Mexico reaches deal with Trump to avert tariffs for at least a month
LAT, KATE LINTHICUM: "Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday that her country has avoided U.S. tariffs — for now — after coming to an agreement with President Trump.
Sheinbaum, in a post on X, said she spoke to the American leader Monday morning and that they came to an accord that delays for at least a month Trump’s threat of 25% tariffs on all Mexican goods imported to the United States."
California should expedite rules that could have helped mitigate L.A. fires, lawmakers say
LAT, ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "California lawmakers are calling on the state to expedite rules that some scientists and fire officials say may have helped mitigate the damage from Los Angeles’ devastating wildfires.
The idea is simple: by keeping the first 5 feet around a home clear of flammable vegetation, wooden fencing and debris, homeowners can reduce the risk of embers igniting their property — and, with that, the chances of an urban conflagration, in which flames spread from structure to structure."
‘A rallying cry’: Bay Area businesses urged to close Monday for A Day Without Immigrants
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "Immigrant advocates in the Bay Area said they would not work, attend school or shop on Monday in protest of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The planned protest, which advocates are calling A Day Without Immigrants, is about highlighting a community under siege, said Roberto Hernandez, a longtime community organizer in San Francisco’s Mission District and CEO of Cultura y Arte Nativa de las Americas, which produces the neighborhood’s popular Carnaval celebration."
LAT, DANIEL MILLER/BEN POSTON: "Thousands of demonstrators rallied in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday and shut down a section of the 101 Freeway to protest President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and his aggressive deportation policies.
Draped in Mexican and Salvadoran flags, demonstrators gathered near City Hall shortly before noon, blocking traffic at Spring and Temple streets, amid honking horns and solidarity messages from passing motorists. Protesters blasted a mix of traditional and contemporary Mexican music from a loudspeaker, and some danced in the road in traditional feathered headdresses."
Newsom orders more water for California farmers and towns
CALMatters, LYNN LA: "As downpours soak Northern California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered state officials to capture and store more stormwater in San Joaquin Valley reservoirs for farmers and towns, and to “remove or minimize” any obstacles that stand in the way.
If that sounds familiar, it is: The governor issued similar orders two years ago, when he waived environmental laws to store more water as storms drenched the state and caused disastrous flooding. Months later, the Legislature and Newsom enacted a new law that smooths the way for such actions."
The Micheli Minute, February 3, 2025
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "Lobbyist and author Chris Micheli offers a quick look at what’s coming up this week in Sacramento."
Once a Trump critic, Mark Zuckerberg pivots toward the president
LAT, QUEENIE WONG: "Before Donald Trump kicked off his second term as president, Meta Platforms Chief Executive and founder Mark Zuckerberg took another big swing at hitting reset.
In a nearly three-hour conversation with Joe Rogan, a hugely popular podcaster and brash Trump supporter, Zuckerberg talked about the social media giant’s decision to stop using fact-checkers to combat misinformation. Instead, users would be left to keep one another in check."
California voters erased a plan to keep kids insured. It might be too late to fix it
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "Each year nearly 400,000 children with Medi-Cal health insurance lose coverage for a period of time and then must re-enroll. Often they still qualify for publicly subsidized health care but get kicked off because of administrative errors or lost paperwork. Sometimes their families miss the income cutoff by a couple hundred dollars for a few months.
That’s a problem, advocates say, because early childhood comes with a host of vital health checks, vaccinations and developmental screenings. Without them, kids are at risk of falling behind on language development and social behaviors or missing early disease detection."
Demand for immigration legal services spikes at California colleges
CALMatters, DELILAH BRUMER/MERCY SOSA: "As President Donald Trump begins his second term with a declaration of a national emergency at the southern border and a steadfast pledge of mass deportations, California’s colleges and universities have been holding workshops and partnering with legal service nonprofits to help undocumented students on their campuses stay in school.
Across the University of California and California State University systems, as well as at many California community college campuses, Dream resource centers support the state’s estimated 100,000 undocumented students and students from mixed-status families. An estimated 3.3 million Californians live in mixed-status households, according to data from Equity Research Institute, a USC research group. These centers assist students with filling out financial aid forms, referrals to nonprofit immigration law firms, access to mental health support, and provide spaces to bond, do schoolwork or take a break."
Placer school board member loses his teaching credential for immoral conduct. What we know
Sac Bee, JENNAH PENDLETON: "Jeremy Jeffreys, a Placer Union High School District board member who was fired by the district he would be elected to govern, had his teaching credential suspended earlier this month for immoral conduct. He is also no longer employed by the private school he has taught at since 2023.
According to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Jeffreys’ teaching credential was revoked Jan. 19 for “immoral conduct or persistent defiance of or refusal to obey laws regulating duties.” There is no end date listed for the suspension."
Bay Area weather: Atmospheric river forecast to stall, cause flooding
The Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "Northern California weather will continue to be dominated by a long-duration atmospheric river for at least two more days. San Francisco’s wettest period is yet to come, and the Sierra Nevada is bracing for what could be its snowiest week so far this winter.
While periods of moderate rainfall were observed in San Francisco and Oakland over the weekend, the heaviest precipitation was limited to the North Bay and northern Sierra Nevada. That will change Monday night into Tuesday as the atmospheric river begins to gradually drift toward the Bay Area."
Atmospheric river storm set to hit SoCal Tuesday. What to know about the rain and the risks
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN II: "A stronger atmospheric river is set to hit Northern California on Monday and then hit Los Angeles County on Tuesday, aiding hopes of a more definitive end to a devastating fire weather season for Southern California.
The atmospheric river is expected to pack a more powerful punch in Northern California. A flood watch is in effect over a broad swath of Northern California between Monday afternoon through Wednesday morning, and heavy snow is expected for the Sierra Nevada."
S.F. police could crack down on illegal vending under California bill
The Chronicle, MAGGIE ANGST/JD MORRIS: "A proposed state bill that would allow San Francisco to crack down on the widespread problem of people selling stolen goods on the streets has been revived.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, announced Monday that he’s bringing back a bill he spearheaded last year that would allow police to take tougher action against people who sell illegally obtained items on city streets, as is now common in parts of the Mission District, South of Market and other areas. Residents and merchants have complained that illegal vending, coupled with open-air drug use and homelessness in those areas, has created chaotic streets."
California State Farm homeowners frustrated by rejected water damage claims. ‘No basis’
Sac Bee, STEPHEN HOBBS: "When Noel Wise came downstairs on a January morning in 2022, she saw water covering the kitchen floor and spreading into a nearby room in the Fairfield house where she lived.
Shocked, she immediately went through a checklist in her mind: Was it coming from the refrigerator? Or the dishwasher? No and no. How about the sink? She opened a cabinet underneath it and saw water spraying from a plumbing line."
The Chronicle, LAURA WAXMANN: "At this time last year, Brooke and Zach Davis fully expected that their family would celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas in their new, factory-built home on a quiet hillside in Soquel, an unincorporated area in Santa Cruz County.
They had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to knock down the 750-square-foot house on the property where they had been living with their three school-aged children for the past 15 years. They poured a new foundation and persuaded their neighbor to lend a slice of his land for the installation of a crane pad. All of this was done at the direction of Arizona-based Connect Homes, a modular builder that promises to construct housing and shelters that could be dropped into most urban locations in less than half the time of traditional construction, and at roughly half the cost."
Sacramento quietly ramped up criminal citations to homeless people. ‘I can’t afford to pay it’
Sac Bee, THERESA CLIFT/PHILLIP REESE: "On a good day, Theresa Rivera has, at most, $5 in her pocket.
The only income the homeless senior gets is from other homeless people who pay her to watch their belongings while they go to work or to doctor’s appointments."
Bay Area homicides are down sharply — mostly thanks to big cities
'The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA/DAVID HERNANDEZ: "Homicides in the Bay Area’s 15 most populous cities together decreased by more than 20% in 2024 — the sharpest decline in over a decade, a Chronicle analysis found — and in line with a nationwide drop-off in murders.
The decline was driven mainly by sharp drops in the Bay Area’s larger and more violent cities. But in some smaller and less affluent cities, murders actually rose."