2026 California governor’s race: Democratic candidates vie for union support
Sac Bee, NICOLE NIXON: "The 2026 California governor’s race shifted into a higher gear Monday as seven Democratic candidates appeared at a labor event in Sacramento.
The candidates flashed union credentials and vied for speaking time during the one-hour “candidate salon” hosted by the California Federation of Labor Unions at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel."
READ MORE -- Candidates for California governor square off for first time. Here’s how they fared -- The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI
Trump’s U.K., China ‘deals’ leave tariff policy more confusing than ever
LAT, MICHAEL HILTZIK: "Are you confused about Donald Trump’s tariff policy, including why he instigated a global trade war, what its impact will be on the U.S. economy and how hard it will hit your pocketbook?
Join the club. So too are economists, trade experts, political prognosticators and Trump himself. Their bewilderment has only intensified with the White House’s recent announcement of trade “deals” with Britain and China."
READ MORE -- Trump returns to the Middle East with tech titans, seeking trillion-dollar deals -- LAT, NABIH BULOS/MICHAEL WILNER
Child tax credits: California’s winners and losers in new GOP congressional plan
Sacramento Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "The good news for millions of California parents is that the federal tax credit for children would jump to $2,500 under the new tax bill house Republicans plan to start writing Tuesday.
But there’s also a sobering feature: The parents of an estimated 910,000 California children would lose the credit because their child has at least one undocumented immigrant parent without a Social Security number, according to an analysis by several research groups including Washington’s Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy."
Immigrant children face legal cases without lawyers. A CA bill could change that
Sac Bee, STEPHEN HOBBS: "A young boy leaned forward and held his head in his hands. For several minutes his grandmother had been talking about him with federal immigration judge Loreto Geisse, in a Sacramento courtroom.
Geisse sensed the 11-year-old wasn’t following along closely."
READ MORE -- Is there a middle ground on immigration? This Republican thinks so -- LAT, MARK Z. BARABAK
Insurers seek to surcharge California homeowners for L.A. County fire costs
LAT, LAURENCE DARMIENTO: "Insurers are seeking to charge homeowners across California for some of the costs of the catastrophic Los Angeles County fires the companies were burdened with when the state’s insurer of last resort needed a bailout.
The California FAIR Plan Assn., with the approval of state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, assessed its member carriers $1 billion on Feb. 11 when the plan was swamped with thousands of claims after the Jan. 7 fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and Sylmar."
Bauer-Kahan on a mission to improve menopause education
Capitol Weekly, LEAH LENTZ: "Any person with ovaries who lives long enough will go through it. Menopause. They can look forward to the possibility of hot flashes, brain fog, urinary issues, sexual dysfunction, mood swings, memory decline and that’s just naming a few.
Historically, women have often been understudied and undertreated in health science, and menopause is no exception. Studies show that women feel like they do not receive the proper menopausal care due to a knowledge gap among their healthcare professionals."
CALMatters, BYRHONDA LYONS: "Nearly one-third of California prisoners released early during the pandemic by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration ended up back in prison, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation data.
The records, obtained and analyzed by CalMatters, offer the first glimpse into what happened to some of the former prisoners after state leaders chose to shrink a prison population imperiled by the spread of COVID in close quarters."
Listeria outbreak hospitalizes 10 in California and Nevada, sparks major food recall
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "A listeria outbreak hospitalized at least 10 people in California and Nevada, prompting a voluntary recall of over 80 ready-to-eat products by Fresh & Ready Foods.
The recall affected sandwiches, snack boxes and pastas sold between April 22 and May 19."
‘Psychological first aid’: How volunteers helped students recover after LA fires
EdSource, MALLIKA SESHADRI: "In a classroom that smelled like a campfire, a student at Pasadena Unified’s Sierra Madre Elementary School broke down when he saw a student-made stuffed rabbit that had X’s for eyes.
His art teacher called for help from Tanya Ward, a project director for the mental health and school counseling unit at the Los Angeles County Office of Education."
Districts still have learning recovery money: Why not spend it on tutoring?
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: "A recent visit to Alpha: Cornerstone Academy, a TK-8 charter school in San Jose, offered a glimpse of high-impact tutoring. It was during the intervention period in third grade, when teacher specialists work in small groups.
In one corner, four girls and a boy in their maroon Alpha school shirts sat around a horseshoe table, listening intently through earphones to their personal tutor from Ignite Reading, a growing Oakland-based public benefit corporation operating in 20 states. Ignite specializes in tutoring foundational skills — phonics and phonemic awareness. Each lesson was different. Some students were repeating words with similar letter sounds. One girl, Sophia, was reading paragraphs to her tutor."
Unseasonably cool air lingers across Bay Area. Here's how long it will last
The Chronicle, GREG PORTER: "A stubborn chill will linger across the Bay Area on Tuesday, making mid-May feel more like March. Blame a sluggish upper-level storm system stalled over interior Northern California, too distant to stir up real trouble, but close enough to keep a brisk onshore breeze blowing and a chilly air mass parked overhead. Together, those two ingredients are more than enough to keep daytime highs stuck well below seasonal norms.
Despite the sunshine, temperatures won’t budge much on Tuesday. Highs will struggle to crack the low 60s in San Francisco, with only a modest rebound inland as 70s slowly reappear. Onshore winds will continue to keep things brisk along the coast, through the Peninsula and coastal East Bay."
This California county has the highest death rate for climate change-driven wildfire smoke
The Chronicle, JACK LEE: "Climate change fueled devastating California wildfires between 2006 and 2020, contributing more than 5,200 deaths statewide from harmful wildfire smoke particles, according to a new study.
The tally is greater than any other state over the 15-year study period. A rural Northern California county — Trinity County — had the country’s highest rate of deaths from climate change-driven wildfires and microscopic smoke and soot particles, also known as PM2.5."
In these parts of California, earning less than $100,000 makes you ‘low income’
LAT, TERRY CASTLEMAN/KAITLYN HUAMANI: "As the cost of living skyrockets, driven by a housing affordability crisis, the very definition of being “low income” is changing.
In Orange, Santa Barbara and San Diego counties, the threshold for a low-income single-person household will soon surpass $100,000 if current trends continue, according to data published by the California Department of Housing and Community Development in April."
First wave of fixes to S.F. permitting red tape would help bars and nightclubs
The Chronicle, JK DINEEN: "Mayor Daniel Lurie floated the first reforms in his promised overhaul of San Francisco’s famously convoluted permitting process on Monday, proposing to cut red tape for bar and nightclub owners looking to extend hours or offer live music.
Speaking at the annual Nightlife and Entertainment Summit, Lurie told a room full of nightclub owners and impresarios that the reforms would make “permitting faster, more predictable and more transparent.”"
Faced with a $30 minimum wage, hotel investors start looking outside L.A.
LAT, DAVID ZAHNISER/SUHAUNA HUSSAIN: "Perched high above the Cahuenga Pass, the 24-story Hilton Los Angeles Universal City Hotel is positioned to be a prime gathering spot for visitors arriving for the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Sun Hill Properties Inc., which manages the 495-room hotel, has already signed a “room block” agreement with the LA28 organizing committee, reserving hundreds of rooms for Olympics fans. The City Council recently approved a plan to let the Hilton add a second, 18-story tower, which would open just in time for the Olympics."
Gavin Newsom wants to crack down on homeless camps. Sacramento already does
Sacramento Bee, MATHEW MIRANDA: "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest call for a statewide crackdown on homeless encampments is unlikely to prompt changes in Sacramento, where anti-camping ordinances have shaped enforcement in recent years.
The city has two ordinances that are intended to prevent such encampments on public property. Sacramento’s sidewalk ordinance, which was updated in 2022, classifies blocking sidewalks as a misdemeanor. The city’s unlawful camping ordinance prohibits camping, occupying camp facilities or using camp paraphernalia on public or private property."
READ MORE -- Newsom wants cities to force homeless Californians to move camp every 3 days -- CALMatters, MARISA KENDALL; Gov. Newsom wants cities to get tough on homeless camps. But there aren’t enough beds for unsheltered -- The Chronicle, MAGGIE ANGST
Caltrans’ response to homeless encampments is lagging, cities complain
CALMatters, MARISA KENDALL: "Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered state agencies to clear homeless encampments from their properties last summer, holding up the California Department of Transportation as an example of how it should be done.
But in the more than nine months since, cities up and down the state have complained that Caltrans isn’t doing enough. City officials and staff say the state agency is slow, sometimes taking months to respond to their requests to clear an encampment. They complain the agency doesn’t consistently tell them when it plans to clear a camp. In at least one city, officials have no idea if Caltrans is offering services to the homeless people it kicks off its land."
Drivers or partners? An LAFD role could be nixed amid budget woes
LAT, NOAH GOLDBERG: "To Los Angeles City Council members searching desperately for cuts amid a budget crisis, the Fire Department’s emergency incident technicians are “drivers” whose main role is chauffeuring battalion chiefs to emergencies.
But LAFD officials say the position is much more than that. Emergency incident technicians are firefighters who play a key role in coordinating the response to fires, and losing them would put lives at risk, according to LAFD interim Chief Ronnie Villanueva."
A Zoox and an e-bike collided in S.F. Here’s what it says about robotaxi safety
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "The light turned green at a busy intersection in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, where Bryant, Division and 11th streets conjoin at acute angles — and traffic becomes an omnidirectional snarl.
What happened next was captured, probably in stark detail, by multiple cameras on a Zoox robotaxi. The company is not required to publicly share its footage, and has declined to do so."
LAT, SUMMER LIN: "Tou Sue Vang ran a profitable family business in Sacramento with his brother, Andrew, and his mother, Monica Moua.
But the lucrative family enterprise was illegal and involved buying stolen catalytic converters in a scheme that made more than $38 million for the family, according to authorities."