ICE plans to open its largest California detention center at Kern County prison
Fresno Bee, MELISSA MONTALVO: "Federal authorities plan to open the largest immigration detention center in California at a former state prison in a Kern County desert town about an hour southeast of Bakersfield.
It’s not immediately clear when the privately-owned 2,560-bed jail could reopen as an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. The Kern County facility is located in California City, an Antelope Valley town of 15,000, and previously operated as a state prison until its closure in 2024."
California, epicenter of the nation’s housing crisis, is finally getting a housing agency
CalMatters, BEN CHRISTOPHER: "After years of soaring rents, increasingly out-of-reach home prices and an enduring homelessness crisis that touches every corner of the state, California is finally creating a state agency exclusively focused on housing issues.
You might wonder what took so long. Earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced a proposal to split up the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency — an awkward grabbag of disparate bureaucratic operations — into two fresh agencies: One just for housing and homelessness-related departments and one for everything else."
Fewer people on streets, in shelters after getting LA County homelessness prevention help
LAist, DAVID WAGNER: "A Los Angeles County program that seeks out people at high risk of homelessness and tries to help them stay off the streets and out of shelters is showing early signs of success, according to a study published Thursday.
Launched in 2021, the county's Homelessness Prevention Unit uses artificial intelligence to comb through vast troves of government data, looking for signs that someone is likely to fall into homelessness. Some of the risk factors include frequent hospitalizations, psychiatric holds, welfare program enrollment and past incarceration."
Exclusive: Trouble mounts for Costco optician who owns company in deadly fireworks blast
Chronicle, MATTHIAS GAFNI, KO LYN CHEANG and JULIE JOHNSON: "Before explosions rocked a fireworks company in Yolo County and killed seven workers, authorities launched an investigation into the head of the firm. They were looking into whether he illegally stored fireworks in Southern California and put dangerous display-grade devices in packaging indicating they were less powerful, or “safe and sane,” a source familiar with the matter told the Chronicle.
The investigations centered on former San Francisco resident Kenneth Chee, the 48-year-old owner and CEO of Devastating Pyrotechnics, whose operation in the farm town of Esparto was destroyed by fire on July 1, as the company prepared to put on Fourth of July displays in cities across Northern California. A series of blasts created a mushroom cloud visible from many miles away."
California retiree group wants to investigate CalPERS. It’s not the first time
SacBee, WILLIAM MELHADO: "A group of retirees has tapped a seasoned financial investigator to dig into California’s largest pension system’s returns, which its members believe to be lackluster, putting stakeholders’ benefits at risk.
The investigation is the latest in a series of attempts to scrutinize the California Public Employees Retirement System by the Retired Public Employees Association of California and its current leader. Margaret Brown, RPEA’s president, has been demanding more oversight of the half-a-trillion-dollar pension fund for years, which she claims lacks internal controls."
Trump Fuels Fear, Rage and Hope in California’s Central Valley
NY Times, ELISABETH BUMILLER: "The farmers in California’s Central Valley like to say they feed the world, and it is not hyperbole.
The valley stretches for 450 fertile miles from Bakersfield in the south to Redding in the north, yields an estimated 40 percent of the fruit, vegetables and tree nuts grown in the United States, and exports half of that bounty overseas. California agriculture overall is a $60 billion annual business."
Erratic results, high costs doomed this district’s once-heralded student improvement program
EdSource, LASHERICA THORNTON: "The Fresno Unified School District and its teachers union have reached an agreement to terminate a decade-old, once-promising student improvement program that expanded from a pilot in a handful of low-performing schools to 40 of the district’s 67 elementary schools and one middle school.
Faced with rising program costs, declining enrollment and cuts in revenue, the district decided that inconsistent results could not justify the program’s high expense of almost $30 million."
A crisis of faith: ICE raids force some churches to take ‘extraordinary’ action
LA Times, HANNAH FRY, CHRISTOPHER BUCHANAN and ANDREW J. CAMPA: "As word spread among Catholics that immigration agents were visiting places of worship to carry out deportations, the pews inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church in downtown Los Angeles became less and less crowded.
Isiah, a devout Catholic, was so frightened he stopped attending weekly Mass for fear that he could be swept up in the raids. Isiah, who declined to provide his last name to The Times because of concerns about his immigration status, prayed the rosary as a substitute for two weeks before his faith brought him back to church."
Federal judge signals a halt to indiscriminate immigration stops
LA Times, BRITTNY MEJIA and RACHEL URANGA: "A federal judge issued a tentative ruling on Thursday that suggests she will order the Trump administration to halt unlawful stops and arrests that advocates say have terrorized Angelenos, forced some immigrants into hiding and damaged the local economy.
The ruling was not made public, but a final order is expected Friday on the case that has become a centerpiece in the battle over Trump’s mass deportation plan. The lawsuit filed by immigrant rights groups last week seeks to block federal agents from stopping and arresting brown-skinned people without probable cause and then placing them in “dungeon-like” conditions without access to lawyers."
Intel slashes 584 California jobs as CEO says company is no longer a top chipmaker
Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Intel Corp. has notified state officials that it will lay off 584 employees in Northern California this month, part of a sweeping global restructuring effort by the embattled Silicon Valley semiconductor giant. The permanent layoffs, set to take effect July 15, will impact six locations in Santa Clara.
The largest cut is at Intel’s Robert Noyce Building at 2200 Mission College Blvd., where 184 jobs will be eliminated. Additional reductions include 179 positions at 3600 Juliette Lane, 37 at 3601 Juliette Lane, eight at 2191 Laurelwood Road and two employees at 3065 Bowers Ave., according to filings with California’s Employment Development Department."
Life expectancy in California still hasn’t rebounded since the pandemic
LA Times, MARCOS MAGAÑA: "During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus caused life expectancy in California to drop significantly.
It’s now been over two years since officials declared the pandemic-related public health emergency to be over. And yet, life expectancy for Californians has not fully recovered.
Today, however, the virus has been replaced by drug overdoses and cardiovascular disease as the main causes driving down average lifespans."
Zohran Mamdani jolted progressives. Can California candidates replicate his success?
CalMatters, YUE STELLA YU: "For California progressives, Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral bid offers something of a formula to follow.
When the 33-year-old democratic socialist pulled off a historic upset in the primary last month, Golden State progressives rejoiced. Some deemed his victory a sign that they do not need to pivot to the center to resonate with voters as many California leaders have in recent years."
Immigration action sparks chaotic protest in Ventura County
LA Times, JEANETTE MARANTOS and MELISSA GOMEZ: "The crowd outside Glass House Farms in Camarillo in the wake of Thursday’s chaotic immigration sweep was a strange mix. There were vocal protesters hurling insults and sometimes water bottles at federal agents, and there were anxious friends and family of those who work at Glass House, a huge cannabis operation.
Then there were curious bystanders like Mike Elliott, a Camarillo resident who voted for President Trump and stopped to see what was happening, saying he wanted to bear witness. Also on hand was Oxnard native Christina Muñoz, who said she brought her 2-year-old son, 5-month old daughter and her mom in hopes of getting a glimpse of her husband, a member of the National Guard whom she hadn’t seen in 30 days."
Secret Service Suspends Six Agents Over Trump Assassination Attempt
NY Times, EILEEN SULLIVAN: "The Secret Service said on Thursday that it was suspending six agents involved in securing the site of a campaign rally where a gunman tried to assassinate Donald J. Trump last summer.
The suspensions range from 10 to 42 days, without pay, the agency said in a statement just days before the first anniversary of the shooting. It did not give a sense of timing for the suspensions or name the agents, citing privacy law. All six had been placed on restricted duty after the rally while the agency conducted an internal review."
Have prison closures saved California money? What the numbers show
SacBee, NICOLE NIXON: "Five years after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans for California to shutter some of its prisons, the state’s prison budget is reflecting savings.
Newsom announced plans to close two prisons in 2020, citing a declining inmate population, with an intention to close two more later. But for several years state spending followed a decade-long trend of increase while the number of people incarcerated in the system has dwindled."
New poll finds most Californians believe American democracy is in peril
LA Times, PHIL WILLON: "An overwhelming number of California voters think American democracy is being threatened or, at the very least, tested, according to a new poll released Thursday by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies.
The poll, conducted for the nonprofit Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, found that concerns cut across the partisan spectrum. They are shared regardless of income or education level, race or ethnicity. Californians living in big cities and rural countrysides, young and old, expressed similar unease."
Sacramento homeless camp cleanup company sued for labor violations. City cuts ties
SacBee, THERESA CLIFT: "Fourteen people are suing their former employer, Forensiclean, alleging the Sacramento company failed to pay them wages required by state law, overtime, or meal breaks.
The city of Sacramento’s attorneys verified that the company, in its cleaning of homeless camps, was not paying the so-called prevailing wages that are required by state law, the city’s Department of Community Response Director Brian Pedro told the City Council last month."
Sick of loud ads on Netflix? A proposed California law would turn down the volume
CalMatters, RYAN SABALOW: "Ever been streaming a show or a movie and been jolted out of your entertainment reverie by an ad so loud it felt like it rattled the windows?
If California’s lawmakers have their way, those blaring commercials on streaming platforms might soon have the volume turned down.
A bill sailing through the Legislature with bipartisan support would prohibit online streaming services like Netflix and Hulu from cranking up the volume during commercials. The proposal would make the platforms comply with the same standards as a 15-year-old federal law that limits how loud traditional television and cable broadcasters can make their advertisements."
