The Atlantic releases entire Signal chat showing Hegseth’s detailed attack plans against Houthis
LAT, TARA COPP: "The Atlantic released the entire Signal chat among Trump senior national security officials Wednesday, showing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact timing of warplane launches and when bombs would drop — before the men and women flying those attacks against Yemen’s Houthis this month on behalf of the United States were airborne.
The disclosure follows two intense days during which Trump’s seniormost Cabinet members, heads of his intelligence and defense agencies, have struggled to explain how details that current and former U.S. officials have said would have been classified wound up on an unclassified Signal chat that included Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg,"
What Donald Trump’s order to change election requirements means for California
Sac Bee, NICOLE NIXON: "President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to require proof of citizenship to vote and to prohibit ballot counting after Election Day. If it stands, the order could vastly reshape how elections are run in California and around the United States.
The order states that the nation “has not adequately enforced federal election requirements” and directs state election officials to share voter databases and prosecute voter fraud. It threatens to pull federal funding from states that do not comply."
Supreme Court upholds ban on untraceable ‘ghost guns’ that are made from parts kits
LAT, DAVID G. SAVAGE: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a federal ban on the sale of parts kits that permit unlicensed gun owners to make firearms at home which cannot be traced by the police.
In a 7-2 decision, the justices agreed these homemade weapons, often referred to as “ghost guns,” qualify as firearms under federal law."
Democrats target four California GOP members of Congress in effort to retake control of the House
LAT, SEEMA MEHTA: "Four California Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are on the target list of a liberal Democratic group preparing for the 2026 election, another indication of how pivotal the state’s congressional races will be in determining control of Congress.
EMILYs List, a group dedicated to electing Democratic women who support access to abortion, announced Wednesday morning that four Republicans in the state were put on its list of 46 “on notice” GOP members of Congress."
Oakland mayoral election: Here’s how much money candidates have raised
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI/CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "Hundreds of thousands of dollars are pouring into April’s mayoral election in Oakland, with supporters for the top two candidates appearing to split into camps: those who helped put former Mayor Sheng Thao in power in 2022, and those who pushed for her recall last year.
Former Rep. Barbara Lee and Loren Taylor, a former council member, have raised nearly a million dollars combined as they vie to finish out the term of Thao, who was recalled by voters in November and then indicted on federal bribery charges. Thao has pleaded not guilty."
Sacramento’s ex-city manager among highest paid in CA. New hire will likely make less
Sac Bee, MATHEW MIRANDA: "Sacramento is expected to have a new city manager by this fall and, if all goes according to plan, the new hire will not be among the highest paid in the state.
These updates were shared at Tuesday’s night City Council meeting by Pamela Derby, the executive recruitment manager for CPS HR Consulting. The firm was hired last month and recently completed individual interviews with council members to help guide its search for one of the top positions in the city’s government."
Embattled S.F. official fostered ‘culture of intimidation and fear,’ former staffers say
The Chronicle, MICHAEL BARBA: "An embattled top San Francisco official who was placed on leave last week amid questions about her spending and undisclosed side income fostered a “culture of intimidation and fear” at her office that led to high turnover, according to her former employees and city records.
In the years since Kimberly Ellis was appointed as the director of the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women in late 2020, the city agency has seen the departure of at least 17 employees, not including interns, according to records reviewed by the Chronicle."
California signs $189M contract with company that recorded calls between inmates and attorneys
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "California has inked a nearly $190 million contract for prison communication tablets with a company that has sued the state multiple times in recent years and has been sued for recording prisoners' calls with their lawyers.
The tablets allow incarcerated people to call their friends and family members for free, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which oversees state prisons. Prisoners can also download books and games onto the tablets, and their activities on the devices can be tracked."
Faculty unions sue Trump administration over Columbia funding cuts
EdSource, DIANA LAMBERT: "The American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit today in the Southern District of New York alleging that the Trump administration unlawfully cut off $400 million in federal research funding to Columbia University to force it to restrict speech on campus.
President Donald Trump cut funding to the university and threatened funding cuts to others that his administration says are tolerating antisemitism amid anti-Israel protests."
The US Education Department investigates Cal State San Bernardino as Trump dismantles the agency
CALMatters, DEBORAH BRENNAN: "Cal State San Bernardino is one of more than 50 universities under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education, even as President Donald Trump attempts to unravel the department.
A statement from the department’s Office for Civil Rights listed three California campuses — Cal State San Bernardino, Cal Poly Humboldt and UC Berkeley — among universities it says violated Title VI of the education code. That’s the section of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibits organizations that get federal funds from discriminating based on race, color or national origin."
UCLA is still No. 1 for applications, but these UCs are rising rapidly in popularity
The Chronicle, NAMI SUMIDA: "Applications to UC Merced and UC Riverside have surged to record highs this year, defying their histories as the least-applied-to University of California campuses.
Among the nine undergraduate UCs, Merced and Riverside saw the largest increases in freshmen applications in the last year, at 50% and 22%, respectively. Since 2019, Merced’s applications have increased by 89% and Riverside’s 43% — far outpacing the 16% growth in applications across all undergraduate UCs."
Applying for CalFresh food aid is complicated. California colleges are trying to make it easier
CALMatters, AMY ELISABETH MOORE: "Work part-time, don’t but earn too much. Enroll in college at least part-time, but be ready to miss class or work for an interview. Wait hours on the phone for your interview, then months for your paperwork to be processed. These are just some of the hoops college students have to go through to receive CalFresh, the federally funded food benefit program also known as SNAP.
Across California, between 400,000 and 750,000 college students meet SNAP eligibility but only about one-fifth receive federal food assistance, leaving around $140 million untapped, according to the California Policy Lab. While several campuses offer food pantries, meal donation programs and staff dedicated to helping students apply for CalFresh, many students still struggle to meet their nutritional needs."
How Covid’s mental health toll transformed California’s schools
EdSource, EMMA GALLEGOS: "When schools shuttered five years ago, many students like Benjamin Olaniyi turned to their phones to find connection during a profoundly unsettling and isolating time.
“Social media made us feel more connected with the world,” said Olaniyi, who is now a junior at King/Drew Medical Magnet High School in Los Angeles."
L.A. teachers union pursues big salary hike and bold ideals in opposition to Trump agenda
LAT, HOWARD BLUME: "At a time when President Trump has threatened to cut education funding to institutions that cross him, the Los Angeles teachers union is having a throwback moment: It’s pushing an aggressive social justice and diversity agenda — and demanding a big raise from the L.A Unified School District.
United Teachers Los Angeles President Cecily Myart-Cruz said her members are fully cognizant of Trump’s hostility to union priorities but are determined to stick with theirs."
Bay Area weather whiplash: Temperatures drop and rain returns to the forecast
The Chronicle, GREG PORTER: "Time to put the shorts away as the record heat of the past two days is no more. Temperatures on Wednesday will be some 15 to 20 degrees cooler than they were on Tuesday and light rain will return to the area late on Wednesday night.
The change in conditions is being perpetuated by a southerly surge in a moisture rich air mass that began to flood the Bay Area late on Tuesday. By Wednesday morning, the influx of moisture in the low levels of the atmosphere will generate some patchy fog with pockets of drizzle in the Marin headlands and along the immediate coast of the Peninsula on Wednesday morning."
These are the Bay Area companies with the most H‑1B visa workers — and what they get paid
The Chronicle, HARSHA DEVULAPALLI/ROLAND LI: "Some of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies employ thousands of H-1B visa workers, using the skilled foreign labor program to bolster their ranks. The Big Tech dominance of the program has made the Bay Area home to 80% of H-1B visa recipients in the state.
H-1B, the largest visa program for skilled workers, enables companies to fill specialty occupations by hiring foreign nationals for three- to six-year stays. Applicants are chosen by lottery, and the deadline for the next fiscal year was on Monday."
They lost their coastal Malibu homes to fire. But should they rebuild along a rising sea?
LAT, JAMES RAINEY: "Dean and Denise Wenner were sweet on the Cape Cod-style home from the moment they found it in 2019. It had five bedrooms spread over three levels, with decks that hung over Santa Monica Bay.
When the tide was up, you felt almost like you were on an ocean liner, with views that swept from Palos Verdes to Point Dume."
Homelessness comment angers Sacramento County supervisor during heated debate
Sac Bee, EMMA HALL: "The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors had a heated debate after Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez said the county’s response to homelessness is broken during their meeting Tuesday morning.
Rodriguez’s comments came after the board reviewed the county’s semi-annual report on homelessness which found there are about 3,000 people and 600 families on a waitlist for a shelter bed, said Emily Halcon, the director of the Department of Homeless Services and Housing for Sacramento County. The report collected data from the county’s eight single and family shelters in 2024."
Mayor Daniel Lurie just overhauled S.F.’s street crisis teams. Here’s why it matters
The Chronicle, JD MORRIS: "Mayor Daniel Lurie is overhauling San Francisco’s street outreach teams in an attempt to better coordinate the city’s response to people in crisis on the streets.
Lurie on Tuesday announced that his administration is consolidating a disparate network of city-funded teams that try to help with people who are unhoused or struggling with addiction or mental illness. Instead of nine groups under different departments and using different approaches, San Francisco will now have five “tightly knit, neighborhood-based units,” plus a sixth roving citywide team, Lurie said at a news conference."