Mexico and Canada vow retaliation as Trump’s tariffs take effect
LAT, KATE LINTHICUM: "Mexico and Canada vowed retaliation for sweeping tariffs imposed Tuesday by President Trump on all goods from their countries, a move that overnight upended free trade in North America and sent shock waves through the global supply chain.
As of midnight Tuesday, the U.S. was expected to start levying a 25% tax on all products from Mexico and Canada, with the exception of Canadian oil and gas, which will be subject to 10% tariffs."
READ MORE -- US tariffs take effect and Mexico, Canada and China retaliate with their own tariffs on the US -- AP, JOSH BOAK/PAUL WISEMAN/ROB GILLIE
Trump administration dramatically cuts staff at water agency in California
LAT, IAN JAMES: "The Trump administration has ordered firings and buyouts at the federal agency that operates water infrastructure in California, potentially jeopardizing the agency’s ability to manage dams and deliver water, according to Central Valley water officials.
The job cuts at the Bureau of Reclamation were ordered by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, according to two bureau employees with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly."
California’s effort to streamline wildfire prevention could have long-term consequences
LAT, TARA DUGGAN: "Wildfire experts and environmentalists expressed concern that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s move to suspend environmental regulations in order to fast-track wildfire prevention projects in California could ultimately weaken some of the state’s landmark environmental laws.
On Saturday, Newsom issued an executive order and emergency proclamation to suspend the California Environmental Quality Act, the Coastal Act and other longstanding regulations in order to remove red tape from projects to reduce fuels from state forests — such as prescribed burns and timber thinning."
Bass aides were warned of growing fire danger before she flew to Ghana
LAT, DAKOTA SMITH/DAVID ZAHNISER: "The day before Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass left for Ghana, her aides received an email from the city’s Emergency Management Department warning of a “high confidence in damaging winds and elevated fire conditions occurring next week.”
The mayor nevertheless went on the trip, attending the Ghanaian president’s inauguration, as well as a U.S. Embassy cocktail party, on Jan. 7, the day the Palisades fire broke out."
Gavin Newsom orders California state workers back to offices in person four days a week
Sac Bee, WILLIAM MELHADO: "Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Monday, directing state workers who fall under his jurisdiction back into offices four days a week by July 1.
The governor’s office said it was also directing the California Department of Human Resources to make it easier to hire former federal workers in certain areas that have vacancies, in an effort that would strengthen the state’s ability to respond to disasters and emergencies."
DOGE firings provoke heated confrontations, shouts of ‘Nazi,’ at Republican town halls
LAT, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS/REBECCA PLEVIN: "By the time U.S. Rep. Jay Obernolte, a Big Bear Lake Republican, tried asking for unity at his “community coffee” event, his audience had screamed, cussed and called him a Nazi.
“We’re not on team liberal or conservative; we’re not on team Republican or Democrat. We all play for team United States of America,” Obernolte told the overflow crowd last month at the Yucca Valley Community Center."
LAT, MEG JAMES: "President Trump has long needled news outlets that got under his skin.
He branded CNN and others “fake news.” He repeatedly railed against journalists as the “enemy of the people” during his first term — rhetoric that news groups tried to shrug off or wore as a badge of honor."
Rising Stars: Rida Shaikh, Senate Elections Committee
Capitol Weekly, MOLLY JACOBY: "At just 24, Rida Shaikh has already found her footing in Sacramento, overseeing operations of the Senate Elections Committee. But her path to the Capitol wasn’t straightforward – it was a journey of persistence and defiance of expectations.
Shaikh was born in Tennessee, and her family moved to California at nine. Her father encouraged her to pursue a career in the medical field, but Shaikh always knew she wanted to follow a different path. By the time she transferred from Folsom Community College to UC Davis, Shaikh was ready to follow her interests in history and the government, opting for political science. She assured her parents that she would apply for law school – if she wasn’t going to be a doctor, she could at least be a lawyer."
The ‘Undercover Boss’ running for governor: His plan to make California more affordable
Sac Bee, NICOLE NIXON: "What do Republicans and a billionaire Democratic candidate for California governor have in common?
They want to slash regulations to make the state more affordable."
Governor Gavin Newsom declares state of emergency for California forests. What it means
Sac Bee, LIA RUSSELL: "Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency for the state’s forests, allowing his administration to bypass more coastal and permitting regulations and expedite wildfire prevention projects as California recovers from the Los Angeles wildfires.
On Saturday, the governor ordered the suspension of some provisions within the California Environmental Quality Act and Coastal Act that he said are holding up authorities’ ability to quickly clear away dead vegetation and other debris that act as wildfire accelerators. Newsom previously waived parts of CEQA to expedite the rebuilding process for homeowners who lost their houses in January’s fires, which claimed 29 lives and may be the costliest natural disaster in state history."
‘Too damn hard to build’: A key California Democrat’s push for speedier construction
CALMatters, BEN CHRISTOPHER: "A California legislator wants to solve the state’s housing crisis, juice its economy, fight climate change and save the Democratic Party with one “excruciatingly non-sexy” idea.
Oakland Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks sees the slow, occasionally redundant, often litigious process of getting construction projects okayed by federal, state and local governments as a chief roadblock to fixing California’s most pressing problems, from housing to water to public transportation to climate change."
California could save this endangered fish. But federal funding under Trump just ended
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "The Trump administration has ended federal funding for a captive breeding program for California’s endangered delta smelt, threatening the future of the fish that the president blames for burdensome water regulations.
The UC Davis-run Fish Conservation and Culture Laboratory in Contra Costa County, which maintains a population of smelt to help sustain the small number of smelt in the wild, has been getting about three quarters of its budget from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. That funding, which is tied to a five-year grant, expired Friday, however, and the agency has not committed to renewing the payments."
What college students hope, fear from the new presidential administration
EdSource, TCSJC: "As a new administration came into power in Washington, D.C., in January month, there were many unknowns about how new policies might impact higher education. On the campaign trail, candidate Donald Trump pledged to “end wokeness” as well as shutter the U.S. Department of Education.
Shortly after Trump’s inauguration, members of EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps asked the following question to students at 13 California colleges and universities:"
Trump’s deadline to eliminate DEI in schools passed. Did Sacramento districts comply?
Sac Bee, JENNAH PENDLETON: "Schools across the U.S. faced a March 1 deadline to end their diversity, equity and inclusion programs or risk losing federal funding. Sacramento school districts, like many across the country, have not openly rushed to comply with the mandates outlined in a Feb. 14 memo from President Donald Trump’s administration.
In the February letter, acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor gave K-12 schools and colleges two weeks to outlaw any race-based policies and programming or face investigations and the possible loss of federal funding. The Trump administration is broadly interpreting the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which struck down affirmative action in college admissions, to extend to all programming and activities that consider race — including scholarships, graduation ceremonies, and “all other aspects of student, academic and campus life.”"
AI chatbots can cushion the high school counselor shortage — but are they bad for students?
CALMatters, TARA GARCIA MATHEWSON: "During the pandemic, longtime Bay Area college and career counselor Jon Siapno started developing a chatbot that could answer high schoolers’ questions about their future education options. He was using IBM’s question-answering precursor to ChatGPT, Watson, but when generative artificial intelligence became accessible, he knew it was a game-changer.
“I thought it would take us maybe two years to build out the questions and answers,” Siapno said. “Back then you had to prewrite everything.”"
Does the temperature where you live impact how fast you age? Scientists find ‘silent toll’
The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO: "Older adults living in very hot regions may age faster biologically than those living in cooler climates, according to a new study by University of Southern California researchers that sheds additional light on the negative health impacts that extreme heat can have on older adults.
The findings, published Wednesday in Science Advances, highlight the need for cities and neighborhoods to adopt measures to protect older residents in preparation for extreme heat events, which are becoming more common due to human-caused climate change."
Support lukewarm for Oakland sales tax increase as vote nears, poll finds
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: "Oakland residents are lukewarm on increasing the city’s sales tax to address the budget crisis, setting up a potential blow for the city in need of new revenue, according to a new city poll released Monday.
In April, voters will decide whether to increase the city’s sales tax rate by a half-cent to reduce the city’s budget deficit. If voters pass the measure, it would raise the sales tax in Oakland from 10.25% to 10.75% — equaling the highest rates in the state — and bring in about $20 million a year in new revenue."
Here’s how many Bay Area homeowners are using Prop 19 to pay lower property taxes
The Chronicle, CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "Since it went into effect four years ago, thousands of homeowners have moved to or within the Bay Area using a state law that keeps their property taxes relatively low, according to a Chronicle analysis of recently released data.
California Proposition 19 was designed to encourage older residents to downsize their homes by allowing them to avoid paying higher property taxes when they move. Property taxes on a home generally see a large increase only when that home is sold, thanks to Prop 13, a 1978 law that caps how much a property’s assessed value — and therefore its taxes — can rise each year. That law has lowered property taxes for longtime homeowners, but it has also faced criticism for “locking in” empty nesters who can’t afford the higher property taxes on a new home, keeping many large homes off the market."
Towing companies can sell your car — and the DMV gets to keep the profit without telling you
CALMatters, RHONDA BYRHONDA LYONS: "After a Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster got towed in 2023, no one claimed it. The iconic sports car sat at a Torrance tow yard for five months, long enough that the towing company had the right to sell it.
The sale allowed the company to recoup its costs for the tow, storage and lien sale, $11,332. But there was plenty left over: $99,668, which went to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The owner has to claim the funds by 2027, when the money is permanently in the DMV’s coffers."