KCRA, ASHLEY ZAVALA: "California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas is facing accusations that he retaliated against his former press secretary by stripping her of her duties and eventually firing her after she reported allegations of his illegal and unethical political conduct with his brother, Rick Rivas, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Cynthia Moreno, Rivas' former press secretary, filed the lawsuit in Sacramento County against the Rivas brothers and the California Assembly. KCRA 3 was the first to obtain and report the court filings on Tuesday night. Rivas' campaign called Moreno's claims false, defamatory and meritless."
Fired staffer files lawsuit accusing California Assembly speaker of retaliation
Politico, JEREMY B. WHITE and MELANIE MASON: "A fired former staffer for California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas claimed in a lawsuit that the top lawmaker and his brother Rick retaliated against her for filing complaints of sexual harassment and unethical conduct.
Former communications aide Cynthia Moreno alleged in the lawsuit that her superiors failed to act on her reports of a colleague sexually harassing her. She claimed the situation escalated after she filed followup complaints alleging that Rick exerted undisclosed influence over pending legislation, culminating in Rick denying her a raise and then firing her."
CA files to end Guard deployment after judge rules Trump’s LA mission was illegal
SacBee, STEPHEN HOBBS/LIA RUSSELL: "A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated federal law by deploying California National Guard troops to Los Angeles during a summer standoff with Gov. Gavin Newsom over immigration raids.
U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer concluded that the Trump administration’s actions, which began in June, violated the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 statute that generally bars use of the military to enforce domestic laws."
San Francisco refuses Trump administration’s demand for voters’ personal info
The Chronicle, SARA DINATALE: "The San Francisco Department of Elections won’t give up sensitive voter information to the Trump administration, its lawyers wrote in a letter to the Department of Justice on Friday.
The administration is seeking a trove of personal information — including the last four digits of Social Security numbers — for voters whose registration was canceled because they didn’t meet citizenship requirements."
Nancy Pelosi endorses S.F. Supervisor Joel Engardio in his fight to defeat recall
The Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: "San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio’s bid to defeat a recall campaign against him in two weeks just got a boost from the city’s most prominent politician: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi endorsed Engardio in a statement released by his campaign Tuesday, saying she “strongly” opposed the recall and stands with the supervisor “as he continues his important work for the people of the Sunset and San Francisco.”"
COVID wave washes over California. Some officials urge residents to mask up
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN II: "A COVID wave is washing over California, with the state seeing continued increases in the number of newly confirmed cases and hospitalizations as some officials urged the public to take greater precautions.
The extent of the recent increases has prompted some county-level health officials to recommend that residents once again consider wearing masks in indoor public settings, at least until transmission has declined."
6 things to know about how Gov. Newsom’s CARE Court is working so far
CALMatters, MARISA KENDALL: "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new mental health court made big promises about how it would help get the sickest Californians off the streets.
Launched in 2023, the program allows people to petition a court to order treatment is for someone experiencing psychosis."
California pushes back on Trump’s CDC with West Coast Health Alliance
LAT, MELODY GUTIERREZ: "California, Oregon and Washington are joining forces to insulate vaccine guidance and other public health recommendations from political interference, a direct response to turmoil at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, Tina Kotek of Oregon and Bob Ferguson of Washington announced Wednesday the creation of the West Coast Health Alliance, a pact that aims to keep their states’ health policies unified and grounded in scientific expertise. The move comes as the nation’s top public health agency is being reshaped by Kennedy and his vaccine-skeptic allies, with key leadership fired and the agency in turmoil."
CA bill would require schools to alert parents of immigration agents on campus
AP: "California schools would have to create plans for notifying parents and teachers when immigration enforcement is on campus under a bill passed Tuesday by the state Legislature.
The bill would also require California State universities and community colleges, and request University of California campuses, to send alerts to students, faculty and staff when immigration enforcement is present. It now heads to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has until Oct. 12 to sign it into law. The legislation would remain in effect until 2031."
How a Sacramento charter school misused $180 million and became a poster child for reform
EdSource, DIANA LAMBERT: "Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools opened in Sacramento in 2014 with high ideals — to help adult students, many formerly incarcerated or new immigrants, to earn a diploma, improve English language skills, or learn a trade.
Now, the school is one reason state legislators are considering increased charter school oversight."
‘A new level of idiocracy’: Trump cuts $427M from California offshore wind project
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "The Trump administration on Friday withdrew $426.7 million in federal funding for Northern California’s flagship offshore wind port, igniting a backlash from state and local officials who called the move a blow to jobs, climate goals and regional development.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said the Department of Transportation had rescinded or terminated $679 million for 12 offshore wind projects nationwide, including the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal."
This rural hospital almost closed. Emergency state funding is keeping it open, but for how long?
CALMatters, DEBORAH BRENNAN: "Last spring, Palo Verde Hospital in Blythe was on the brink of closure, after a series of financial mishaps left it bleeding cash.
In May, the hospital announced that it would not accept new patients, “for the foreseeable future,” although its emergency room and clinic remained open, the Riverside Record reported."
‘Not scientifically credible’: Scientists repudiate Trump administration climate report
LAT, HAYLEY SMITH: "Dozens of the world’s leading climate researchers on Tuesday publicly rebuked a hastily assembled report from the Trump administration that questions the severity of global warming — marking one of the strongest repudiations yet of the president’s efforts to downplay climate change.
In a withering 459-page document, more than 85 scientists denounced the Department of Energy‘s July report as biased, error-ridden and unfit for guiding policy."
Young climate activists cite health hazards in bid to stop Trump from ‘unleashing’ fossil fuels
The Chronicle, JIM ROBBINS: "In 2023, a group of 16 young Montanans won a much-heralded climate change case that said the state had deprived them of a “clean and healthful environment,” a right enshrined in Montana’s constitution.
Their victory in Held v. Montana, later upheld by the state Supreme Court, resounded across the country, showing that young people have a stake in the issue of climate change, advocates say. Yet, state policies to address the causes of climate change in Montana — home to large coal, oil, and natural gas deposits — haven’t changed in the wake of the case."
‘It’s just devastating’: Wildfire destroys buildings in historic Gold Rush town of Chinese Camp
The Chronicle, ALDO TOLEDO/LUCY HODGMAN: "Several buildings in the historic Gold Rush town of Chinese Camp were destroyed by fire Tuesday as firefighters battled multiple blazes in the Mother Lode region, Cal Fire officials told the Chronicle, leaving the townspeople with uncertainty and fear that their homes could be gone.
Cal Fire spokesperson Emily Kilgore confirmed to the Chronicle on Tuesday night that some structures have been destroyed by fire in the town, which is a registered California landmark with several significant historic buildings that are also part of the state’s heritage. Kilgore could not confirm how many structures were impacted, or which historic buildings were still standing."
California’s wine harvest is shaping up to be even more brutal than last year
The Chronicle, JESS LANDER: "Driving on Napa Valley’s Highway 29 looks a little different this harvest. Dirt fields have supplanted many of the region’s prized vineyards. Menacing piles of dead vines sit atop the fallow ground, stripped of the chance to produce wine ever again.
The scene paints a somber picture of the wine industry’s foremost struggles: Alcohol consumption has hit a 90-year low and there’s a major oversupply of wine and grapes. Tens of thousands of acres of vineyards have been ripped out across the state, and despite mostly ideal weather conditions this growing season, more than 100,000 tons of California wine grapes will likely be left on the vines to rot — for the second consecutive year."
Are dishwashers and laundry machines covering your stuff in microplastics? Here’s what to know
The Chronicle, JESSICA ROY: "Someone gave my 3-year-old son a blanket as a gift. It wasn’t the sort of thing I would normally buy — snow-white faux fur is sub-ideal for toddler purposes — but I hate to let things go to waste. I kept it in the linen closet for a few months, then sent it with him to preschool when his Superman blanket was in the wash.
After its field trip, I threw it in with a normal load of kid clothes. When it all came out of the dryer, a dozen tiny t-shirts and shorts were coated in little white hairs. The faux fur — tiny threads of polyester — was all over everything. The whole load was covered in microplastics. Was that stuff going to rub into his tender skin or get inhaled into his developing lungs?"
Fusion will transform the energy sector (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, CATHERINE BLAKESPEAR/ANNA CABALLERO/JERRY MCNERNEY: "Fusion energy offers a pathway to clean, safe, and reliable energy capable of meeting humanity’s needs for generations. For decades, California has quietly led in the race to fusion energy. Now, as breakthroughs become routine and the pursuit of fusion enters its final phase, we have introduced several bills to ensure California maintains its role as the center of fusion research and development.
California’s fusion ecosystem is the largest in the nation. World-leading federal research facilities like the DIII-D National Fusion Facility (located in San Diego) and the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are some of the primary drivers of our fusion innovation system. A thriving startup sector has also emerged in our state, attracting billions of dollars in private investments driven by the goal of constructing the first fusion energy power plant in the next decade. Combined with the largest network of fusion science and engineering programs in the nation at campuses throughout the UC and Cal State systems, the California fusion ecosystem is unlike any other in the world."
A state dentist took in over $1.3 million. Here’s what every other California worker got paid
The Chronicle, HANNA ZAKHARENKO/NAMI SUMIDA: "The highest-paid employees in the California state government are investment officers and department chief executives. For many of them, a large share of their pay doesn’t come from salary.
Of the 200 people with the most compensation in 2024, almost 5% of them received over half of their pay in “other pay,” which includes bonus payments, incentive pay, lump sum payments and other forms of compensation that aren’t included in regular wages or overtime. But that was true of less than 0.1% of all state employees."
Why is California second best state to work in the US? New ranking explained
SacBee, ANGELA RODRIGUEZ: "California is one of the best states to work in the United States, according to a new study by Oxfam America.
The Boston-based nonprofit organization gave the Golden State high marks for its wage policies, worker protections and employees’ rights to organize."
Bills to help CA renters didn’t get to Newsom’s desk in 2025. Which ones and why?
SacBee, THERESA CLIFT: "When Ilene Tony and her family were evicted from their Sacramento apartment in 2015, they were given three days to either pay rent or get out.
Like for all people getting formally evicted in California for non-payment of rent, three days is the standard. However, if it would be extended to 14 days, as a now-shelved bill would have done, Tony said it could have prevented her family from a decade of homelessness."
New enforcement targets people living in cars, RVs on California streets
CALMatters, MARISA KENDALL: "For months, cities around the state have ramped up enforcement against people sleeping in tents on the street. Now, some are focusing on a new target: People who live in vehicles.
Wayne Gardiner, 58, watched his home of 20 years roll onto the back of a flatbed tow truck in San Jose on a recent Monday afternoon. Then he realized he’d forgotten something inside."
This California highway is a lifeline, and deadly. Can it be fixed before it falls into the sea?
LAT, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "In March 1972, Kurt Stremberg’s parents gave him a predawn ride from their house in northwest California to his friend’s home in the tiny town of Klamath, about 20 miles south of Crescent City on Highway 101.
Stremberg, then 24, and his buddy were going to hitch a ride on a log truck bound for San Francisco, catch a flight to Europe, and see the world."