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California Policy and Politics Sunday
Gun rights groups fiercely criticize top L.A. federal prosecutor for response to Minneapolis shooting -- Los Angeles’ top federal prosecutor, Bill Essayli, faced fierce criticism from gun rights groups after posting officers are ‘likely justified’ in shooting anyone approaching with a firearm. Brittny Mejia in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/25/26
Demonstrators take to the streets of L.A. in protest of Minneapolis shooting; police order them to disperse -- At least 400 demonstrators gathered Saturday at Placita Olvera, demanding ICE abolition after a Minneapolis nurse was fatally shot by federal immigration officers. The shooting is the second ICE-related death in Minneapolis this month. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass called for federal forces to be removed from American cities. Suhauna Hussain in the Los Angeles Times$ Madeline Armstrong, Mona Darwish and Jeff Horseman in the Orange County Register$ -- 1/25/26
From Minneapolis to L.A., how Renee Good’s death reignited calls to abolish ICE -- In downtown Los Angeles on Friday, hundreds gathered as part of a nationwide protest of ongoing immigration raids that have rattled cities and communities across the country. Melissa Gomez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/25/26
California’s fight with offshore oil firm escalates with lawsuit against Trump administration -- California sued the Trump administration Friday, challenging findings by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration that asserted oversight and exclusive jurisdiction of two controversial, onshore oil pipelines previously regulated by the state. Grace Toohey in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/25/26
Will L.A. voters have tax fatigue at the ballot box? -- It’s tax season. Not just the time when you pay your personal taxes, but also when political groups, labor unions and even elected officials propose new taxes — either for specific programs or to keep the overall budget in the black. Noah Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/25/26
The Hardest Part About Being a Billionaire in California: Proving You Left -- California has one of the nation’s highest personal income-tax rates on high earners. It’s also home to officials who pore through phone logs, look for country-club memberships and even double-check visits to the dentist—all to figure out what really functions as home. Laura J. Nelson and Juliet Chung in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 1/25/26
‘Abortion hurts women’: Thousands march in S.F. during annual Walk for Life -- Tens of thousands of people took to San Francisco’s streets Saturday to voice their opposition to abortion, many emphasizing resources available to women facing difficult decisions. Brooke Park, St. John Barned-Smith in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/25/26
Education
LAUSD says Pali High is safe for students to return to after fire. Some parents and experts have concerns -- The Los Angeles Unified School District released a litany of test results for the fire-damaged Palisades Charter High School ahead of the planned return of students next week, showing the district’s remediation efforts have removed much of the post-fire contamination. Noah Haggerty in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/25/26
Also
Sacramento-area native Alex Honnold completes skyscraper climb live on Netflix -- Around the 58-minute mark of his attempt to free solo climb a Taiwanese skyscraper, Alex Honnold reported that the headset he was wearing had died. Graham Womack in the Sacramento Bee$ Katrina Northrop in the Washington Post$ -- 1/25/26
California’s favorite lovebirds Jackie and Shadow welcome first egg of the year -- In major news for followers of Southern California’s most famous feathered power couple, bald eagles Jackie and Shadow have welcomed their first egg of the 2026 season in their Big Bear nest. Clara Harter in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/25/26
North Beach struggles with piles of pizza trash. Here is S.F.’s ‘outside the box’ solution -- A geometry problem has long irritated North Beach: How do you fit a square box in a round trash can? Alyce McFadden in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/25/26
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Videos Appear to Contradict Federal Accounts of Fatal Shooting -- Federal authorities said the slain man, Alex Pretti, had approached agents with a gun. But videos show Mr. Pretti was holding his phone, not a weapon, when they pulled him to the ground. Devon Lum and Haley Willis in the New York Times$ Samuel Oakford in the Washington Post$ -- 1/25/26
Trump won’t attend Super Bowl in California, calls performers ‘terrible’ -- President Donald Trump said he will not attend the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, criticizing the game’s entertainment lineup — including Bad Bunny and Green Day — while insisting his absence is largely about travel. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Chase Hunter in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 1/25/26
Shutdown risk grows as Democrats revolt after Minneapolis shooting -- Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said "Senate Democrats will not provide the votes" to fund immigration enforcement, part of a six-bill package set for action next week. Jordain Carney Politico Siobhan Hughes and Lindsay Wise in the Wall Street Journal$ Catie Edmondson and Carl Hulse in the New York Times$ -- 1/25/26
Trump Threatens New Tariffs on Canada Over China -- The president warned of 100% tariffs on Canadian goods if the North American neighbor ‘makes a deal with China’ Ken Thomas and Paul Vieira in the Wall Street Journal$ Matina Stevis-Gridneff in the New York Times$ -- 1/25/26
From Davos to Minneapolis to D.C., Trump is facing sharper pushback -- Foreign leaders, Catholic archbishops and the Federal Reserve chairman are among those challenging Trump after a first year in which the president’s critics often tried to placate him. Naftali Bendavid in the Washington Post$ -- 1/25/26
California Policy and Politics Saturday
Trump administration approves plan backed by Newsom to build largest California reservoir in 50 years -- The Trump administration on Friday gave its approval for plans to build Sites Reservoir, a vast 13-mile-long off-stream lake north of Sacramento that would provide water to 500,000 acres of Central Valley farmland and 24 million people, including residents of Santa Clara County, parts of the East Bay and Los Angeles. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ Kurtis Alexander in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 01/24/26
California to join WHO health network in rebuke of Trump -- Gavin Newsom said Friday that California is joining the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, marking the state’s first formal partnership with the WHO’s international public health arm and the latest move by the governor to cast California as a counterweight to the Trump administration’s health policy agenda. Brock Hrehor Politico -- 01/24/26
‘Brain the size of a walnut’: Bessent goes off on Newsom -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been one of the most vocal critics of President Donald Trump since his return to office last year. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argues it’s a sign of Newsom’s weakness. Aaron Pellish Politico -- 01/24/26
GOP rails against Newsom’s late date for special election to fill Rep. Doug LaMalfa’s seat -- Rep. Doug LaMalfa’s death left California’s 1st Congressional District vacant. Gov. Gavin Newsom set the special election for August, the latest possible date allowed by state law. California Republicans say the delayed election denies rural voters representation for months and accuse Newsom of using redistricting politics to strengthen Democrats’ position in Congress. Hailey Branson-Potts in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 01/24/26
How California’s political bottleneck is scrambling Democratic careers -- Longshot contenders in this fortress of Democratic politics — launching pad of the likes of Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla — are abandoning marquee races in favor of less competitive contests, while House members and their opponents are changing districts so often this cycle it’s hard for even insiders to keep track of who’s running where. Blake Jones Politico -- 01/24/26
Eric Swalwell says California should withhold jobs and driver’s licenses from ICE agents -- As Democrats across the country face calls to rein in abuses of power by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bay Area Rep. Eric Swalwell has proposed sweeping and aggressive measures to target officers, including by barring them from obtaining driver’s licenses or working in state government. Sara DiNatale in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 01/24/26
Justice Department drops demand for records naming transgender kids treated at Children’s Hospital L.A. -- The U.S. Department of Justice has agreed to stop demanding medical records that identify young patients who received gender-affirming care from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, ending a legal standoff with families who sued to block a subpoena that some feared would be used to criminally prosecute the parents of transgender kids. Kevin Rector and Sonja Sharp in the Los Angeles Times$ Ana B. Ibarra Calmatters -- 01/24/26
California’s largest pediatric healthcare system to halt transgender care amid Trump administration threats -- The largest pediatric healthcare system in California will stop providing gender-affirming medical care to transgender youth next month amid increasing pressure from the federal government. Hannah Fry in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 01/24/26
Los Angeles might tweak its ‘mansion tax.’ Here’s why that matters for the rest of California -- The ballot measure do-over is intended to restart apartment development across Los Angeles and ward off a statewide anti-tax crusade. Ben Christopher Calmatters -- 01/24/26
Renée Fleming cancels Kennedy Center shows as pressure mounts on S.F. Ballet -- Renowned singer Renée Fleming and a children’s theater production inspired by Bruce Lee became the latest acts to cancel upcoming appearances at the Kennedy Center. Pressure is now mounting on other major institutions — including the San Francisco Ballet — to follow suit. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 01/24/26
Workplace
San Francisco teachers union moves closer to a strike -- San Francisco’s teachers union moved closer to a possible strike after Friday’s fact finding session ended at a crossroads, pushing the dispute to its final stage before labor leaders can call for a walkout. Brooke Park in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 01/24/26
Wildfire
New ‘wildfire prepared’ homes in Cameron Park designed to avert fire risks -- The new homes are designed with fire safety in mind, and recently became the second in the nation to receive a “wildfire prepared” designation from the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS). Felicia Alvarez KVIE Abridged Megan Fan Munce in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 01/24/26
Develop
New S.F. skyscraper would go up across from Salesforce Tower — and be almost as tall -- Once envisioned as San Francisco’s tallest mixed-use complex, Oceanwide Center has become shorthand in the city for how the speculative ambitions of global investors can go wrong. Cranes vanished years ago from the unfinished downtown construction site, leaving exposed concrete, rusting steel and a web of lawsuits. Laura Waxmann in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 01/24/26
Street
L.A. homeless services fraud suspect spent millions on luxury lifestyle, authorities charge -- Alexander Soofer was charged with wire fraud amid allegations he misappropriated money from his Hyde Park-based program Abundant Blessings. Prosecutors allege Soofer funneled cash into designer clothing, luxury vacations and his homes in Westwood and Greece. The case is the third to emerge from a federal task force announced last spring to investigate potential fraud and corruption involving L.A. homelessness funds. Sonja Sharp and Andrew Khouri in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 01/24/26
Former NFL and Westchester High lineman Kevin Johnson killed in South L.A. homeless encampment -- Kevin Johnson, a former NFL defensive lineman for the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders, was found dead at a homeless encampment Wednesday, authorities said. Salvador Hernandez and Steve Henson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 01/24/26
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Federal officers shot and killed a man in Minneapolis -- Federal immigration officers shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Saturday, drawing hundreds of protesters in a city already shaken by another fatal shooting weeks earlier. Curtis Yee and Pamela Sampson Associated Press -- 01/24/26
Why the Trump administration is detaining immigrant children – and what happens to them next -- This week, ICE’s detention of a five-year-old boy wearing a Spider Man backpack in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights quickly became a defining image of the Trump administration’s hardline immigration enforcement. Furious critics, including many local politicians, seized on Liam Ramos’s ordeal as glaring evidence that Trump’s mass deportation campaign has little to do with crime and a lot to do with terrorizing children and their families. Roque Planas The Guardian -- 01/24/26
Pepper-Sprayed While Pinned Down: A Searing Scene Provokes Outrage -- Images of a man getting pepper-sprayed at close range while being held down by Border Patrol agents fueled more tension in Minneapolis. Ernesto Londoño in the New York Times$ Lauren Kaori Gurley, Justine McDaniel, Natalie Allison, Michelle Boorstein and Ben Brasch in the Washington Post$ -- 01/24/26
F.B.I. Agent Who Tried to Investigate ICE Officer in Shooting Resigns -- The resignation of the agent, Tracee Mergen, was only the latest shock wave to have emerged from the Justice Department’s handling of the shooting of Renee Good. Alan Feuer and Glenn Thrush in the New York Times$ -- 01/24/26
ICE detention staff reported death of restrained man as a suicide -- The statements to 911 operators the night Geraldo Lunas Campos died appear to conflict with autopsy’s later finding of homicide. Douglas MacMillan in the Washington Post$ -- 01/24/26
US immigration agents detain two-year-old Minnesota girl: ‘depravity beyond words’ -- Federal immigration agents detained a two-year-old girl and her father in Minneapolis on Thursday and transported them to Texas, according to court records and the family’s lawyers. Sam Levin The Guardian -- 01/24/26
U.K., including Prince Harry, voices outrage at Trump’s Afghanistan remarks -- Britons including Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Prince Harry and grieving parents of soldiers killed in action reacted with fury Friday to President Donald Trump’s inaccurate belittling of the role British troops played in the Afghanistan war. Steve Hendrix in the Washington Post$ -- 01/24/26
On Greenland, Europe stood up, Trump blinked, and the E.U. learned a lesson -- For some in the often fractured E.U., Trump’s retreat on the Arctic territory proves that retaliation — not conciliation — is the answer to his hardball tactics. Ellen Francis in the Washington Post$ -- 01/24/26
Mark Kelly’s money bomb -- In an effort to help flip the House and Senate in 2026, Kelly has strategically used his star turn as President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Public Enemy No. 1 to ramp up his giving and fundraising to competitive candidates, party committees and state parties to the tune of nearly $5 million last year, according to figures shared exclusively with Politico. Adam Wren Politico -- 01/24/26
Demonstrators Flood Minneapolis Streets as Hundreds of Businesses Close to Protest ICE -- Thousands of protesters shut down streets throughout Minneapolis-St. Paul to demand that federal immigration agents end their weekslong crackdown. Businesses closed in solidarity. Chris Hippenstee, Talya Minsberg,Maia Coleman and Summer Rabold in the New York Times$ -- 01/24/26
Philadelphia sues over removal of slavery exhibit at Independence National Historical Park -- Outraged critics are accusing President Donald Trump of “whitewashing history” after the National Park Service removed an exhibit on slavery at Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park. Tassanee Vejpongsa and Graham Lee Brewer Associated Press -- 01/24/26
With the Fate of Greenland in Flux, It’s Back to the Age of Empire -- From James Polk to Donald Trump: The White House revives a game of territorial expansion that treats foreign lands as real estate and their people as Americans-in-waiting. Drew Hinshaw and Marcus Walker in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 01/24/26
Europe Prepares for a Nightmare Scenario: The U.S. Blocking Access to Tech -- Rising tensions with the U.S. are spurring new plans in Europe to do something that has long seemed impossible: break with American technology in favor of homegrown alternatives. Sam Schechner, Berber Jin and Kim Mackrael in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 01/24/26
A less noticed sign that the AI boom poses a risk to the economy -- Big Tech is taking on record levels of debt, marking a new chapter in the artificial intelligence boom as names like Oracle, Alphabet and Meta pour big money into massive data centers. Aaron Gregg in the Washington Post$ -- 01/24/26