LAT, STAN CHOE: "U.S. stocks are shaky Friday as Wall Street’s monstrous week heads toward its close, while the rising price of gold, falling value of the U.S. dollar and moves in other financial markets indicate more fear as President Trump’s trade war with China escalates even further.
The S&P 500 was down 0.4% in early trading. It’s coming off a sharp slide that erased a big chunk of its historic gains from the middle of the week, which came after Trump paused tariffs on many countries outside of China. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 232 points, or 0.6%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower."
Senate confirms Trump nominee Caine as chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff in overnight vote
LAT, MARY CLARE JALONICK: "The Senate confirmed retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, filling the position almost two months after President Trump fired his predecessor.
Trump nominated Caine to become the top U.S. military officer in February after abruptly firing Gen. CQ Brown Jr., the second Black general to serve as chairman, as part of his Republican administration’s campaign to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks. The Senate confirmed Caine 60 to 25 in an overnight vote before heading home for a two-week recess."
California Republicans say yes, Democrats say no to massive federal budget plan
Sac Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "The House Thursday narrowly approved a Republican budget blueprint aimed at triggering big spending and tax cuts, with all the state’s Democrats voting no and all but one of the state’s GOP members voting yes.
Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, did not vote, saying he could not be present because of a personal family matter."
California’s lieutenant governor leases offices to the state. What if she’s elected governor?
CALMatters, ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who earns millions of dollars annually from extensive property investments around the Sacramento region and beyond, says she will put some of her holdings into a blind trust if she is elected governor of California.
The commitment follows an inquiry from CalMatters to Kounalakis, who is running for governor in 2026. According to financial disclosures, her portfolio includes downtown Sacramento office buildings that rent to dozens of organizations with business before the state and at least three state agencies."
California Sen. Padilla hopes Fix Our Forests Act will prevent more L.A. fires
LAT, FAITH E. PINHO: "Months after wildfires ravaged Los Angeles County, California Sen. Alex Padilla is hoping his bill to overhaul forest management and prevent wildfires might be the first bipartisan measure for President Trump to sign.
“I don’t think anything could completely prevent wildfires, but through this work, if we can prevent just one more community from experiencing the heartbreak felt by the families in Santa Rosa or in Paradise or the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, then this effort would’ve been worth it,” Padilla said Thursday."
Capitol Briefs: Priorities, taxes and snakes, oh my!
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "Women’s Caucus unveils bill package: The bipartisan, bicameral California Legislative Women’s Caucus announced its 2025 priority bill package this week. The 11-bill package is focused on advancing equity and opportunity for women across California.
Legislative Women’s Caucus Chair Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) shared the stage with members of the Assembly and Senate who authored the endorsed bills. Each addressed issues such as protections for vulnerable women, improving early childhood education, strengthening women’s economic security, and promoting equity in maternal and menopausal care."
California political and election laws: questions and answers – Part I
Capitol Weekly, CHRIS MICHELI: "This is the first part of a 2-part article on addressing some of the main questions concerning California’s political and election laws.
What created the Political Reform Act (PRA)? The PRA was adopted by the voters on June 4, 1974 by Proposition 9."
Bay Area food banks facing record-high demand as Trump slashes assistance programs
The Chronicle, ANNA BAUMAN: "People pushing walkers, carts and strollers began lining up Wednesday morning outside Shiloh Church in Oakland three hours before the start of a weekly food distribution event.
For Rochelle Lopez, a 34-year-old Fruitvale resident, it was worth the wait. As her youngest daughter napped in a stroller, Lopez picked up a loaf of whole wheat bread, three bags of grapes and other fresh produce — enough supplies to help pack school lunches for her other two children this week."
Berkeley poised to ban most plants within 5 feet of homes deemed a fire risk
The Chronicle, JULIE JOHNSON: "Camellia. Wisteria. Wandering vines.
For generations, these plants have created the signature sights and smells of the Berkeley hills."
Oakland neighborhoods are grouped into five voting ‘clusters.’ Which one are you in?
The Chronicle, ASEEM SHUKLA/SARAH RAVANI/HARSHA DEVULAPALLI: "Oaklanders voiced their displeasure with embattled former Mayor Sheng Thao by ousting her in a historic recall last fall. On Tuesday, they must come together to pick her successor.
Nine candidates are running to replace Thao, who has since been indicted on federal bribery charges and has pleaded not guilty, and finish out the remaining 18 months of her term. Former Rep. Barbara Lee and Oakland City Council Member Loren Taylor are the apparent front-runners. Both have promised to tackle the city’s most vexing problems, which include a massive budget deficit, eviscerated social services and high (if falling) crime."
Exclusive: San Francisco records first fatal overdose involving dangerous new street drug
The Chronicle, MAGGIE ANGST: "A potent animal tranquilizer increasingly reported in illicit drug supplies across the U.S. has made its way to San Francisco.
The San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed that the city in February recorded its first fatal overdose victim with the synthetic drug medetomidine in their system. The victim, a 46-year-old woman, had a mix of several drugs in her system, including fentanyl, medetomidine and benzodiazepines, a class of depressants often used to treat anxiety, insomnia and seizures."
Trump canceled millions in California school grants. The state is suing to reclaim the money
CALMatters, CAROLYN JONES: "The Trump administration overstepped its authority when it cut short pandemic relief grants for K-12 schools, a move that cost them hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a lawsuit filed today by California and a dozen other states.
The suit, filed against the U.S. Department of Education in the Southern District of New York, is California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s 13th lawsuit against the Trump administration."
Sacramento-area schools await California response to federal funding threats
Sac Bee, ROSALIO AHUMADA/JENNAH PENDLETON: "Sacramento-area school districts said it’s too early to know which school programs might be affected by Trump administration threats to cut federal education funding as it seeks to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Officials at the Sacramento City Unified School District believe losing grants from the U.S. Department of Education could affect efforts to train teachers who reflect a diverse student population."
Oil company fined record $18 million for defying state orders to stop work on pipeline
CALMatters, ALEJANDRO LAZO: "The California Coastal Commission today fined an oil company a record $18 million for repeatedly defying orders to stop work on a corroded pipeline in Santa Barbara County that caused a major oil spill nearly a decade ago.
The vote sets the stage for a potentially high-stakes test of the state’s power to police oil development along the coast. The onshore pipeline in Gaviota gushed more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil onto coastal land and ocean waters, shutting down fisheries, closing beaches and harming marine life and coastal habitats in 2015."
A rare, giant starfish could hold the key to restoring kelp forests on the California coast
LAT, LILA SEIDMAN: "Ashley Kidd signed onto the Zoom call a few minutes late, giddily explaining that 12 minutes ago there was an unexpected development in a planned spawn of critically endangered starfish.
Kidd, conservation project manager with the Sunflower Star Laboratory in the Monterey Bay area, was part of a squad set to travel to an aquarium in Alaska, where the plan was to inject the facility’s sunflower sea stars with a hormone that would induce spawning. Then, they would freeze some of the sperm of the males there and take that — plus 10 live, adult starfish and larvae — back with them to the Lower 48."
LAT, LIAM DILLON: "Benito Flores has parked his battered, pale yellow Dodge Ram van on the narrow street in El Sereno outside his one-bedroom duplex. It reminds him of the past and the possibility of an unwelcome future.
A retired welder, Flores lived and worked out of the van for 14 years before joining an audacious protest against homelessness in Los Angeles in spring 2020. Flores was among a dozen individuals and families who seized state-owned homes that had been left empty and rotting for decades in El Sereno after they’d been acquired for a freeway expansion that failed."
Border Patrol to retrain hundreds of California agents on how to comply with the Constitution
CALMatters, WENDY FRY/SERGIO OLMOS: "The Department of Homeland Security told a federal court it will retrain more than 900 California-based Border Patrol agents after controversial immigration sweeps in Kern County in January.
The sweeps are the subject of a federal lawsuit against the agencies by the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued that agents targeted people solely for looking Latino or like farmworkers, violating Fourth Amendment protections against arbitrary arrest."
Sacramento homeless director proposes shelter fees. Do city leaders agree?
Sac Bee, MATHEW MIRANDA: "Sacramento’s homelessness director would like to start charging people a fee to use city shelters, a concept that remains highly uncommon across the country and would likely face pushback.
The idea was raised twice last month by Brian Pedro, the director for the Department of Community Response. The department, which was created in 2021, manages the city’s homelessness services."