Drought Monitor map shows 0% of California is dry for first time in 25 years
SacBee, DANIEL HUNT: "For the first time in a quarter-century, no part of California was considered dry or in drought, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor assessment released Thursday.
The historic shift was first highlighted by Drew Tuma, a meteorologist for KGO-TV in San Francisco, after the latest weekly map showed 0% of the state’s geography was experiencing drought or abnormal dryness. Last week, areas around San Diego and the far northeast corner of the state were considered “abnormally dry.”
READ MORE: Still soggy California hasn’t been this drought-free in 25 years, CLARA HARTER, LA Times
Gavin Newsom touts billions in new revenue but skips his own budget release
CalMatters, YUE STELLA VU: "Gov. Gavin Newsom painted a rosy picture of California’s fiscal future during his State of the State address Thursday. Flashing top-line numbers, the Democratic governor touted billions of dollars more in revenue, proposed new investments in education and pledged more toward the state’s reserves and pension debt.But that was a one-sided story.
It’s not clear whether Newsom will forecast a budget deficit for the 2026-27 fiscal year, how big it will be and whether closing the gap would require painful spending cuts to core services like child care, food assistance and Medi-Cal, the state’s health care coverage for low-income residents, especially as federal funding diminishes."
New U.S. food pyramid gets a lot right — but experts say it gets one key thing totally wrong
CHRONICLE, CATHERINE HO: "Federal health and agriculture officials Wednesday released updated dietary guidelines that urge Americans to follow some contradictory or puzzling ideas— prioritizing red meat and doubling the previously recommended amount of daily protein intake — while also keeping mainstay nutrition advice intact like eating whole grains, fruits and vegetables and limiting sugar, alcohol and highly processed foods.
The guidelines, which are updated every five years by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and U.S. Department of Agriculture, were announced at a news briefing by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has personally espoused many of the tenets included in the updated guidance."
California sues Trump administration over ‘baseless and cruel’ freezing of child-care funds
LAT, CLARA HARTER: "California is suing the Trump administration over its “baseless and cruel” decision to freeze $10 billion in federal funding for child care and family assistance allocated to California and four other Democratic-led states, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Thursday.
The lawsuit was filed jointly by the five states targeted by the freeze — California, New York, Minnesota, Illinois and Colorado — over the Trump administration’s allegations of widespread fraud within their welfare systems. California alone is facing a loss of about $5 billion in funding, including $1.4 billion for child-care programs."
Trump casts Maduro as ‘narco-terrorist’ driving American deaths. Experts have questions
LAT, KEVIN RECTOR: "In explaining the U.S. incursion into Venezuela to capture President Nicolás Maduro, President Trump accused Maduro and his wife of conducting a “campaign of deadly narco-terrorism against the United States and its citizens,” and Maduro of being “the kingpin of a vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the United States.”
“Hundreds of thousands — over the years — of Americans died because of him,” Trump said hours after U.S. special forces dragged Maduro from his bedroom during a raid that killed more than 50 Venezuelan and Cuban military and security forces."
Exclusive: Lawsuit challenges S.F. mayor’s housing plan
CHRONICLE, LAURA WAX,MANN: "San Francisco’s simmering fight over the city’s need to add more housing could spill into the courts as the first lawsuit to challenge Mayor Daniel Lurie’s closely watched “Family Zoning” plan is expected to be filed Friday.
Two local nonprofits, San Francisco Neighborhoods United and Small Business Forward, say they plan to sue the city in San Francisco Superior Court, seeking to overturn last year’s approval of the sweeping zoning plan designed to allow more housing throughout parts of the city that have traditionally added few new homes."
Inside Daniel Lurie’s handling of Waymo crisis during S.F. power outages
CHRONICLE, RACHEL SWAN/J.D. MORRIS: "A power outage five days before Christmas had bathed San Francisco in darkness. Across the city, Waymo robotaxis were trapped in intersections, hazards blinking. And Mayor Daniel Lurie was standing inside the Department of Emergency Management, firing off text messages to the CEO of the autonomous vehicle company.
“You have a car blocking a fire (t)ruck from getting to an active fire at the 900 block of Grant (Avenue),” the mayor wrote at 5:46 p.m. on Dec. 20 relaying a desperate alert from emergency responders."
S.F. Drug Court was once meant for minor crimes. Now, people accused of violent offenses are getting in
CHRONICLE, DAVID HERNANDEZ: "San Francisco is sending a growing number of criminal defendants into treatment through Drug Court, allowing them a chance to avoid trials and potential convictions while addressing substance-use disorders that can motivate criminal behavior.
But as the volume of cases in Drug Court surge, defendants charged with violent crimes are getting in, too, according to a Chronicle review of court data and cases. The shift is reshaping a program once reserved for low-level crimes such as drug possession and petty theft, while raising questions among some in the criminal justice system about whether the initiative is working as intended."
West Altadena feels abandoned a year after the Eaton fire: Where is the accountability?
LAT, GRACE TOOHEY: "The “Rising Together” float in Pasadena’s Rose Parade was supposed to celebrate the resiliency of Los Angeles in the face of the unprecedented double disaster that flattened thousands of homes and took 31 lives last January.
But amid the float’s proud phoenix and colorful California poppies, two frustrated fire survivors unfurled a surprise message: “AG Bonta, Altadena demands an investigation.”"
California’s first measles case of 2026 reported in Bay Area
CHRONICLE, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Bay Area public health officials confirmed this week that an unvaccinated adult in San Mateo County has tested positive for measles, marking what appears to be California’s first confirmed case of the disease in 2026.
The person had recently traveled outside the United States, a common source of measles infections in the U.S., according to Preston Merchant, a spokesperson for the county’s health department."
Minneapolis ICE killing echoes Bay Area shooting that led to charges
CHRONICLE, RACHEL SWAN: "A law enforcement official stands in front of a car, ordering the driver to exit the vehicle. As the vehicle moves, the officer opens fire through the windshield and driver’s side window, killing the driver.
These were the circumstances of both the shooting by an immigration enforcement officer in Minneapolis Wednesday and a 2018 killing in the Bay Area that was the subject of a Chronicle investigation. And as politicians debate the Minneapolis shooting and citizens across the country protest ICE and demand justice, the 2018 Danville killing serves as a rare example of a successful prosecution in a use-of-force case, and a sign of momentum for police accountability."
READ MORE -- Fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis reflects pattern of armed confrontations nationwide -- LAT, ITZEL LUNA
Sacramento-area teachers unions warn of potential strikes over pay and conditions
SacBee, JENNAH PENDLETON: "Sacramento-area educators are poised to strike if their demands for higher compensation and improved working conditions are not met soon.
Five teachers unions from Woodland, Sacramento and Rocklin have reached an impasse with their respective school districts after the parties failed to reach a labor agreement. Amid fact-finding and mediation sessions, the groups are making it clear to their employers that they are ready to walk out of the classroom if needed, joining a statewide California Teachers Association campaign to improve teacher pay and classroom conditions."
