Could this plan actually save California’s high-speed rail project?
Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "At a moment when California high-speed rail faces possible abandonment, the project’s new CEO sees a tantalizing lifeline: $1 billion annually from the state, supplemented by an infusion of private capital.
It’s a hopeful, perhaps heady proposition. High-speed rail has been dogged by cost overruns, construction delays and political fights since its inception in 1996, when California leaders first dazzled constituents with the promise of a three-hour train ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Now, the state is struggling to deliver even the middle portion of that rail system, a 171-mile stretch from Merced to Bakersfield."
Democrats retreat on climate: ‘It’s one of the more disappointing turnabouts’
Politico, JEREMY B. WHITE and CAMILLE von KAENEL: " Donald Trump is coming for California’s signature climate policies — and so is California.
Stung by the party’s sweeping losses in November and desperate to win back working-class voters, the Democratic Party is in retreat on climate change. Nowhere is that retrenchment more jarring than in the nation’s most populous state, a longtime bastion of progressive politics on the environment."
Cleaning up smog is suddenly much harder. Reined in by Trump, what will California do next?
CalMatters, ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE: "At an electric vehicle showcase in Anaheim, Christopher Grundler — one of the top executives in California responsible for cleaning the air — said despite all the setbacks his agency has faced this year, he’s confident the state can keep making progress.
“This president, this Congress, will not kill the electric car,” said Grundler, a deputy executive officer of the state Air Resources Board. “They won’t kill the electric truck, and they certainly won’t kill the California spirit.”
More storms threaten Central Texas as death toll nears 80, including 27 from Camp Mystic
Washington Post Staff: "South-central Texas is again at an elevated risk of excessive rainfall, threatening to bring further flooding to the ravaged region as search operations for the missing enter a fourth day.
At least 78 people have died in the Central Texas floods, including 28 children. Camp Mystic in Kerr County said Monday it is grieving the loss of 27 campers and counselors. Dozens of people across the region are still unaccounted for."
First-Time Home Buyers Are MIA. Landlords Are the Winners.
Wall Street Journal, CAROL RYAN: "Chances are you haven’t received an invitation to a young friend’s housewarming party in a while.
That is because the number of first-time home buyers is dwindling. The upshot is a potential reversal in housing-related stocks. Since mortgage rates began to rise in 2022, home builders have been a much better investment than apartment REITs. That is likely to now flip."
Remains of 7 bodies recovered at Esparto fireworks blast site, Yolo officials say
SacBee, MICHAEL McGOUGH: "Yolo County authorities announced Saturday the discovery of seven bodies at the site of Tuesday’s deadly fireworks explosion in rural Yolo County, matching the number of individuals reported missing in the blast.
Yolo County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Lt. Don Harmon said Saturday just before 6 p.m. that authorities had “located all seven” and that they had recovered six bodies with recovery of the seventh in progress. Harmon said family notifications were underway and that the victims’ names would be released once the recovery effort was complete and all families notified."
Angry homeowners and a state probe. What went wrong with State Farm’s L.A. fire response
LA Times, LAURENCE DARMIENTO: "In the aftermath of the Eaton fire, Amy Harrity and her husband were stunned to discover that their Altadena home of three years was still standing, even as dozens of houses in their neighborhood burned to the ground.
The fierce firestorm cracked a window of the three-bedroom ranch house, carrying in debris, soot and ash, which also accumulated at the base of doors and other windows; but that was little, they figured, compared with the loss many neighbors endured."
Why is a California prosecutor pausing drug and mental health court referrals?
SacBee, ISHANI DESAI: "Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig during his 2018 re-election campaign for the county’s top prosecutor vowed to expand access to mental health and addiction intervention courts.
But Reisig has since paused referrals until at least Jan. 1 to those courts which offer defendants a chance to avoid incarceration and instead receive wraparound services. He cited shortages in the county’s ability to offer treatment and instead sought to prioritize initiatives under Proposition 36."
California’s plan to ‘Make Polluters Pay’ for climate change stalls again. Why oil companies are fiercely opposed
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: "California lawmakers have for years vowed to hold fossil fuel companies liable for damages caused by their emissions, including worsening wildfires and floods and mounting costs of climate recovery and adaptation. But the state’s so-called Climate Superfund bills have once again stalled in Sacramento amid fierce lobbying and industry pressure — leaving communities to cover the costs.
The latest version of this effort, Senate Bill 684 and Assembly Bill 1243 — known as the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act — would require the largest oil and gas companies doing business in the state to pay their fair share of the damages caused by planet-warming greenhouse gases. The fees would be collected into a Superfund that would be put toward projects and programs to help the state mitigate, adapt and respond to climate change."
Like a ‘30% price hike’: What Trump budget bill could do to California rooftop solar customers
Chronicle, JULIE JOHNSON: "President Donald Trump’s tax and spending package will gut financial incentives for clean energy programs that for decades have helped American taxpayers recoup some of the costs of installing solar panels and lowering monthly energy bills.
Trump signed the bill Friday after it passed a second reading in the House on Thursday. Assuming that happens, the tax credits would still be available for rooftop systems for a limited time. Here’s what we know."
Big Bear’s famed bald eagles reappear after brief hiatus amid July 4 fireworks
LA Times, JAWEED KALEEM: "Naturalists said Sunday they were relieved that Big Bear Lake’s famed bald eagle couple had returned after flying the coop in the wake of the city’s Fourth of July fireworks celebration.
Jackie and Shadow and their lake-view aerie are the subjects of a 24-hour online webcam that has been monitoring the couple since 2018, when Shadow replaced Jackie’s previous mate. The pair have attracted tens of thousands of viewers around the world as they have hatched and reared a combined five eaglets, including Sunny and Gizmo earlier this year."
Los Angeles to halt ‘disaster tourism’ buses through Palisades fire zone
LA Times, GRAVE TOOHEY: "Pacific Palisades neighborhoods were closed to the public for months after a January firestorm devastated the community, but since its recent reopening, there have been sightings of a new, disturbing visitor in the neighborhood: disaster tourists. Busloads of them.
“My office and others have received numerous reports about commercial tour operators conducting disaster tours in the Pacific Palisades,” Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park said at a council meeting this week. “They’re looking to profit off of destruction and other people’s losses. It’s really gross and it needs to be stopped.”
Daily fantasy sports betting is illegal in California, AG says
Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Gambling on sports events is illegal in California, except for betting on horses at racetracks. And gambling on fantasy sports games is just as illegal, Attorney General Rob Bonta said Thursday.
“Such games constitute wagering on sports” in violation of state laws dating back to 1909, Bonta said in a formal opinion issued by his office. While supporters have argued that fantasy sports gambling is a competition of skills, Bonta said, quoting a past judicial opinion, that it was “simply a skill in betting.”
Why S.F.’s ‘remarkable’ drop in fatal drug overdoses has proved to be short-lived
Chronicle: "MAGGIE ANGST and CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "When Jorge Morales secured a San Francisco apartment with a federally subsidized housing voucher in early 2024, he was elated. But its location, on the corner of Sixth and Mission streets, immediately concerned his mom.
The area was teeming with drug activity, and Ana Duran worried that her son, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his mid-20s, could become involved in it."
Double the money in half the time: S.F. nonprofit with ties to Lurie seeks to counter Trump cuts
Chronicle: ALDO TOLEDO: "The San Francisco nonprofit once led by Mayor Daniel Lurie has pledged to raise more than $1 billion by 2035 — twice as much money as it raised in the past 20 years — in response to the potential loss of federal funds for city services under President Donald Trump.
Tipping Point Community on Monday announced the redoubled effort in response to Trump’s sweeping federal spending package that the nonprofit criticized for slashing “$1.6 trillion in direct assistance programs over the next decades.”
