25
Federal judge’s tentative ruling suggests she will order halt to indiscriminate immigration stops -- The lawsuit filed by immigrant rights groups last week seeks to block federal agents from stopping and arresting Brown-skinned people without probable cause and then placing them in “dungeon-like” conditions without access to lawyers. Brittny Mejia and Rachel Uranga in the Los Angeles Times$ Mariah Timms in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 07/11/25
Border czar Tom Homan says there will be 'no amnesty' for undocumented farmworkers -- President Donald Trump is soliciting a range of opinions on how to deal with undocumented farm labor, a question that pits two important MAGA constituencies against one another. Myah Ward Politico -- 07/11/25
New Trump rule immediately bans undocumented immigrants from Head Start child care -- Head Start child care will no longer be able to serve undocumented immigrants under a new Trump administration policy. The announcement shook the Head Start industry, which has served infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers for decades regardless of immigration status. Jenny Gold in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/11/25
Asylum-seekers wait on average 4½ years for their hearings. Now many fear ICE at the courthouse -- In a windowless courtroom in Concord this May, a Salvadoran man sat before an immigration judge and an attorney from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He had waited four years for a hearing on his application for asylum. Ko Lyn Cheang, Christian Leonard in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/11/25
Officials denounce immigration guards camped at a Glendale hospital monitoring detainee -- For a week, two guards linked to the Department of Homeland Security have camped out in the lobby of a Glendale hospital to monitor the movements of a woman patient admitted after she was arrested by federal agents — a constant watch that has been denounced by nurses, a state lawmaker and others. Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/11/25
Cal State L.A. allows online classes, excused absences as students express fear amid ICE raids -- Cal State L.A. professors will be able to move their classes online amid student concerns over immigration raids. Although no raids have taken place on campus, many students expressed fear about commuting to school on public transportation. Jaweed Kaleem in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/11/25
If protesters clash with ICE on San Francisco streets, should the city stay on the sidelines? -- A violent clash between protesters and federal agents on a San Francisco street this week marked a dramatic escalation of tensions over immigration enforcement and raised a question for leaders of a sanctuary city: Will they have a role to play if this continues? The answer is complicated. David Hernandez in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/11/25
Arellano: ‘La migra, la migra’: Inside Huntington Park’s long deportation summer -- Huntington Park High School Principal Carlos Garibaldi was preparing to host a graduation on his campus when frantic colleagues radioed him: Immigration is coming. Gustavo Arellano in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/11/25
System to Flag Illegal Migrant Labor Has Holes -- E-Verify can be circumvented with use of stolen identities, false documents. Paul Kiernan and Robert McMillan in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 07/11/25
Church and State
A crisis of faith: ICE raids force some churches to take ‘extraordinary’ action -- As word spread among Catholics that immigration agents were visiting places of worship to carry out deportations, the pews inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church in downtown Los Angeles became less and less crowded. Christopher Buchanan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/11/25
Climate
State officials say federal cuts threaten California’s environment -- Budget cuts, staff reductions and other sweeping changes from the federal government are posing real threats to California’s environment and progress against climate change, state officials said Thursday. Hayley Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/11/25
Even after Texas floods, S.F. has no plans to fix its defunct tsunami warning sirens -- Disastrous flooding along Texas’ Guadalupe River raised the question of whether a system of warning sirens could have saved lives. In San Francisco, where a network of sirens once stood ready to warn residents of tsunami risk, there are no plans to revive the old technology. Aldo Toledo in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/11/25
Misinformation is already a problem during natural disasters. AI chatbots aren’t helping -- When deadly flash floods hit central Texas last week, people on social media site X turned to artificial intelligence chatbot Grok for answers about whom to blame. Grok confidently pointed to President Trump. Queenie Wong in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/11/25
Trouble mounts for Costco optician who owns company in deadly fireworks blast -- The investigations centered on former San Francisco resident Kenneth Chee, the 48-year-old owner and CEO of Devastating Pyrotechnics, whose operation in the farm town of Esparto was destroyed by fire on July 1, as the company prepared to put on Fourth of July displays in cities across Northern California. Ko Lyn Cheang, Julie Johnson in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/11/25
Elon Musk plans to bring Tesla robotaxis to San Francisco this year -- Elon Musk said he aims to bring Tesla’s robotaxi service to San Francisco in “a month or two,” according to a post on social media. Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/11/25
L.A. County’s charter reform accidentally repealed anti-incarceration ballot measure -- Last November, voters approved a sprawling overhaul to L.A. County’s government. They didn’t realize they were also repealing the county’s landmark criminal justice reform. Eight months later, county officials are just now realizing they unwittingly committed an administrative screwup for the ages. Rebecca Ellis in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/11/25
Intel
Intel slashes 584 California jobs as CEO says company is no longer a top chipmaker -- The company is eliminating thousands of positions — reportedly up to 20% of its factory workforce — amid slumping chip sales, rising competition in the artificial intelligence sector and a strategic overhaul under new CEO Lip-Bu Tan. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/11/25
AI
OpenAI accuses nonprofit of Musk ties, lobbying violations, in California complaint -- OpenAI is asking California’s political finance watchdog to investigate a nonprofit that challenged its multi-billion-dollar business plans, alleging violations of state lobbying laws and again raising questions about the group’s connections to rival Elon Musk. Chase DiFeliciantonio and Christine Mui Politico -- 07/11/25
Housing
California, epicenter of the nation’s housing crisis, is finally getting a housing agency -- Aside from giving housing and homelessness its own box atop Gov. Gavin Newsom’s organizational chart, the reorg is supposed to simplify the state’s snarled affordable housing financing system. Ben Christopher Calmatters -- 07/11/25
Homeless
The latest Bay Area spot to see a rise in homelessness? SFO -- Increased enforcement against homeless people and drug users in downtown San Francisco appears to be posing new challenges for a major Bay Area enterprise: San Francisco International Airport. Maggie Angst in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/11/25
Education
Erratic results, high costs doomed this district’s once-heralded student improvement program -- The Fresno Unified School District and its teachers union have reached an agreement to terminate a decade-old, once-promising student improvement program that expanded from a pilot in a handful of low-performing schools to 40 of the district’s 67 elementary schools and one middle school. Lasherica Thornton EdSource -- 07/11/25
Charter schools need reform. This proposal could kneecap them -- The California Legislature deals with thousands of bills every year, and many are perennials that reflect long-running economic, ethnic and cultural conflicts. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 07/11/25
Also
Dan Siegel, renowned Bay Area civil rights lawyer and activist, dies at 79 -- When Dan Siegel stepped out of a cluster of speakers and took the microphone on the steps of Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley at noon on May 15, 1969, unscripted words came out that launched the fight for People’s Park. Sam Whiting in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/11/25
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Trump Doubles Down on Using Tariffs as Tool of American Power -- President uses levies to cajole nations on political priorities—many unrelated to trade. Gavin Bade and Marcus Walker in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 07/11/25
As Trump Sows Tariff Confusion, Rules of Global Commerce Give Way to Chaos -- Blunt letters dictating terms posted to social media and changes late in negotiations have left trading partners wondering what President Trump will do next. Jeanna Smialek in the New York Times$ -- 07/11/25
Trump threatens 35 percent tariffs on Canada in latest trade war twist -- The move injects fresh turmoil into a strained bilateral relationship as Prime Minister Mark Carney negotiates a new economic partnership with the United States. David J. Lynch, Amanda Coletta and Frances Vinall in the Washington Post$ -- 07/11/25
Justice Dept. Whistle-Blower Warns of Trump Administration’s Assault on the Law --In an interview with The New York Times, a former Justice Department lawyer, Erez Reuveni, said officials pressed subordinates to mislead judges, and dared the courts to stop it. Devlin Barrett in the New York Times$ -- 07/11/25
The F.B.I. Is Using Polygraphs to Test Officials’ Loyalty -- Some senior officials who have taken the test have been asked whether they said anything negative about the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel. Adam Goldman in the New York Times$ -- 07/11/25
Firings without explanation create culture of fear at Justice Dept., FBI -- The Trump administration is firing and pushing out employees across the Justice Department and FBI, often with no explanation or warning, creating rampant speculation and fear within the workforce over who might be terminated next, according to multiple people with knowledge of the removals who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution. Perry Stein in the Washington Post$ -- 07/11/25
Texts, emails bolster whistleblower account of DOJ defying court order -- A fired Justice Department employee has given Congress a cache of internal communications related to Emil Bove, a top Trump official now nominated as a judge. Perry Stein and Jeremy Roebuck in the Washington Post$ -- 07/11/25
Trump Threatens Higher Tariffs on Canada in the Middle of Trade Talks -- The president revived his discredited claims about fentanyl entering the U.S. from Canada to justify his latest proposed rate of 35 percent. Ana Swanson and Ian Austen in the New York Times$ -- 07/11/25
Justice Dept. Demands Patient Details From Trans Medicine Providers -- Doctors and hospitals were subpoenaed for private information on gender-related care for minors, the latest move by the Trump administration to stop the treatments. Azeen Ghorayshi and Glenn Thrush in the New York Times$ -- 07/11/25
How a Supreme Court win for public health bolstered RFK Jr. and threatens no-cost vaccines -- Public health advocates won a big case in the Supreme Court on the last day of this year’s term, but the victory came with an asterisk. David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/11/25
Some of the ‘Big, Beautiful’ Tax Breaks Are Smaller Than You Think -- Many filers won’t be able to take full advantage of expanded deductions in the recently passed tax law. Laura Saunders in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 07/11/25
California Policy and Politics Thursday
Intel slashes 584 California jobs as CEO says company no longer a top chipmaker -- Intel Corporation has notified state officials that it will lay off 584 employees in Northern California this month, part of a sweeping global restructuring effort by the embattled Silicon Valley semiconductor giant. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/10/25
As L.A. reels, White House sees ‘grand success’ in novel crackdown tactics -- National Guard troops and immigration agents on horseback, clad in green uniforms and tactical gear, trotted into MacArthur Park on Monday, surrounding the iconic square with armored vehicles in a show of force widely denounced as gratuitous. The enforcement operation produced few tangible results that day. But the purpose of the display was unmistakable. Michael Wilner in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/10/25
Trump Fuels Fear, Rage and Hope in California’s Central Valley -- The farmers in California’s Central Valley like to say they feed the world, and it is not hyperbole. Elisabeth Bumiller, Zaydee Sanchez in the New York Times$ -- 07/10/25
Newton: ‘I’m in one of his TV shows’: The federal government is staging political theater in Los Angeles --Welcome to unrest in Los Angeles, the television show. Jim Newton Calmatters -- 07/10/25
New poll finds most Californians believe American democracy is in peril -- An overwhelming number of California voters think American democracy is being threatened or, at the very least, tested, according to a new poll released Thursday by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies. Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/10/25
California awaits disaster relief as GOP offers full support of Texas -- The contrast underscores the extent to which the Trump administration treats blue and red states differently, whether in disaster response or in targeting liberal areas for aggressive immigration enforcement. Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Maeve Reston and Marianna Sotomayor in the Washington Post$ -- 07/10/25
Gavin Newsom confronts his California problem -- The California governor concluded a two-day swing through the early primary state ahead of a likely presidential campaign in 2028. Tyler Katzenberger Politico Maeve Reston in the New York Times$ -- 07/10/25
Valadao
Republicans in Washington are nervous about Medicaid. Not in Valadao’s California district -- Valadao's allies are projecting confidence, even as Democratic broadsides roll in. Blake Jones and Rachel Bluth Politico -- 07/10/25
Wildfire
L.A. has never experienced loss on this scale. Measuring progress six months after the fires is hard and painful -- The feelings of loss — 30 deaths, thousands of homes gone, long-term plans derailed, battles with insurance companies, mental anguish — are still too raw. And evidence of progress still feels too fleeting to take much comfort in, especially for the thousands of victims. Hannah Fry, Tony Briscoe and Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/10/25
Six months after fires, more than 800 homeowners in Palisades, Altadena have sought permits to rebuild -- Several architects and contractors say the permitting process is the quickest they’ve seen, while some fire survivors say they remain frustrated with red tape. Liam Dillon and Sandhya Kambhampati in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/10/25
Trump’s DOJ blames egg prices on California in new lawsuit -- President Donald Trump’s administration sued California over egg prices on Wednesday, claiming the state’s voter-approved law protecting hens and pigs from being kept in small cages has driven costs skyward and violates U.S. farming laws and regulations. The suit did not mention that the California law, Proposition 12, has been upheld by the Supreme Court. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Juliann Ventura Politico -- 07/10/25
California has an idea to counter Trump’s megabill: Roll back environmental laws -- California lawmakers reeling from President Donald Trump’s assault on clean energy are considering a controversial strategy to keep projects on track — slashing environmental permitting further. Alex Nieves Politico -- 07/10/25
Did Gov. Gavin Newsom go too far with CEQA reform? -- San Diego environmentalists are upset with Newsom’s changes to the California Environmental Quality Act. Phillip Molnar in the San Diego Union Tribune$ -- 07/10/25
California lawmaker scrambles to calm tech titans over revamped bill -- State Sen. Scott Wiener wants AI companies on his side this time, after a bruising showdown over AI rules last year. Chase DiFeliciantonio Politico -- 07/10/25
McMorris: How could ranked-choice voting reshape California politics? -- Last month, New York City’s mayoral race drew national attention when Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani secured a stunning victory over former governor and political veteran Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary, thanks to the relatively new system of ranked-choice voting. Less noticed were the 28 contested New York City Council races on the same ballot, 10 of which also had no candidate receiving more than 50% of the vote. Sean McMorris in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/10/25
The Raids
A Pattern of Violence Documenting ICE Agents’ Brutal Use of Force in LA Immigration Raids -- Agents have aimed firearms and sprayed chemical irritants at onlookers and protesters. They have launched tear gas and flash bang grenades into crowds. They have beaten the people they detain, struck them with batons, and restrained them face down in a prone position, pressing them into the pavement and restricting their abilities to breathe. Jonah Valdez The Intercept -- 07/10/25
Los Angeles joins federal immigration case against Trump administration -- Los Angeles and seven nearby cities will join a federal class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration that alleges the federal government is using illegal tactics while conducting sweeping immigration raids across the county. Nicole Norman Politico -- 07/10/25
Amid ICE raids, bishop tells SoCal worshippers they can stay home on Sundays -- A Southern California Roman Catholic bishop told his diocese of roughly one million parishioners this week that they can stay home on Sundays to avoid Mass while concerns about federal immigration sweeps still loom over the region. Andrew J. Campa in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/10/25
Tensions Escalate in San Francisco Over Immigration Enforcement -- Tensions over immigration enforcement in San Francisco escalated this week when federal agents clashed with activists who tried to block an arrest outside a courthouse, with the agents at one point driving away in a van with protesters hanging from the hood of the vehicle. Francesca Regalado and Soumya Karlamangla in the New York Times$ -- 07/10/25
Lawmakers in Liberal States Want ICE Agents to Show Their Faces -- Elected officials in New York and California are trying to upend President Trump’s deportation campaign by banning law enforcement officers from wearing masks in public. Ana Ley in the New York Times$ -- 07/10/25
Workplace
31 workers scramble to safety after L.A. tunnel collapse: ‘A very scary evening’ -- The frightening partial collapse of an L.A. County sanitation tunnel under construction left 31 workers scrambling to make their way to safety on Wednesday evening. Clara Harter in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/10/25
Why one California union sided with YIMBYs and developers on housing -- Housing bills in California often face fierce opposition from construction unions. The carpenters’ union went their own way, becoming a “game-changing” force in the debate. Jeanne Kuang and Ben Christopher Calmatters -- 07/10/25
Federal workers fear Trump will fire them after court ruling: ‘We are toast’ -- After the Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump on Tuesday to resume firing government workers, federal employees rushed to Signal group chats and anxious phone calls, trying to figure out what it meant for them. Hannah Natanson and Meryl Kornfield in the Washington Post$ Erin Schumaker Politico -- 07/10/25
Wildfire
Los Angeles fire survivor is told State Farm’s $900K check on hold due to insufficient funds -- A check from California’s largest property insurer, which says it has paid billions of dollars in claims from the LA-area fires, has taken more than a week to clear so far. Levi Sumagaysay Calmatters -- 07/10/25
Earthquake
A Bay Area fault that could produce a major earthquake is not where scientists thought it was -- The fault runs for about 20 miles through Walnut Creek and Concord, from North Gate Road near Mount Diablo north to Suisun Bay. A previously unknown 4.4 mile stretch, or strand, of the fault is actively moving about a tenth of an inch per year as it runs beneath residential neighborhoods in the Ygnacio Valley. Jack Lee in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 07/10/25
Homeless
L.A. vowed to remove 9,800 encampments. But are homeless people getting housed? -- Faced with a June 2026 deadline, city officials have been counting tents that are tossed during cleanups, even when the occupants did not get housing. David Zahniser in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/10/25
A timeline of homelessness in Los Angeles -- The timeline of key events and policies that have made Los Angeles the homeless capital of the United States. You can read more about police, mental health and housing, which have all contributed to increasing the population of unhoused Angelenos. Kelvin Kuo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/10/25
Housing
Walters: Holdouts in Marin County resist California rules speeding up multifamily housing -- Although California’s local governments have had state-designated targets for housing construction for decades, they have been enforced only in recent years. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 07/10/25
Ocean Environment
Silicon Valley venture capitalist helps lead controversial race to start mining ocean floor -- More than 2 miles deep in the Pacific Ocean and hundreds of miles off the coast between Mexico and Hawaii, trillions of lumpy, potato-sized, metal-rich nuggets lie scattered across the seafloor, a treasure hoard so valuable to clean-energy goals that the world’s powers are jostling to be first to mine it. Ethan Baron in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 07/10/25
Also
Poisoned pelicans fly again after the worst algal bloom in a decade -- A flock of brown pelicans was released back into the wild near the Huntington Beach Pier. They had been nursed back to health after being sickened by a toxic algal bloom. Annie Goodykoontz in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/10/25
Mattel’s newest Barbie has diabetes -- The toy giant expands its Fashionistas line with a new inclusive doll featuring medical accessories like an insulin pump and a glucose monitor. Piper Heath in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 07/10/25
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New Hampshire judge pauses Trump’s birthright citizenship order -- A federal judge in New Hampshire said Thursday he will certify a class action lawsuit including all children who will be affected by President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship and issue a preliminary injunction blocking it. Curtis Yee And Bernard Mcghee Associated Press David Nakamura in the New York Times$ -- 07/10/25
Trump announces 50 percent tariff on Brazil, citing Bolsonaro trial -- If carried out, the tariff would severely affect the Brazilian economy, whose second-largest trading partner is the United States, behind China. In 2024, Brazil sold $40 billion worth of goods — primarily oil, coffee and steel — to the United States. Terrence McCoy and Marina Dias in the Washington Post$ Callum Jones The Guardian -- 07/10/25
Trump affirms 50% tariff on copper imports will start Aug. 1 -- The president was following through on an earlier statement that he would target a key metal used for semiconductors, lithium-ion batteries and more. Kelly Kasulis Cho in the Washington Post$ -- 07/10/25
Fact-checking Trump and Democratic claims about tax and spending bill -- As is his practice, Trump keeps making false or misleading claims about the law. Democrats, too, exaggerated the impact. Below is a quick roundup. Glenn Kessler in the Washington Post$ -- 07/10/25
Administration Takes Steps to Target 2 Officials Who Investigated Trump -- The Trump administration appears to be targeting officials who oversaw the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s connections to Russia, examining the actions of the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey and the former C.I.A. director John O. Brennan, according to people familiar with the situation. Glenn Thrush and Julian E. Barnes in the New York Times$ -- 07/10/25
Flood predictions could worsen when Trump’s cuts take hold -- Forecasts and warnings largely worked during the Texas catastrophe. Those systems are expected to degrade as President Donald Trump’s agenda is set in place. Scott Waldman and Chelsea Harvey Politico -- 07/10/25
Why 1 key Musk rival won’t challenge him in Silicon Valley -- Elon Musk’s break with Donald Trump is fueling backlash within the MAGA movement against other tech world figures, even as many continue to profess loyalty to the president, who hasn’t cast them aside either. Christine Mui Politico -- 07/10/25