California Policy and Politics Friday

Trump admin tells S.F. judge it is not complying with order to return workers to their jobs -- President Donald Trump’s administration is apparently shrugging off a San Francisco federal judge’s order that thousands of federal employees who were summarily fired last month must be immediately returned to work. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/21/25

In milestone, L.A. approves first permits for rebuilding homes after Palisades fire -- The approval of the projects, one to repair a damaged home and two for full rebuilds, according to the Department of Building and Safety, represents a key milestone in the recovery from January’s devastating wildfires. Liam Dillon and Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/21/25

Billionaire-backed California Forever plots big shift: Huge shipbuilding operation -- California Forever’s plan to build a new city in eastern Solano County could include the development of a major shipbuilding operation on 1,400 acres near the tiny town of Collinsville, according to multiple people familiar with the plan. J.K. Dineen in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/21/25

PG&E asks California regulators for rate increase to boost shareholder profits -- Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Thursday asked state energy regulators to increase shareholder profits because of the high risk of doing business in California after a historic year of rate hikes sent utility bills soaring. Julie Johnson, Danielle Echeverria in the San Francisco Chronicle$ George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 3/21/25

Is California protected from the Department of Education dismantling? Here are the threats -- Low-income families, disabled students and female athletes will be among those that could be most hurt by President Donald Trump’s executive order Thursday to massively shrink — and ultimately eliminate — the federal Department of Education, experts say. Joe Garofoli, Molly Burke, Shira Stein in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/21/25

Key points people need to understand about Trump’s Education Department closure -- The dismantling of the department has been unofficially in progress for weeks, but Trump’s impact on education already has been substantial in California. Howard Blume, Jenny Gold, Jaweed Kaleem and Daniel Miller in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/21/25

Trump wants states in charge of education. California schools are already facing a unique crisis -- President Donald Trump’s efforts to abolish the federal Department of Education are coming as California schools face a unique crisis caused by a state law that allowed a wave of lawsuits over decades-old sexual abuse allegations. Sophia Bollag in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/21/25

Could a ship strike collapse the Golden Gate Bridge? New report raises concerns -- A new report from the National Transportation Safety Board raises concerns that the Golden Gate Bridge, along with four other Bay Area spans, could be at risk of collapsing due to a ship strike. The report, released Thursday, comes one year after the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed when it was struck by a container ship in March 2024, killing six construction workers. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/21/25

S.F. suspends nonprofit that paid for top city official’s son to attend UCLA, investigation finds -- San Francisco no longer wants to do business with a nonprofit that received lucrative city contracts from a disgraced former department head who previously worked for the organization and lived with its executive director. Aldo Toledo, Michael Barba in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 3/21/25

Kamala

Dem rivals to Kamala Harris: Hurry up and decide -- The antsy field of Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls has started sending an increasingly sharp message to former Vice President Kamala Harris: Let’s get this show on the road. Melanie Mason Politico -- 3/21/25

Gavin

Gavin Newsom is getting in Republicans’ heads -- Three episodes into the California governor’s new podcast, Alex Conant, the Republican strategist who served as communications director on Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign, called Newsom a “skilled communicator” and a “very, very talented politician.” Jeremy B. White and Adam Wren Politico -- 3/21/25

California Democrats are in control. So why are they worried? -- Modest legislative ambitions and a subdued response to the second Trump administration mark a striking departure for the state. Jeremy B. White Politico -- 3/21/25

Campus

Students and faculty sue administrators over last spring’s UCLA pro-Palestinian protests -- The suit alleges that UC officials discriminated against pro-Palestinian supporters and failed to protect them when counter-protestors attacked their encampment. Mikhail Zinshteyn CalMatters -- 3/21/25

Workplace

1,000 park workers who were fired in DOGE cuts are reinstated -- As a result of recent court orders, about 1,000 previously fired employees from the National Park Service will get their jobs back. That includes about eight workers from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and six workers from Channel Islands National Park. Jaclyn Cosgrove in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/21/25

Arellano: In a turbulent time, LAFD union head isn’t who you think he is -- During Escobar’s tenure, L.A. firefighters have weathered some tough times: COVID. The Palisades inferno. Fewer fire stations than there were in 1960. Gustavo Arellano in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/21/25

AI

OpenAI takes its pitch to Hollywood creatives after launching controversial video tool -- OpenAI held a screening event in West Hollywood on Wednesday, where several filmmakers touted work they made with the startup’s text-to-video tool Sora. Wendy Lee in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/21/25

ICE

ICE impersonators and other scammers are on the rise: How to protect yourself -- A rise in scams targeting the immigrant community spurs warnings from officials. Here’s what to do if someone pretending to be ICE approaches or contacts you. Karen Garcia in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/21/25

Guns

9th Circuit upholds California ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines -- California has the authority to ban large-capacity ammunition magazines, a federal appellate court ruled Thursday, reversing a previous decision that found the state law unconstitutional under the strict, history-minded limits on gun control measures recently established by the Supreme Court. Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ Alex Riggins in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ Jacob Gershman in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 3/21/25

Measles

Tuolumne County confirms two measles cases, warns of exposure at high school and emergency room -- The department said the cases involved an adult and a child under 18 who lived in the same household and had traveled internationally. It’s unclear whether they had been vaccinated against measles, a highly contagious and potentially deadly disease most often associated with a high fever and rash. Hannah Wiley in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/21/25

Point Reyes

Point Reyes’ historic dairies ousted after legal battle. Locals say it’s conservation gone mad -- Environmentalists are celebrating a legal settlement that will close historic family dairies they say are degrading Point Reyes National Seashore. Locals say the settlement shows no understanding of this place and its people. Jessica Garrison in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/21/25

Border Sewage

This is the next border fight — and it’s a stinker -- More than 100 billion gallons of raw sewage, trash and stormwater have flowed into San Diego since 2018 as the city of Tijuana’s aging and failing wastewater system has been overwhelmed by a booming population. Annie Snider Politico -- 3/21/25

Street

L.A. Sheriff Luna defies subpoenas, sues oversight commission over deputy misconduct records -- L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna sued the Civilian Oversight Commission after it attempted to subpoena records about deputy-involved shootings and beatings. Keri Blakinger in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/21/25

‘There’s a meal on his head’: Behind the ‘gladiator fights’ in L.A. juvenile halls -- If the teen dished out a beating to a misbehaving kid — someone who cursed at officers or defied their orders — he would be rewarded with In-N-Out, Jack in the Box, McDonald’s or Chick-fil-A. Rebecca Ellis and James Queally in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/21/25

Deputy shot California man 5 times, including in the back. Family is awarded $30.5 million -- Unarmed Mickel Lewis Sr. died after being shot five times by Deputy Jason Ayala on Oct. 2, 2020. His family said that, after he was pulled over in an “unwarranted” stop, he was shot in the back and died in the street. Andrew J. Campa in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/21/25

Yosemite

Major rockslide closes key road into Yosemite National Park indefinitely -- Just as the spring tourist season is getting started, a major rockslide has closed one of the primary routes into Yosemite National Park. The slide came crashing down across both lanes of Highway 140, a scenic winding route along the Merced River between the town of Mariposa and Yosemite’s Arch Rock entrance.   Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 3/21/25

POTUS 47

Pentagon Set Up Briefing for Musk on Potential War With China -- It was not clear if the briefing for Mr. Musk would go ahead as originally planned. But providing Mr. Musk access to some of the nation’s most closely guarded military secrets would be a dramatic expansion of his already extensive role as an adviser to Mr. Trump and leader of his effort to slash spending and purge the government of people and policies they oppose. Eric Schmitt, Eric Lipton, Julian E. Barnes, Ryan Mac and Maggie Haberman in the New York Times$ -- 3/21/25

Musk receives top-level Pentagon briefing on China and DOGE, deepening his conflicts of interest -- The meeting with Musk was initiated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to a U.S. official. But Hegseth and President Donald Trump denied that the focus would be on China. Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima in the Washington Post$ -- 3/21/25

Trump Signs Order to Begin Dismantling Education Department. Here’s What to Know -- President Trump signed a much-anticipated executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the Education Department, escalating a bitter political fight over the future of the agency. Ken Thomas and Matt Barnum in the Wall Street Journal$ Laura Meckler, Danielle Douglas-Gabriel and Cat Zakrzewski in the Washington Post$ Michael C. Bender, Erica L. Green and Alan Blinder in the New York Times$ Amy DiPierro and John Fensterwald EdSource -- 3/21/25

Judge Blocks DOGE’s Access to Social Security Systems With Personal Information -- A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from Social Security Administration systems containing personal information, saying their work was likely an illegal “fishing expedition.” Mariah Timms in the Wall Street Journal$ Maegan Vazquez in the Washington Post$ Zach Montague in the New York Times$ -- 3/21/25

White House scrambles after JFK files expose Social Security numbers -- The National Archives and Records Administration will scrub the files for Social Security numbers, and the Social Security Administration will issue new numbers to those exposed by the inadvertent release, a White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the plan. William Wan, Aaron Schaffer, Clara Ence Morse and Cat Zakrzewski in the Washington Post$ Sarah Maslin Nir and Maggie Haberman in the New York Times$ -- 3/21/25

Government answers on migrant flights ‘woefully insufficient,’ judge says -- A federal judge on Thursday accused the Trump administration of evading its obligations to provide him with information on whether officials disobeyed his ruling this weekend temporarily blocking the deportation of Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act. Jeremy Roebuck in the Washington Post$ Alan Feuer in the New York Times$ -- 3/21/25

Intelligence Assessment Said to Contradict Trump on Venezuelan Gang -- To invoke wartime deportation powers, President Trump asserted that Venezuela’s government controls a gang. U.S. intelligence analysts think that is not true. Charlie Savage and Julian E. Barnes in the New York Times$ -- 3/21/25

With talk of a 51st state, a mystery: Why is Trump obsessed with Canada? -- As President Donald Trump argued in recent weeks — for the first time, the third time, the 10th time — to eliminate Canadian sovereignty and convert the country into America’s 51st state, messages started arriving in attorney Mitchell Wine’s inbox. “A couple friends wrote me and said, ‘It’s all your fault,’” Wine recalled with a chuckle. Martine Powers in the Washington Post$ -- 3/21/25

Musk steps up criticism of judges, offers $100 to voters who will do the same -- The billionaire’s political group will pay Wisconsin voters who sign a petition against ‘activist judges’ ahead of a state Supreme Court race. Hannah Knowles, Trisha Thadani and Cat Zakrzewski in the Washington Post$ -- 3/21/25