After seven years of denouncing Obamacare, the Republicans' efforts came down to this: John McCain giving a dramatic thumbs down on the Senate floor. (Click here to watch).
The Chronicle's CAROLYN LOCHHEAD: "Senate Republicans suffered a significant setback Friday morning in their drive to fulfill a seven-year campaign promise to dismantle the Affordable Care Act when a plan to advance a scaled-back version of the bill went down to defeat."
READ MORE related to Health: Senate rejects slimmed-down health care repeal as MCain votes no -- Robert Pear and Thomas Kaplan, NYT; Senate rejects measure to partly repeal Affordable Care Act -- Juliet Eilperin, Sean Sullivan and Kelsey Snell, Washingtion Post; Senate rejects Obamacare repeal -- John Bresnahan, Burgess Everett, Jennifer Haberkorn and Seung Min Kim. Politico; McCain, two other GOP senators join Democrats to reject last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare -- Lisa Mascaro, LA Times.
State Supreme Court ruling hailed by opponents of California bullet train.
From Press Democrat's DEREK MOORE: "The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that publicly owned railroads are not exempt from the state’s bedrock environmental law, a decision hailed by environmental watchdogs on the North Coast and opponents of California’s high-speed rail project."
"Scott Greacen, executive director of Friends of the Eel River, called the court ruling “vindication.”
"The Arcata-based group sued the North Coast Railroad Authority in a bid to force the state-chartered agency to study the environmental impacts of running freight along a 316-mile rail line that traverses Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt counties and runs through the Eel River canyon."
A new caucus in the state Capitol aims to bring together staff members of the LGBT community.
Capitol Weekly's MICHAEL WARREN MOTT: "Bish Paul descended into Empress Tavern’s basement downtown and was greeted with a surprise."
"Over 50 capitol staffers mingled beneath the brick arches a block from the state Capitol. LGBT aides and allies drank and chatted, discussing Sacramento’s LGBT community and shared Capitol connections."
"Supporters showed up in droves to support the first mixer of the LGBT staff association in June, PRIDE month. Organizers believe the association, formed earlier this year, may be the first in the country."
Undocumented immigrants are finding it expensive to live under Trump's immigration crackdown.
Sacramento Bee's HANNAH KNOWLES: "Antonio is a frugal spender these days."
"No new computer. No more trips. A music lover, he used to buy lots of CDs, but he has stopped. The Sacramento resident’s kitchen, stocked up before with cookies and Doritos, now holds only what he, his wife and his daughters need for the week."
"Since Donald Trump became president, the family has been saving for something he said he hopes never comes to pass: detention and possible deportation for immigrating to the country illegally."
READ MORE related to Immigration: Trump seizes brutal MS-13 murders on Long Island to justify deportations -- LA Times' BARBARA DEMICK
AP: "President Donald Trump's new communications director exploded the smoldering tensions at the White House into a full-fledged conflagration Thursday, angrily daring Trump's chief of staff to deny he's a "leaker" and exposing West Wing backstabbing in language more suitable to a mobster movie than a seat of presidential stability."
"In a pull-no-punches, impromptu CNN interview that he said was authorized by the president, Anthony Scaramucci went after chief of staff Reince Priebus in graphic terms. "The fish stinks from the head down," he said. "I can tell you two fish that don't stink, and that's me and the president."