California Lottery confirms $1 million winner was homeless man
Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "The California Lottery has identified a homeless man who once lived in the Bay Area as the winner of a $1 million prize from a scratcher purchased in San Luis Obispo earlier this year.
The winner, Armando Vidal, said he bought two $10 Triple Red 777 Scratchers in April at Sandy’s Deli & Liquor, where he is a regular customer."
California police are killing fewer people. The opposite is happening in red states
Chronicle, RAHEEM HOSSEINI: "California law enforcement officers killed fewer people, shot fewer people and used physical force against fewer people in 2024 than in any year since the state began keeping track nine years ago. Red states, meanwhile, are experiencing a reverse trend.
According to a Chronicle analysis of statistics compiled by the California Department of Justice from 2016 through 2024, the 117 people killed by officers last year marked a 13% decline from the 134 killings in 2023 and a 32% drop from the 172 slayings in 2017 and again in 2020, which tied for the most recorded by the state."
New ICE Policy Blocks Detained Migrants From Seeking Bond
Wall Street Journal, MICHELLE HACKMAN and VICTORIA ALBERT: "The Trump administration is attempting to make millions of immigrants living in the country illegally ineligible to be released from detention on bond as they fight their deportation cases, according to an administration official familiar with the matter.
The policy shift, issued under what is known as interim guidance by acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons last week, will apply to all immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, no matter when. Lyons told officers in a memo that such immigrants should remain in detention throughout their deportation proceedings, which can stretch for months or even years, according to the official, who had been briefed on the memo."
Capitol Weekly Insider Survey: The best and worst legislators of 2025
Capitol Weekly Staff: "Our Capitol community is a bit like high school. There are cliques, gossip is rampant, and everybody wants to know which party you’re headed to tonight. And what is high school without that yearbook staple, senior superlatives? Best dressed. Most likely to succeed. Most talented.
We at Capitol Weekly thought it was time that legislators – who are not ranked in our annual Top 100 – were put under that kind of microscope."
California, other states sue Trump for withholding $6.8 billion in critical education funds
LA Times, HOWARD BLUME: "California officials on Monday announced that the state is suing the Trump administration for holding back an estimated $939 million in education funds from the state — and about $6.8 billion nationwide — that school districts had expected to begin receiving on July 1, calling the action “unconstitutional, unlawful and arbitrary.”
The funding, already appropriated by Congress, supports programs to help students who are learning English and also those from migrant families. The money also boosts teacher training, after-school programs and classroom technology. The impact on Los Angeles Unified — the nation’s second-largest school system — was estimated by Supt. Alberto Carvalho to be at least $110.2 million."
CalPERS recovers from tariff plunge and notches a big investment gain
CalMatters, ADAM ASHTON: "California’s largest public employee pension fund recovered from a spring stock market plunge and notched its second-best investment return in a decade, at least temporarily easing concerns about economic volatility in the new Trump administration.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System announced today that it gained 11.6% on in its investments over the past financial year, eclipsing its target of 6.8%."
New group of Camp Pendleton Marines tasked with southern border security in Arizona
Riverside Press-Enterprise, ERIKA I. RITCHIE: "A new group of Camp Pendleton Marines are working alongside U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Border Patrol at the southern border.
The group, which includes 500 Marines and sailors, is part of the Combat Logistics Battalion 15, 1st Marine Logistics, and has assumed “operational responsibilities” as Task Force Forge under Joint Task Force–Southern Border, Marine officials said on Monday, July 14."
Migrant education helps farmworkers’ children catch up; Trump wants to end it
EdSource, ZAIDEE STAVELY: "A group of high school students in Monterey County is spending their summer extracting DNA from sprigs of clover, making jewelry out of algae and shaping ceramic bowls, while also beefing up their math, reading and writing skills.
This Migrant Education Student Academy is one of dozens of federally funded migrant education programs in California that help the children of agricultural workers fill gaps in academic instruction as they move with their parents from job to job."
Southern California trash pileup spreads to L.A. County as workers stand with East Coast strikers
LA Times, MATT HAMILTON: "In one corner is Republic Services, the nation’s second-largest trash and recycling company. In the other stands the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the large and tenacious labor union that represents thousands of Republic employees.
Since July 1, roughly 450 Republic Service workers represented by the Teamsters in the Boston area have been on strike, and the work stoppage has since spread to involve several thousand workers across the country. In California, sanitation workers have walked off the job in cities in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties as well as the Bay Area."
San Mateo Sheriff Corpus to Appear in Court After Misconduct Accusations
KQED, SAMANTHA LIM: "San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus is set to make her first court appearance on Tuesday after a civil grand jury formally accused her of engaging in unlawful and inappropriate conduct.
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted last month to remove Corpus from her position after two independent investigations found she broke the law and abused her powers while on duty. Corpus and her attorneys previously said they plan to appeal the decision, accusing board members of bias and calling the investigations into her conduct “flawed.”
A new invader threatens California water supplies. Can the state stop its spread?
CalMatters, RACHEL BECKER: "One of the state’s best investigators was on the hunt for golden mussels — a dangerous new invader in California’s waters, with a reputation for destruction.
Wearing a collar and a tongue-lolling grin, Allee, a Belgian Malinois, sniffed along the glittering hull of a bass boat at an inspection station in Butte County."
Can immigration agents stop anyone who looks Latino? Courts are stepping in to answer
Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Can immigration agents stop and detain anyone with brown skin if they’re within a few hundred miles of the U.S.-Mexico border? Amid President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportations and massive influx of cash to seize immigrants, his “border czar” Tom Homan suggested as much last week, saying agents can question people “based on their physical appearance.”
Courts will have to decide whether someone’s skin color and overall appearance can be considered by officers looking for illegal immigrants, or whether this is just another form of discrimination based on race and ethnicity. The two federal judges who have considered the issue so far have both ruled against the Trump administration."
The number of people living on the streets dropped nearly 10% countywide this year
LA Times, ANDREW KHOURI and NOAH GOLDBERG: "The number of homeless people across L.A. County declined 4% in 2025, marking the second consecutive drop after years of steady increases, with a 10% decrease of people living in the streets, according to the annual count released Monday.
The decline, based on a snapshot taken in February, comes after billions in taxpayer funds spent to solve homelessness in the county, and with increasing scrutiny over how the money is being spent."
Republicans cap student loan debt. Why that’s bad news for California medical students
CalMatters, MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN and KRISTEN HUANG: "Becoming a doctor will likely become even more difficult under the new tax bill Congress approved after lawmakers slashed the amount of money medical school students can borrow in federal loans.
The extra burden may mean fewer students choose careers in medicine, particularly low-income students. Patients, in turn, may see fewer doctors practicing family medicine."
Gavin Newsom teased a redistricting fight with Texas. Can he even do that?
Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Gov. Gavin Newsom suggested he’s contemplating a response to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to redraw congressional maps to favor Republicans, but California’s laws will make any counter moves by Newsom difficult — if not impossible.
Newsom began making comments last week after Abbott announced plans for the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature to draw new congressional maps in a special legislative session. Texas, like other states, redrew its maps after the 2020 census. New map-drawing normally wouldn’t happen until the next census in 2030 absent a successful lawsuit forcing a state to redo them. But the New York Times has reported Trump’s political advisers are pushing for Texas to redraw its maps ahead of the midterms to be more favorable to Republicans."
At least four firefighters injured while battling Northern California wildfires
LA Times, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "At least four firefighters have been injured over the last week while battling three wildfires in Northern California forests that are burning amid extreme heat in steep, bone-dry terrain, fire officials said Monday.
One firefighter combating the barely contained Green fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest sustained a blunt force trauma wound while working on the fire line Saturday, said Deanna Younger, a spokeswoman for California Interagency Management Team 10, the incident command team overseeing the fire response."
Northern California county warns of ‘thick, poisonous smoke,’ declares emergency
Chronicle, JERRY WU: "Siskiyou County officials are asking for state and federal help in addressing the illegal use of toxic pesticides at unlawful cannabis grow operations in the region.
In recent years, cannabis cultivators in the county have increasingly used such pesticides often saturated with insecticides, fungicides and herbicides that pose severe health damages to humans upon contact, according to a Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office news release on Monday."
Hiker, a teacher who changed lives, falls to his death on Mount Whitney
Chronicle, J.K. DINEEN: "A Washington state high school theater teacher, beloved for his dedication to education and the arts, fell to his death on the first day after he set out to hike the John Muir Trail from Mount Whitney to Yosemite National Park.
Harris Levinson, who taught American studies and theater at Vashon High School for two decades, planned to start his hike on June 23 from Whitney Portal, and he left a food resupply cache at Onion Valley, which he planned to pick up on June 29, according to the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office."
San José Police Say Father Killed His Son Before Being Shot by Officers
KQED, JOSEPH GEHA: "San José police say a man stabbed his own child to death in a North San José park on Sunday afternoon, then called 911 to report the killing before officers fatally shot him.
Police Chief Paul Joseph said during a Monday afternoon press conference that the man appears to have planned the act in an attempt to provoke officers to shoot him, which Joseph called “cowardly.”