How a Sacramento woman’s grandad made it possible for Trump to threaten Greenland
SACBEE, CATHIE ANDERSON: "When President Trump threatened to annex Greenland last month, a woman in Sacramento thought of her grandfather, whose audacious move 85 years ago inadvertently opened the door to U.S. aggression that startled her and the world.
The first time Bettina Redway really felt her grandfather Henrik Kauffman’s shadow fall across the present, it wasn’t in an archive or a classroom. It was in the headlines
CA120: Twins – the 2026 governor simulator
CAPITOL WEEKLY, PAUL MITCHELL: "The most intense parlor game in Sacramento is that of projecting the composition of June’s Top Two gubernatorial primary. Not who among the dozen leading candidates will win, per se, but what will be the pa: ""rtisanship of the two that make it to the General Election, and if that could actually be two Republicans.
It is unlikely, but consequences for Democrats would be severe. With no Democrat atop the general election ballot, Democratic turnout would almost certainly collapse. For starters, this would likely allow Republicans to hold several of the congressional districts redrawn under Prop 50 – essentially stealing away that 2025 procedural victory from Democrats, and potentially cost Democrats the House majority."
Overtime pay and night vision binoculars: UC San Diego is among agencies helping patrol border
CALMATTERS, PHOEBE HUSS: "For 20 nights every year, police from UC San Diego depart from their usual school rounds and patrol the shores of La Jolla, Black’s Beach, and Torrey Pines. Powered by overtime pay provided by the federal Department of Homeland Security, the officers look for people crossing the border.
UC San Diego police have long participated in the federal Department of Homeland Security program known as Operation Stonegarden, which provides $10.9 million annually to dozens of California law enforcement agencies to collaborate with Border Patrol. The practice continued through Democratic and Republican administrations, and after the state adopted a sanctuary law in 2017 restricting law enforcement collaboration with immigration enforcement."
L.A. mayoral candidate Nithya Raman’s record may surprise you
LAT, DAKOTA SMITH: "More than five years ago, Nithya Raman made history as the first candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists of America to win a City Council seat in Los Angeles, ushering in a wave of other progressive candidates who pushed the council to the left."
Liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders to kick off California billionaires’ tax campaign
LAT, SEEMA MEHTA: "Sen. Bernie Sanders, a political hero among liberals and populists, next week will formally kick off the campaign to place a new tax on billionaires on California’s November ballot.
The controversial proposal, which would impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of the state’s wealthiest residents, is critical to backfilling federal funding cuts to healthcare enacted by the Trump administration, Sanders said in a statement."
Enviro updates with Jennifer Fearing (PODCAST)
CAPITOL WEEKLY, STAFF: ""his week we’re joined by lobbyist Jennifer Fearing of Fearless Advocacy. Fearing was a key player in the negotiations to pass SB 54, a landmark bill that regulates plastic waste in California. Governor Newsom signed the bill in 2022, but as we all know, passing legislation is one thing, implementation is another. Fearing walks us through the bill’s complicated journey, and gives us an updates on it, and other environmental actions in the state. Plus – Who had the Worst Week in California Politics."Bad Bunny vs. Kid Rock: Here’s how many people watched each Super Bowl halftime show"
Housing advocates still waiting for state-ordered stair report
CALMATTERS, BEN CHRISTOPHER: "'In the fall of 2023, the California Legislature tasked the state’s fire safety regulators with writing a report that some housing affordability advocates say could make it easier to build bigger, airier and better lit apartment buildings in California’s housing-strapped cities.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal was given until January 1, 2026 to come up with a report on single-stair apartment buildings — a type of mid-sized multifamily development legal in much of the world, but effectively banned across most of North America."
One of UC’s most popular majors sees declines for first time since dot-com bust
CHRONUCLE, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA/NANETTE ASIMOV: "For the first time since the dot-com bust in the early 2000s, undergraduate computer science enrollment across the UC system declined in 2025, data show.
Only one UC has defied the downward trend: UC San Diego, the sole campus to have launched an AI major."
Sac City school board votes to reverse some cuts as budget situation looks up
SACBEE, JENNAH PENDLETON: "After outcry from hundreds of Sacramento City Unified School District’s nonteaching staff, the board opted Thursday to reverse several decisions that would have affected their pay. The public received the news last night that the struggling school district was finally projecting to be fiscally solvent at the end of the school year, the first good news about the district’s budget since its large deficit was discovered.
Bad Bunny vs. Kid Rock: Here people watched each Super Bowl halftime show
CHRONICLE, AIDIN VAZIRI: "The numbers were never expected to be close. Early viewership data from the 2026 Super Bowl shows that Bad Bunny’s official halftime performance far outpaced the conservative counterprogramming mounted against it, even as millions still tuned in to watch both.
Turning Point USA’s “All-American Halftime Show,” headlined by Kid Rock and featuring country artists Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett, aired during the halftime window and ended shortly after the second half of the game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots began."
Homebuyers paid less than the listing price nearly everywhere in the U.S. — except the Bay Area
CHRONICLE, CHRISTIAN LEONARD: ""It seemed like a fine deal: a three-bedroom house in West Berkeley for $735,000. At $784 per square foot, it was a good amount cheaper than other homes in the neighborhood.
At least, at first. In December, about a month after it was listed and after one deal fell through, the seller bumped the cost up to a more typical $810,000. The agent’s note on the listing highlighted the new “transparent price.” An offer was accepted less than a week later. The buyer paid full price."
California FAIR Plan insurance can range from $92 to $32,000. This map shows costs by ZIP code
CHRONICLE, MEGAN FAN MUNCE/SRIHARHA DEVULAPALLI: "For homeowners with California’s insurer of last resort, the price of being protected against fires can range anywhere from $92 a year to $32,000.
The latest available data from the California FAIR Plan shows that as of September 2025, the average homeowner on the insurer paid just over $3,000 a year."
