Kamala Harris advocates lowering the voting age to 16 at Oakland event
CHRONICLE, SARA DINATALE: "Former Vice President Kamala Harris urged voters to help Democrats take control of Congress in the midterm elections and warned that voting rights could be imperiled under President Donald Trump at a book tour stop in Oakland on Tuesday.
Harris said she is worried about voters’ rights and access to the ballot. She fears the Supreme Court will soon gut the Voting Rights Act and its protections against racial discrimination, and that a Trump-backed bill in Congress to sharply curtail access to voting will disenfranchise millions."
Sen. Padilla preps for Trump trying to seize control of elections via emergency order
CHRONICLE, KEVIN RECTOR: "Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) is preparing for President Trump to declare a national emergency in order to seize control of this year’s midterm elections from the states, including by bracing his Senate colleagues for a vote in which they would be forced to either co-sign on the power grab or resist it.
In the wake of reporting last week that conservative activists with connections to the White House were circulating such an order, Padilla sent a letter to his Senate colleagues Friday stating that any such order would be “wildly illegal and unconstitutional,” and would no doubt face “extremely strict scrutiny” in the courts."
Republicans blame Carl DeMaio for party division as his group rakes in millions
CALMATTERS, NADIA LATHAN: "It was the first meeting of the new year and local Republicans, from senior leaders to right-wing influencers, were gathered at a suburban San Diego church to discuss who the party should endorse in the June primary.
Insults and personal attacks flew between a local GOP activist and Assemblymember Carl DeMaio for more than an hour as party members argued over how to tally their votes. Then, finally, came the results: No one would receive an endorsement, not even a candidate for the seat currently held by the Republican leader of the state Senate."
Hegseth says U.S. is ‘accelerating’ war on Iran, but strike at Turkey won’t trigger NATO
LAT, KEVIN RECTOR: "The U.S. war effort against Iran was “accelerating” as American and Israeli forces fought for control of Iranian airspace and pressed farther inland to seek and destroy Iranian missile capabilities, top U.S. officials said Wednesday.
“Four days in, we have only just begun to fight,” said U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth."
How a last-minute deal doomed California’s ban on masked ICE agents
LAT, SONJA SHARP: "The judge was perplexed.
“Why were state law enforcement officers excluded?” U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder wanted to know."
What the Supreme Court ruling on gender identity means for students, parents, and schools
LAT, HOWARD BLUME: "The Supreme Court’s ruling Monday affirming the right of parents to know about their child’s gender identity at school has left California educators with complicated questions about how to protect the sometimes competing rights of students, school employees and family members.
The Supreme Court decision in Mirabelli v. Bonta, while falling short of explicitly deciding the case, will have a sweeping impact because the court majority strongly agreed with a lower court’s interpretation of parent rights that differs from common practice in California."
‘Shocking’: What Supreme Court ruling on transgender policy means for California students
CALMATTERS, CAROLYN JONES: "Advocates for transgender youth vowed to keep fighting Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked — at least temporarily — a California policy protecting the privacy of transgender students in K-12 schools.
The court ruled in favor of a group of parents near San Diego who argued that the state’s policy violates their right to religious freedom and due process. The policy barred school districts from requiring teachers to “out” transgender students to their parents, unless the students gave permission."
Lowell High math teacher on leave after quizzes prompt allegations of fat-shaming, sexist content
CHRONICLE, JILL TUCKER: "A San Francisco math teacher was on indefinite leave Monday after administrators learned he required his students to solve quiz problems about a “fat kid” punted in the air and the monetary cost of dating girls based on their weight or “sexy points.”
Lowell High School Principal Jan Bautista notified families just after 5:30 p.m. that teacher Tom Chan “needed to go on leave” and there was no return date known, with coverage of his classes pending. She asked the community to respect his privacy at this time."
How one Cal State campus is trying to break out of a doom loop of declining enrollment
CALMATTERS, MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN: "The first first day of fall semester for a university freshman is often stressful. Not for Vanessa Menera, an 18-year-old who’s the first in her family to attend college.
Last year, she arrived 15 minutes early to her first fall class with an internship and campus job already in tow, plus a mental map of Cal State University Dominguez Hills, a sprawling, nearly 350-acre institution in the Los Angeles area’s South Bay."
Pavement is undermining LA’s future
CAPITOL WEEKLY, DEBORAH BLOOME: "For much of the 20th century, Los Angeles—like many other American cities—measured progress in miles of pavement. Pavement had a starring role in the California dream, palm trees swaying above wide boulevards, and sun glinting off the open road. That seduction helped build a metropolis, but in sealing over the soil and shade, we buried the very resilience the city now needs. As Los Angeles endures intense rainstorms this week, overrunning neighborhoods and turning streets into rivers, the costs of that vision are impossible to ignore. Today, those same hard surfaces trap heat, worsen flooding, and strain our communities, which means we have to rethink what counts as progress. The goal isn’t to erase pavement; it’s to make our communities more livable.
Pavement created many problems for Los Angeles, damaging ecosystems and neighborhoods. But removing it where it no longer serves a purpose offers a rare chance to ease several pressures at once. By making pavement’s hidden costs visible, Los Angeles can begin to depave its way toward becoming a more sustainable, regenerative, and livable region."
A cold front is just the beginning of California’s windy stretch
CHRONICLE, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "Windy weather will pick up Wednesday and won’t let up for days across parts of California.
The breezes won’t be accompanied by lashing rain or heavy snow. Rather, they’ll be a much drier variety, stemming from a low-pressure system paralleling the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. That system will eventually cut off from the guiding winds from the jet stream and spin off Point Conception this weekend."
California’s heralded wine industry is running dry — here’s why
LAT, IRIS KWOK: "Winery owner Stuart Spencer estimates that he left about 50 tons of grapes to rot on vines in Lodi, Calif., last fall, as harvesting and processing them would cost more than they were worth.
“We’re doing our best to keep our head above water,” said Spencer, the owner of St. Amant Winery and executive director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission."
L.A. cannabis businesses owe $400 million. The city may get only $30 million
LAT, SANDRA MCDONALD: "Los Angeles cannabis businesses that owe back taxes wouldn’t have to pay late fees and interest under an “amnesty” program proposed by the City Council.
To qualify, the businesses would have to pay their city taxes within three years."
After rash of overdose deaths, L.A. banned sales of kratom. Some say they lost lifeline for pain and opioid withdrawal
LAT, KAREN GARCIA: "Nearly four months ago, Los Angeles County banned the sale of kratom, as well as 7-OH, the synthetic version of the alkaloid that is its active ingredient. The idea was to put an end to what at the time seemed like a rash of overdose deaths related to the drug.
It’s too soon to tell whether kratom-related deaths have dissipated as a result — or, really, whether there was ever actually an epidemic to begin with. But many L.A. residents had become reliant on kratom as something of a panacea for debilitating pain and opioid withdrawal symptoms, and the new rules have made it harder for them to find what they say has been a lifesaving drug."
S.F.’s first sober homeless shelter is close to capacity. Could more follow?
CHRONICLE, LUCY HODGMAN: "Julian Elmore felt like a “lost soul” when he moved into San Francisco’s first sober homeless shelter last fall.
The 34-year-old moved to Marin County with his then-husband a decade ago, where he found a calling as a florist. But that life slipped away from Elmore after his marriage ended and his mother died, plunging him into long bouts of depression that he self-medicated with heavy drinking. In July, he found himself in a homeless shelter for the first time."
