National Guard came to L.A. to fight unrest. Troops ended up fighting boredom
LA Times, JENNY JARVIE, GRACE TOOHEY and CHRISTOPHER BUCHANAN: "They were deployed by the Trump administration to combat “violent, insurrectionist mobs” in and around Los Angeles, but in recent days the only thing many U.S. Marines and California National Guard troops seemed to be fighting was tedium.
“There’s not much to do,” one Marine said as he stood guard outside the towering Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood this week."
‘Demographic bomb’: Children are vanishing from this wealthy Bay Area city
Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "When a town is losing kids, it isn’t always obvious.
Just ask David Hagele. The Healdsburg council member has enjoyed nothing more than raising his kids, now 12 and 14, in the picturesque Wine Country community known for safety and great schools. His children spend afternoons walking downtown with their friends and hanging out at the bookstore. They stop by Mombo’s Pizza, which is tucked in a strip mall just off the city’s famed main square, after sporting events. They pop into the Safeway after school to buy candy."
Lawsuit targets ICE arrests at immigration courthouses
Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Immigration courthouses, once considered safe places for migrants seeking the right to remain in the United States, have become sites of massive arrests and deportation orders under a Trump administration policy that was challenged in a nationwide lawsuit Wednesday.
The policy discards decades of practices under presidents of both parties and unconstitutionally “deprives noncitizens of a meaningful opportunity to be heard” in court, lawyers for immigrants and advocacy organizations said in a suit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C."
L.A. County jails are handing inmates over to ICE for the first time in years
LA Times, CONNOR SHEETS: "The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has resumed transferring jail inmates to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the first time in years via a legal avenue not barred by local sanctuary policies that aim to shield people from deportation.
Eight inmates were released to ICE in May and a dozen more in June, according to sheriff’s department records reviewed by The Times. Eleven are Mexican, six are Guatemalan, and one each is from Colombia, El Salvador and Honduras. Their ages ranged from 19 to 63 years old."
House Speaker Mike Johnson sees no progress on CA disaster aid, blasts Gavin Newsom
SacBee, DAVID LIGHTMAN and NICOLE NIXON: "House Speaker Mike Johnson Tuesday blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom and California officials for the delay in getting approval of federal disaster aid for last winter’s deadly Los Angeles wildfires.
Asked if there was a way to get the funding approved, Johnson said at a Capitol news conference in Washington, D.C., “We wouldn’t know how much to commit because there’s a process this goes through.”
Inland Empire lawmakers kept out of Adelanto detention center say ICE rules are blocking oversight
CalMatters, DEBORAH BRENNAN: "Two Inland Empire Congress members were locked out at the gate of Adelanto ICE Processing Center last week as they attempted to check on constituents held there.
The episode illustrates the obstacles some Democratic lawmakers have experienced trying to observe conditions in ICE detention centers, and what they say are restrictive rules that interfere with Congressional oversight."
Donald Trump’s immigration agenda is largely avoiding a vital California region
SacBee, STEPHEN HOBBS and MATHEW MIRANDA: "Sayda came home tired, much like she has for 15 years. She had worked hours trimming and irrigating in the grape fields of Yolo County on a hot July day. In the last six months she has added a new post-work routine — looking over messages on her phone to see if federal agents are arresting farmworkers.
On this day, she received a video of authorities dressed in military gear at a Southern California farm. They had used tear gas to disperse yelling protesters while agents moved through, arresting dozens of workers."
EdSource, EMMA GALLEGOS: "K.D. was just starting to believe that the racial harassment her daughter had experienced at school for the last three years would finally be addressed.
Students had called her daughter the N-word, referred to her as a “black monkey” in an Instagram post, made jokes about the Ku Klux Klan and played whipping sounds on their phones during a history lesson about slavery, according to a statement by her mother, identified in court records as K.D."
L.A. County to create fund for immigrants affected by ICE raids
LA Times, REBECCA ELLIS: "A cash fund for families financially reeling from ongoing federal immigration raids will be up and running within a month, according to Los Angeles County officials. The Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 on Tuesday to create the fund, fueled by philanthropy and focused on workers and their families in small L.A. County cities and unincorporated areas.
Details on the fund were sparse. It was unclear who will be eligible or how much a family could expect to collect."
Ex-wife of UC Berkeley professor shot in Greece arrested on suspicion of plotting his killing
Chronicle, St. JOHN-BARNED SMITH and MARGAUX BAUERLEIN: "The ex-wife of a beloved UC Berkeley professor has been charged with arranging to have him killed in an Athenian suburb earlier this month, according to Greek media reports.
Przemysław Jeziorski, 43, was gunned down on July 4 in Agia Paraskevi, a suburb of Athens, as he was walking to the home of his ex-wife, Nadia Michelidaki, to see his two children. Jeziorski died at the scene after being shot five times.
Newsom slams Trump’s $4B cut to California bullet train as ‘illegal’
Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday condemned the Trump administration’s decision to rescind $4 billion in federal funding for California’s high-speed rail project, calling the move “illegal” and vowing to fight back.
“Trump wants to hand China the future and abandon the Central Valley. We won’t let him,” Newsom said in a statement.
LA Times, COLLEEN SHALBY: "The Trump administration has canceled billions of dollars in funding for California’s high-speed rail project after the state agency rejected the federal government’s assessment of the project’s failings.
The Federal Railroad Administration pulled $4 billion in funding on Wednesday that was intended for construction in the Central Valley, according to a letter that acting FRA Administrator Drew Feeley sent to the high-speed rail project’s chief executive, Ian Choudri."
Sacramento County man in Jan. 6 riot pardoned by Trump convicted for child porn
SacBee, ROSALIO AHUMADA: "A Sacramento County man, who was convicted for his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol and later pardoned by President Donald Trump, was convicted on Tuesday of possessing child pornography.
After a one‑day trial, a jury in federal court found Kyle Travis Colton, 37, of Citrus Heights, guilty of one count of receiving child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento announced in a news release."
Fresno federal prosecutor becomes acting US Attorney for Sacramento
SacBee, SHARON BERNSTEIN and ROBERT RODRIGUEZ: "Kimberly Sanchez, a longtime federal prosecutor based in Fresno, became the acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California on Wednesday, replacing Michele Beckwith, who was let go by the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday night, a spokesperson for the department said.
Beckwith, a Democrat with a long history as a federal prosecutor in Sacramento, stepped in earlier this year after U.S. Attorney Phil Talbert resigned to make way for an appointee by Republican President Donald Trump. The Eastern District is headquartered in Sacramento and handles federal prosecutions in the Central Valley and Sierra portions of the state."
Army vet calls for investigation after being detained for three days in ICE raid
LA Times, JESSICA GARRISON: "A U.S. Army veteran who was detained during the massive immigration raid in Ventura County last week said Wednesday that he wants “a full investigation” into how he could have been held behind bars for three days despite being an American citizen.
“What happened to me wasn’t just a mistake,” he said in a written statement. “It was a violation of my civil rights. It was excessive force.”
California’s marijuana industry was already in crisis. Then the ICE raids started
Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Recent immigration raids on Southern California cannabis facilities have shaken California’s already beleaguered marijuana industry as leaders worry about a renewed federal assault on farms and dispensaries that could scare workers into staying home and further cripple the state’s multibillion-dollar industry.
Cannabis industry leaders and advocates have been huddling about how to react to a federal immigration raid this month on grow sites in Camarillo (Ventura County) and Carpinteria (Santa Barbara County) that led to the arrests of 361 allegedly undocumented immigrants. The sites are owned by Glass House Farms, one of California’s largest growers. The raid became a chaotic, violent mess in which at least one person lost their life and U.S. citizens were detained, including a California State University professor."
United flight from SFO to London turns back mid-flight due to technical issue
Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "A United Airlines flight bound for London was forced to return to San Francisco late Tuesday after a technical issue disrupted its journey mid-flight, resulting in an eight-hour round trip to nowhere for more than 200 passengers.
Flight UA948, operated by a Boeing 777-200ER, departed San Francisco International Airport at 4:41 p.m. local time on July 15, en route to London Heathrow.
According to data from aviation tracker FlightAware, the aircraft made a wide U-turn near the U.S.-Canada border northwest of Winnipeg, roughly halfway through its planned transatlantic route, and began the return trip to California."
UC to consider increasing tuition and cutting how much of it goes to financial aid
LA Times, JAWEED KALEEM: "University of California regents — confronted with an uncertain financial outlook amid Trump administration cuts, state budget tightening and inflation — are considering whether to increase tuition and set aside less of that revenue for financial aid.
The first public discussion of the issue will take place Thursday in advance of the expiration of the existing tuition policy."