Protesters rally against Donald Trump at California Capitol. ‘We’re all under attack’
Sac Bee, ROSALIO AHUMADA: "Xochil Pasillas became overwhelmed with emotion when asked why she decided to join several hundred protesters Monday at California’s Capitol building in Sacramento in a demonstration against President Donald Trump and his administration.
She remembers Trump’s first term in the White House, but Pasillas said this time it’s much worse. Her relationships are severed with co-workers, friends and even some family members who voted and still support Trump’s policies. She said she can’t talk to them anymore."
READ MORE -- Hundreds rally in Long Beach to protest President Trump and Elon Musk -- LAT, ANDREA CHANG; ‘No kings on Presidents Day’: Hundreds protest Trump and Musk at S.F. City Hall, Tesla dealership -- The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA
California AG Rob Bonta sues to block Elon Musk’s takeover of the federal government
Sac Bee, ANDREW SHEELER: "Another day, another lawsuit from California Attorney General Rob Bonta against President Donald Trump’s administration. But this time, it’s actually conservative billionaire Elon Musk’s turn in the legal limelight.
Bonta and 13 other attorneys general last week filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and they didn’t mince words."
California’s tech history has lessons for Elon Musk’s federal government overhaul
Sac Bee, WILLIAM MELHADO: "One of the ways Elon Musk said he is trying to make the federal government more efficient is by pushing new technologies, including artificial intelligence, to figure out government spending cuts and how federal workers might be replaced with machines.
California state government’s troubled history with tech suggests Musk’s effort to use new technologies to improve government efficiency may face hurdles."
Schedulers: The California Capitol’s unsung heroes
Capitol Weekly, ELLIE APPLEBY/LEAH LENTZ: "Getting a meeting with a lawmaker at the California State Capitol is often an exercise in patience and flexibility, one that generally has multiple moving parts. And no matter who is doing the asking, the process almost always starts with the same person – the scheduler.
“A scheduler is one of the most important positions in a legislator’s office. Legislators live and die by their calendar, and so being able to make sure that you have someone that is competent and capable of keeping that calendar updated with relevant information is crucial,” says Terry Schanz, chief of staff for Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood)."
California Assembly Parliamentarian Brian Ebbert (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "Our guest today is the Parliamentarian to the Assembly Speaker, Brian Ebbert. Ebbert has spent over three decades in the Assembly, starting as an Assistant Clerk in 1991. He served as Assembly Floor Director from 2017 to 2014; he announced his retirement last year (and even got the cake) but agreed at the end of 2024 to stay on one more year as Assembly Parliamentarian
What does the Assembly Parliamentarian do? In this role, Ebbert is the senior procedural and parliamentary advisor to the Assembly Speaker and his leadership team. He is responsible for daily coordination of the Floor business, strategic motions, and procedures of the House, and provides expert procedural analysis and advice to Majority Party leadership team. He also develops logistics, rules, and procedures for Floor sessions, and – one of his favorite duties – identifies, drafts, and implements House rule changes for each two-year legislative session."
L.A. wildfires up the pressure on California’s insurance commissioner over industry ties
LAT, LAURENCE DARMIENTO: "It has been more than a month since the harrowing wildfire swept through Pacific Palisades, and Marc Hara knows he should be grateful.
After all, he and his fiancée managed to escape the blaze that leveled their condominium complex. But Hara, who is living at a relative’s house, is far from sanguine about his future."
ADHD patients and doctors are terrified of losing access to medication under RFK Jr.
The Chronicle, SARA LIBBY: "Nicole Schroeder was an adult well into her professional career by the time she was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
By then, the assistant professor of history at Kean University in New Jersey navigated her education and her role in academia with her own informal system, using things like planners and to-do lists — sometimes organized by the hour — to get through the day. But, eventually, her symptoms began to overwhelm her."
His daughter has an ultra-rare genetic disorder. His push to treat it just hit a major milestone
CALMatters, ADAM ASHTON: "California lobbyist Joe Lang wakes up early every morning, checks his email and begins what he calls his second job — helping coordinate a nationwide medical research program into the extremely rare genetic disorder that affects his daughter.
It’s not the kind of task he imagined for himself over his long career in Sacramento, and yet he’s been a driving force to find a treatment for the neurodevelopmental disorder that is named after his daughter, Jordan. He helped assemble the research team when his family learned Jordan was just one of a handful of children diagnosed with the syndrome, and he’s been raising money for the work ever since."
Colleges, K-12 schools ordered by Trump administration to abolish DEI or face funding cuts
LAT, JAWEED KALEEM: "The U.S. Department of Education has given colleges and schools with race-specific programs — including financial aid and racially themed dormitory floors and graduation ceremonies — until the end of the month to abolish them or risk losing federal funding as educators scrambled over the holiday weekend to interpret the sweeping scope of new guidelines.
The “dear colleague” letter from the department’s civil rights division and addressed to K-12 and higher education leaders lays out a new federal anti-discrimination enforcement policy that extends beyond the use of race in admissions, a practice barred since 2023 by the U.S. Supreme Court."
These are the college majors that lead to the best-paying jobs for UC and CSU graduates
The Chronicle, NAMI SUMIDA: "Students who graduate with a computer science bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley have the highest median earnings of those who pursued any field of study across the UC and CSU systems.
At $150,000, the median annual earnings two years after graduation for Berkeley computer science majors is significantly higher than those of their peers at UCLA ($130,000), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo ($114,000) and UC San Diego ($106,000)."
Districts offer early retirement. Are students collateral damage?
EdSource, DIANA LAMBERT: "California school districts that are at risk of falling off the fiscal cliff are increasingly turning to early retirement incentives as a humane way to balance their budgets, but students could be the ones who lose.
Many California school districts are facing large budget deficits brought on by continuing declining student enrollment and lower cost-of-living increases in state funding, said Michael Fine, chief executive officer of the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. Districts also have expanded their staffing in recent years, using federal Covid-19 funding that has since gone away."
Sacramento school board seeks feedback on new equity policies based on lawsuit settlement
Sac Bee, JENNAH PENDLETON: "Sacramento City Unified School District will host families of Black/African students and students with disabilities in a community forum to give feedback on district policies and recommend improvements that reflect their needs.
The event is a part of the district and the Black Parallel School Board’s action plan to improve conditions for Black and disabled students, which was born out of a settlement agreement between the two entities in 2023."
Four Bay Area locations are sinking at an alarming rate, with implications for sea level rise
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "Land is sinking at an alarming rate in some parts of the Bay Area, exposing shorelines to worse threats from sea level rise than was previously projected, a new study has found.
Several places along the San Francisco Bay — in San Rafael, Corte Madera, Foster City and Bay Farm Island next to the Oakland Airport — are sinking at a rate of more than 0.4 of an inch per year, the study from National Aeronautics and Space Administration found, based on satellite imagery. In those places, the sea level could rise by as much as 17 inches by 2050, more than double the regional average of 7.4 inches, compared to 2000 levels."
Where are the bees? California farmers combat rise in hive theft, threatening almond crop
Sac Bee, JAKE GOODRICK: "A nationwide shortage of honeybees has coincided with a rise in beehive thefts as growers throughout the Central Valley prepare for almond bloom, a pivotal time for the health of the nut, which is one of California’s most lucrative crops.
Beehive thefts in California have reached record highs in recent years, building on what’s nearly a decade-long trend, leaving beekeepers collectively short thousands of hives and millions of dollars."
Consumer watchdog agency called ‘vicious’ by Trump seen as a ‘hero’ to many it aided
LAT, MATT SEDENSKY: "To President Trump, it’s a hotbed of “waste, fraud and abuse” whose only purpose is to “destroy people” and whose staff amounts to a “vicious group.”
To Jonathon Booth, it’s simply the agency that helped him get $17 back."
Funding for small businesses — a big source of jobs — at risk under Trump
CALMatters, LEVI SUMAGAYSAY: "California’s small businesses — employers to more than half the state’s workforce — are staring down what some owners, experts and advocates say could be immense negative consequences from President Donald Trump’s slew of executive orders.
Trump’s embattled federal funding freeze and anti-diversity push have seeded uncertainty about the economy, jobs and spending on infrastructure and innovation."
Crackdown on power-guzzling data centers may soon come online in California
CALMatters, KHARI JOHNSON: "California residents now pay the highest price for electricity in the continental U.S., state analysts reported last month. Costs have been driven in part by levies to prevent and insure against wildfires, but the analysts anticipate a less conspicuous source of pressure on power bills going forward: growing electricity demand from data centers.
Tucked away in nondescript buildings, data centers store and transmit the contents of the internet. At least one is involved every time you watch a TikTok video or shop on Amazon. But in recent years, artificial intelligence, and especially new general purpose systems like ChatGPT, has caused server farms to multiply."
Here’s your guide to robotaxis: Major companies of the industry, technology involved and key terms
The Chronicle, RICARDO CANO: "Robotaxis have quickly gone from a fun novelty in San Francisco to a credible mode of transportation in a city that has mixed feelings about cars — and drivers. But the autonomous vehicle industry is much more than just the driverless Waymo and Zoox vehicles delivering people around the city. And with ride-hail giant Lyft announcing its move into robotaxis, there’s a convergence of competing industries. Here’s a quick primer on the major players, some industry terminology and government agencies that are defining regulation of the robotaxis. Expect this list to grow as the technology improves, including Elon Musk’s continual teaser that he’ll deliver robotaxis with “Level 5” automation, possibly this summer if the rumors are true."