Trump dumped these farmers’ water. They’d rather not talk about it.
CAMILLE VON KAENEL and ANNIE SNIDER, Politico: "California farmers — some of President Donald Trump’s staunchest supporters in the deep blue state — are sticking with him, even after he wasted their water.
At least publicly, the farmers and their Republican allies are brushing off the president’s abrupt move last week to dump more than 2 billion gallons of their irrigation water from reservoirs in the name of aiding Los Angeles wildfires — even though the fires were already contained and the water couldn’t have made it to Los Angeles anyway."
‘I’m here because I’m angry.’ Hundreds protest Trump & Elon Musk at California Capitol
JENAVIEVE HATCH, SacBee: "Hundreds turned out at noon Wednesday at the California state Capitol to protest President Donald Trump and Elon Musk — Trump’s adviser, mega MAGA donor, “special employee” and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” set up to root out wasteful spending.
Protesters carried flags representing Mexico, America, the trans community and greater LGBTQ community, but the protest was decidedly pointed toward Musk, who, in the last week, has attempted a full-scale takeover of the American government, shuttering its agencies, threatening to lay off government workers, and accessing government data without approval from Congress."
What happened before and after the alleged bribe attempt in Sacramento mayor race?
JOE RUBIN, SacBee: "This much is agreed: California Black Chamber of Commerce President Jay King called mayoral candidate Flojuane Cofer on Sept. 24 to press her to support a contract extension for City Manager Howard Chan. Campaign contributions were discussed. Cofer has called that Sept. 24 call an illegal bribe offer.
King said it was a healthy discussion about the future health and stability of the city. The CBCC, the organization King leads, has received 19 contracts and was paid $1.2 million during Chan’s tenure. The Bee has detailed those contracts and Cofer’s and King’s descriptions of their phone calls, meetings and interactions."
California’s Prop. 36 promised to get tough on crime. Republicans demand funding for it
KATE WOLFFE, SacBee: "California’s Republican lawmakers are calling on their Democratic colleagues to put money behind Proposition 36 — last year’s tough-on-crime ballot measure that passed overwhelmingly. So far, Democratic lawmakers haven’t indicated whether they will. Prop. 36 increases penalties for some drug and theft-related offenses.
Gov. Gavin Newsom was vocally against the measure, arguing it targeted low-level non-violent offenses and would be a “real setback” for the state’s progress on criminal justice reform and away from mass incarceration."
Behind the arson arrests during the firestorm: Cases reveal L.A.’s burning problem
JAMES QUEALLY, CLARA HARTER and RICHARD WINTON, LA Times: "In the days after the Palisades and Eaton fires erupted, authorities throughout L.A. County announced a series of arson arrests. But those charged were not accused of sparking the devastating wildfires. Their blazes were much smaller — the sort that might have passed unnoticed if huge swaths of land hadn’t already gone up in flames.
From Irwindale to Brentwood, police said they found people burning dried-out Christmas trees and trash or setting dumpsters ablaze. One man was caught using a blowtorch to incinerate debris in West Hills as the Kenneth fire raged above him, police said."
GRACE TOOHEY, LA Times: "With Southern California still in the thick of an exceptionally brutal winter fire season, lawmakers are calling for the state’s largest firefighting agency to extend the bulk of its staffing and operations year-round, instead of employing a seasonal schedule.
A bipartisan group of California lawmakers this week announced legislation that would transition about 3,000 seasonal firefighters who work for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to year-round employees. The legislation would also ensure fire engines, helicopters and vegetation management crews are working every month of the year."
‘Giant’ six-legged pests disguised as Japanese snacks found at LA airport, officials say
JULIA MARNIN, SacBee: "Several packages of Japanese snacks shipped to the Los Angeles International Airport had more than just potato chips and chocolate, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
When Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists took a closer look, they found “giant” six-legged pests inside the packages, the agency said in a Feb. 5 news release."
Trump says he’ll investigate California’s high-speed rail; authority calls comments ‘noise’
COLLEEN SHALBY, LA Times: "President Trump said Tuesday that he would investigate California’s high-speed rail plan, calling it “the worst-managed project” he has seen. “They have hundreds of billions of dollars of cost overruns,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s impossible that something could cost that much.”
In response, the High-Speed Rail Authority posted a progress report on X. “Ignore the noise. We’re busy building,” the post said, highlighting the project’s environmental clearance for construction between Los Angeles and San Francisco, construction in the Central Valley and more than 14,000 jobs the project has provided."
California AG warns L.A. hospital: Withholding transgender care could violate state law
EMILY ALPERT REYES, LA Times: "California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said Wednesday he was putting a Los Angeles hospital on notice that withholding hormonal therapy and other gender-affirming care from transgender youth could run afoul of state law.
The action came after Children’s Hospital Los Angeles said it was pausing the initiation of hormonal therapy for “gender-affirming care patients” under the age of 19 and had suspended gender-affirming surgeries for minors."
San Francisco’s New Mayor Is Rich. Is That a Good Thing?
HEATHER KNIGHT, NY Times: "Like the little red labels on the pockets of Levi’s jeans, the heirs to the Levi Strauss fortune are woven into the fabric of Bay Area philanthropy.
The Sterns, as in Stern Grove, the 12-acre park in San Francisco that hosts free summer concerts. Haas, as in the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and Haas Pavilion, where the university’s Golden Bears play basketball. Goldman, as in the Goldman Environmental Prize, called the Green Nobels."
L.A. City Council committee rejects rent freeze, advances eviction protection proposal
ANDREW KHOURI, LA Times: "A key Los Angeles City Council committee on Wednesday rejected an effort to freeze rents citywide, but advanced a series of eviction protections for people economically affected by recent fires.
In a 3-1 vote, the Housing and Homelessness Committee approved a motion that would bar landlords from evicting tenants for a variety of reasons, including for nonpayment of rent or if an owner wanted to move into a unit. Such evictions would be prohibited only for tenants who were economically harmed by the fires, and the prohibition would last one year."
Should arsonist get death penalty if people die in wildfire? California Supreme Court to decide
SHARON BERNSTEIN, SacBee: "Raymond Lee Oyler, sentenced to death for starting a 2006 Southern California blaze that killed five firefighters, didn’t shoot or stab his victims, or kill them personally with his bare hands. So should he be put to death?
Oral arguments in his nearly 20-year-old case were heard Wednesday by the Supreme Court of California, meeting for the first time in five years in Sacramento’s historic appellate courtroom at the Stanley Mosk Library and Courthouse on the Capitol Mall downtown."