California Policy and Politics Sunday

Garofoli: Affordability? Abundance? Aspiration? As 2026 looms, which message will Democrats run with? -- Now, as the nation’s political attention turns toward the 2026 midterm elections that will determine whether President Donald Trump’s agenda will continue, there’s still no definitive sense of what the party should do next. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 12/28/25

What to expect from the California governor race in 2026? -- While the campaign certainly hasn't lacked candidates, it has been missing star power. Could that change in the election year? Kaitlyn Schallhorn in the LA Daily News -- 12/28/25

PG&E outages: Backlash grows after thousands in S.F. lose power twice in a week -- Richmond and Sunset homes and businesses lost power for the second Saturday in a row, as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. faces mounting backlash and questions on the heels of the previous weekend’s sweeping blackout. Sara DiNatale in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 12/28/25

Tahoe digs out from snowstorm as Bay Area dries out after days of deluge -- After Christmas rainstorms, high gusts of wind, flood watches and tornado warnings, calm weather is forecast for the next few days in the Bay Area — while Tahoe is finally getting a snowy winter ski season. Elena Kadvany in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 12/28/25

A new view of two critical days that set the stage for the devastating Palisades fire -- An hour after midnight Jan. 1, as a small brush fire blazed across Topanga State Park, a California State Parks employee texted the Los Angeles Fire Department’s heavy equipment supervisor to find out if they were sending in bulldozers. “Heck no that area is full of endangered plants,” Capt. Richard Diede replied at 9:52 a.m, five hours after LAFD declared the fire contained. Jenny Jarvie and Alene Tchekmedyian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 12/28/25

 

ICE shift in tactics leads to soaring number of at-large arrests, data shows -- The Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign has led to a significant change in strategy, as federal officers shift away from focusing on arresting immigrants already held in local jails to tracking them down on the streets and in communities, according to a Washington Post analysis of government data. Marianne LeVine, Emmanuel Martinez and Álvaro Valiño in the Washington Post$ -- 12/28/25

Housing

‘Dead’ to City Hall, but funded by the state: The high-stakes fight over a Los Angeles affordable housing project -- State investigators are threatening to cut the city’s access to billions of dollars in housing funds and strip it of some of its zoning authority in response to its denial of a proposal to build 120 low-income apartments on the land in Venice. Liam Dillon Politico -- 12/28/25

Little-known San Diego financing program has created two dozen apartment complexes across the city -- San Diego officials say they’re helping to solve the local housing crisis with a little-known “gap financing” program that has spurred nearly two dozen apartment complexes with more than 2,000 units across the city. David Garrick in the San Diego Union Tribune$ -- 12/28/25

Homeless

From Columbus Park camps to boutique hotel, San Jose’s homeless plan is tested -- Davis is among 256 of the 370 Columbus Park residents who took up the city’s offer in August to leave the encampment and move into one of five newly-leased motels, three modular home projects or a short-term, safe sleeping tent village. Where they all landed and how they are acclimating — and how neighbors are reacting — is a test of Mayor Matt Mahan’s ambitious and controversial effort to tackle homelessness in San Jose. Julia Prodis Sulek in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 12/28/25

This program gets homeless people into housing fast. Will it be one of the last? -- Amid a nationwide debate over homelessness spending, one man in East San Diego County just wanted a safe place to sleep. Blake Nelson in the San Diego Union Tribune$ -- 12/28/25

Marketplace

A ‘big reckoning’: Why a wave of prominent East Bay restaurants and bars closed in late 2025 -- Owners say there’s no single cause, but a maelstrom of familiar challenges, from tariffs and the looming possibility of a recession to post-pandemic shifts in customers’ dining and drinking habits to the increasingly impossible math of sustaining a small, independent business in the Bay Area. Elena Kadvany in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 12/28/25

Insurance

Could expiring health insurance subsidies be revived retroactively? -- Though enhanced subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, policies are ending Wednesday, there’s a possibility Congress and President Donald Trump can apply them in 2026 so they wind up helping people all year. David Lightman in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 12/28/25

Health insurance costs spike for businesses, workers after pandemic -- In California, premiums for an average family’s employer-provided health plan rose 24% from 2022 to 2025, passing $28,000 a year. Grant Stringer in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 12/28/25

Education

State sets few rules for charter school oversight. A new report offers improvements -- California sets few, minimal requirements for charter school authorizers, leading to big variances in oversight quality. Kristen Taketa in the San Diego Union Tribune$ -- 12/28/25

The Hottest High Schools in Massachusetts Are Trade Schools -- With waiting lists in the thousands, the state’s vo-tech campuses are highly sought after, even attracting college-bound students. Roshan Fernandez in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 12/28/25

Workplace

Companies Are Outlining Plans for 2026. Hiring Isn’t One of Them -- Large employers indicate that they either want to maintain the size of their teams next year or let go of workers; ‘Everybody’s afraid for their jobs’ Chip Cutter in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 12/28/25

United Farm Workers has unionized eight farms under 2023 CA law -- Agricultural workers at eight California-based growers, packing houses and greenhouses have unionized since a 2023 state law made it easier for farmworkers to vote for union representation. Melissa Montalvo in the Fresno Bee -- 12/28/25

Wildfire

A return to a past Sierra wildfire to see the future of a recent one -- Twenty years after the 2002 McNally fire scorched the Sierra, the forest shows dramatic recovery. Dead trees and brush that appear barren actually provide crucial wildlife habitat, challenging assumptions about fire’s long-term impact Forest regeneration occurs over decades, and even centuries. Doug Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 12/28/25

Also

Chabria, Barabak: America tried something new in 2025. It’s not going well -- Is there a dumpster somewhere to torch and bury this year of bedlam, 2025? We near its end with equal amounts relief and trepidation. Surely we can’t be expected to endure another such tumultuous turn around the sun? Anita Chabria and Mark Z. Barabak in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 12/28/25

The 2028 Race Has Begun. Here’s Who’s Winning -- White House hopefuls in both parties are maneuvering for the post-Trump era. Here’s where they stand at the end of 2025. Bill Scher Politico -- 12/28/25

GOP coalescing behind Vance as Trump privately dismisses third-term run -- Turning Point USA plans to deploy representatives across Iowa’s 99 counties in the coming months to build the campaign infrastructure. It is the latest move in a quiet effort by some in Trump’s orbit to clear the field of viable competitors. Michael Wilner in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 12/28/25

Lawmakers sound the alarm on AI’s impact on children, jobs -- Some lawmakers are sounding the alarm about the impact of artificial intelligence on Americans, including children, as the technology becomes increasingly common. Cheyanne M. Daniels Politico -- 12/28/25

POTUS 47

What America Might Look Like With Zero Immigration -- The Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the foreign-born population are being felt in hospitals and soccer leagues and on Main Streets across the country, with hints of what’s to come. Lydia DePillis and Campbell Robertson in the New York Times$ -- 12/28/25

How Oil, Drugs and Immigration Fueled Trump’s Venezuela Campaign -- New details of deliberations show how aides with overlapping agendas drove the United States toward a militarized confrontation with Venezuela. Edward Wong, Tyler Pager, Charlie Savage, Julian E. Barnes and Maria Abi-Habib in the New York Times$ -- 12/28/25

Trump Remakes America as Leader of the Brand -- In attaching his name to buildings and programs while still president, Donald Trump is walking a path paved by conquerors and autocrats. Matthew Purdy in the New York Times$ -- 12/28/25

How Free DC became the face of the capital’s anti-Trump resistance -- On a frigid December night in Washington, nearly two dozen people were gathered in a downtown office building to learn how to turn one of the most routine civic obligations — jury duty — into an opportunity for political activism. Jenny Gathright in the Washington Post$ -- 12/28/25