Erik Menendez seeking release from prison for serious medical condition, attorney says
LA Times, HANNAH FRY and RICHARD WINTON: "Erik Menendez is seeking to be released from prison as he receives treatment for a serious medical condition ahead of his parole hearing next month, his attorney said this week.
Attorney Mark Geragos declined to share the specifics of the 54-year-old’s condition in an interview with TMZ. But sources familiar with Erik’s treatment told The Times he’s suffering from severe kidney stones and complications arising from the condition, and needs extensive medical treatment."
How the GOP budget bill will affect the cost of California health insurance
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "Today, Altman has downgraded to a gold plan and pays $1,147 per month. That’s a 222% increase over the past decade for less comprehensive coverage. Medical inflation has always outpaced general inflation, but early analyses project premiums will increase even more dramatically as a result of the reconciliation budget recently signed by President Donald Trump, and Altman is worried she won’t be able to pay for health insurance any longer.
“Since the Senate passed this monstrosity I’ve been trying to figure out how I can land on my feet,” Altman said."
Immigration arrests in California soar under second Trump term
Sacramento Bee, LIA RUSSELL/REBECCA-ANN JATTAN: "Last week’s operation at a Sacramento Home Depot appeared to open the door for immigration officials to escalate the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation scheme in Northern California, which until recently had largely escaped the White House’s focus on the South State.
On Monday, the Pentagon announced that it was returning 700 Marines stationed in Los Angeles to their home base, though 2,000 California National Guard members remain in the city. And while court orders temporarily stopped the administration from conducting warrantless stops in Central and Southern California, Immigration and Customs Enforcement data showed significant increases in arrests throughout California in 2025, especially in May and June."
Deaf, mute and terrified: ICE arrests DACA recipient and ships him to Texas
LA Times, BRITTNY MEJIA: "He was on his way to wash a car when he glanced up and saw co-workers sprinting off. A woman frantically motioned for him to flee. His heart raced as he tried to find the source of their alarm.
Confused and frightened, Javier Diaz Santana jumped over the wall behind the car wash in the San Gabriel Valley. Years earlier, a vehicle had run over Diaz’s foot while he worked there, and it was a struggle for him to run. He made it about a block. His foot throbbed with pain."
READ MORE -- ICE releases deaf Mongolian immigrant after holding him for months without interpreter -- CALMatters, WENDY FRY
Legal help in immigration court fades as Trump administration ramps up arrests
LAT, RACHEL URANGA: "Posters inside courts offering immigrants legal assistance have been taken down, replaced by ones that encourage them to “self-deport.”
The help desk for children that once stood in one of the many hallways of the West Los Angeles Immigration Court no longer operates."
Their families keep California farms running. Trump cuts just stripped a ‘lifeline’ from them
CALMatters, CAROLYN JONES: "When Yvette Medina was growing up in the labor camps of California’s Central Valley, she’d often accompany her father to the bank to cash checks.
“He’d tell me, ‘You should be a bank teller. You’re inside all day, out of the sun,’” Medina recalled. “For me, growing up, there weren’t a lot of options or things to aspire to. My parents just didn’t know what was out there.”"
Young Kim draws another Democratic challenger in California
Politico, JULIANN VENTURA: "A 26-year-old Democratic labor organizer calling for a “new generation” of leadership in Washington will announce his campaign Monday to unseat GOP Rep. Young Kim in California’s Orange County.
Perry Meade joins a wide field of challengers running for the 40th District seat held by Kim, one of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s top targets in the state."
Mayor Daniel Lurie’s $15.9 billion budget approved amid criticism
The Chronicle, ALDO TOLEDO: "After months of difficult negotiations at City Hall, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave final approval to Mayor Daniel Lurie’s $15.9 billion budget, which closes an $800 million budget deficit by slashing spending.
The board, which has a moderate majority since the last election, voted 10 to 1 to approve the budget, with Supervisor Jackie Fielder dissenting. Now the bill goes to Lurie’s desk, and per law, he must sign it by Aug. 1."
Capitol Spotlight: CFA Executive Director Janeth Rodriguez
Capitol Weekly, BRIAN JOSEPH: "It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when Janeth Rodriguez started on the path that led her to become the new executive director of the California Faculty Association. Even she hesitated when she was asked to tell her story.
Does it begin in 2018, when she became a field representative for the union of 29,000 professors, lecturers and counselors who work within the California State University system? Or does it begin in her previous job, with the SEIU Local 1000, where she realized the power of labor and her own deep connection to it?"
As bargaining concludes, CA’s labor agreements save now, create future liabilities
Sacramento Bee, WILLIAM MELHADO: "Bargaining between California and its workforce is largely in the rearview mirror and the latest numbers, according to the Finance Department, show the various budget saving measures have allowed the state to recuperate $737 million in compensation expenses.
Most of those savings stem from new leave programs that involve pay reductions and suspending retirement contributions, which nearly all of California’s 21 bargaining units agreed to in some form over the last month as the state and unions finalized contracts."
How toddlers are managing to climb into some above-ground pools, spurring massive recall
LA Times, JENNY GOLD: "About 5 million above-ground swimming pools — a summer staple in many yards across Southern California — have been recalled due to toddler drowning risk, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and manufacturers announced Monday.
The recall follows the drowning deaths of nine children between the ages of 22 months and 3 years old after they gained access to the pools via compression straps that created footholds. The incidents, which occurred between 2007 and 2022, took place in California, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri, according to a commission press release."
OPINION: Newsom needs to stop kidding around. He’s running for president
LA Times, GEORGE SKELTON: "No outsider politicians venture into sultry South Carolina in July unless they are running for president.
Certainly not a West Coast politician. Especially a California governor who lives in delightful Marin County near wonderful cool beaches. A governor who could easily vacation at spectacular Big Sur or hike a wilderness trail into the majestic Sierra.
We can assume Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t choose South Carolina for its nightly light show of amazing fireflies or symphony of crickets. He was attracted to something so alluring that he was willing to brave skin-eating chiggers and oppressive humidity."
If film deserves a tax credit, so does manufacturing (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, LANCE HASTINGS: "From producing the first Apple computers in a Los Altos garage to pioneering electric vehicles and clean energy solutions, California manufacturing has long been a catalyst for global innovation and economic strength. It’s the quiet engine behind everything from semiconductors and aerospace systems to medical devices and the infrastructure that powers our daily lives.
Yet today, the very sector that helped build California into the world’s fourth-largest economy is at a crossroads."
She kept challenging one of California’s biggest health insurers. Then, it tried to cut her off
CALMattters, JOCELYN WIENER/BYRHONDA LYONS: "The letter from Anthem landed on Bernadette Cattaneo’s desk on a sunny day in June 2023.
Beginning later that summer, it said, the addiction treatment facility she ran in the rural Sierra foothills would no longer be included in several of the insurance company’s networks."
End of transgender care at Children’s Hospital L.A. signals nationwide shift under Trump
LAT, SONJA SHARP: "When Children’s Hospital Los Angeles first told thousands of patients it was shuttering its pediatric gender clinic last month, Jesse Thorn was distraught but confident he could quickly find a new local care team for his kids.
But by the time the Center for Transyouth Health and Development officially closed its doors on Tuesday, the father of three was making plans to flee the country."
Eaton fire could wipe out California’s $21-billion wildfire fund, documents show
LAT, MELODY PETERSEN: "Damage claims from the Eaton wildfire in Altadena could wipe out the $21-billion fund California created to shield utilities and their customers from the cost of wildfires sparked by electric lines, according to newly released state documents.
Investigators are seeking to determine whether Southern California Edison’s equipment sparked the Jan. 7 inferno, which killed 19 people and destroyed 9,000 homes. If Edison is found responsible, “the resulting claims may be substantial enough to fully exhaust the Fund,” state officials who administer the wildfire fund wrote in a draft annual report to the Legislature."
A Times investigation: As west Altadena burned, L.A. County fire trucks stayed elsewhere
LAT, REBECCA ELLIS/SEAN GREENE: "West Altadena was burning, and no one was there to save it.
More than 40 Los Angeles County fire trucks surrounded the Palisades fire, where an inferno was entering its 17th hour. An additional 64 fire trucks fanned out across east Altadena and neighboring areas, battling a blaze that had sparked in Eaton Canyon nine hours earlier."
How much cash do you need to live comfortably in California? See latest study
Sacramento Bee, KENDRICK MARSHALL: "How much money do you need to live comfortably in California?
You might want to start saving up, according to GoBankingRates."
With long-awaited county approval, A’s can sell their share of Coliseum to development group
The Chronicle, ANNA BAUMAN: "The former Oakland Athletics baseball team received long-awaited approval Tuesday to sell its share of the Oakland Coliseum to a private development group, bringing a complicated deal one step closer to fruition and paving the way for a community-backed project that could be an economic boon for Oakland.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the agreement, which will transfer part ownership of the major sports and entertainment complex from the MLB team to the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, an investment group focused on community development in Oakland."
‘We’re not leaving’: In-N-Out responds to rumors about California exit
Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "In-N-Out Burger is staying put in California, despite CEO Lynsi Snyder’s personal decision to relocate her family to Tennessee, the company said Tuesday.
The popular fast food chain reaffirmed that its corporate headquarters will remain in the state, following a wave of speculation sparked by CEO Lynsi Snyder’s announcement that she and her family are relocating to Tennessee."
Ozzy Osbourne, heavy metal legend and reality TV star, dies at 76
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary frontman of Black Sabbath whose growling vocals and offstage antics helped define the genre of heavy metal, has died just weeks after a farewell performance in his hometown. He was 76.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” his family said in a statement Tuesday, July 22. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”"
San Francisco to fly hundreds of Grateful Dead banners as anniversary celebrations begin
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "With more than 400 Grateful Dead-themed banners displayed across San Francisco, the city is diving headfirst into a multi-week celebration of the legendary band’s 60th anniversary.
City leaders hope the effort will bolster local businesses and tourism during a crucial phase of economic recovery."