CA elections officials head to battle stations, anticipating redistricting vote
SacBee, KATE WOLFFE: "Elections officials across California are preparing a speed run toward a possible special election on November 4, as the state considers a response to Texas’ efforts to redraw congressional maps to benefit Republicans.
The election would be about whether or not to adopt new congressional maps that benefit Democrats. Gov. Gavin Newsom says he would only ask the Legislature to call the election if Texas moves ahead with its plan. That plan is currently in limbo, as Texas Democratic lawmakers remain out of state to deny Republicans quorum in their legislature."
Why Texas could face greater legal hurdles than California in redistricting fight
LAT, MICHAEL WILNER/ANITA CHABRIA: "California is in a standoff with Texas over redistricting that could decide the balance of power in Congress for the end of Donald Trump’s presidency — a high-stakes gambit with risks for both sides. But if the courts have their say, Texas, facing accusations of racial discrimination, may find itself at a distinct legal disadvantage.
Both efforts by Texas Republicans and California Democrats are blatantly partisan, proposing a mid-decade redrawing of district lines for the express purpose of benefiting their party in the 2026 midterm elections."
The Knock-Down, Drag-’Em-Out Texas Redistricting Showdown Heats Up
Mother Jones, GARRISON HAYES: "An old-fashioned Western showdown is happening in Texas right now.
On one side you have Texas House Democrats who fled the state over the weekend to stop Texas Republicans from carrying out Trump’s orders to redraw the state’s maps. And Texas governor Greg Abbott who is very, very upset about it all. As of this writing, the move seems to have worked: the Texas House has failed to reach a quorum for two consecutive days. Now, Texas Senator John Cornyn wants the FBI to hunt down the Democrats and arrest them."
Stanford Daily sues Trump administration over deportation threats
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Stanford’s student newspaper sued the Trump administration on Wednesday for threatening to deport any noncitizen who criticizes Israel or U.S. foreign policy, saying the government is violating freedom of speech and intimidating campus journalists into censoring their own articles.
“In the United States of America, no one should fear a midnight knock on the door for voicing the wrong opinion,” lawyers for the Stanford Daily, the university’s independent 133-year-old publication, wrote in a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose."
Did immigration agents violate court order during L.A. Home Depot raid?
LAT, SARAH RAVANI: "A raid by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents of a Home Depot in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning sparked fears and outrage that the federal government could be violating a court order blocking widespread immigration sweeps in Southern California.
A video posted by a Fox News reporter on X shows a Border Patrol agent holding two men by the collar and leading them to a rental truck in the parking lot of the store near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. The agency said in a statement that 16 people from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua were detained."
At Sacramento’s immigration court, these volunteers have their eyes on ICE
SacBee, STEPHEN HOBBS: "Heidi Phipps studied the papers posted on a bulletin board inside Sacramento Immigration Court as if she were searching names on a cast list for a high school play.
It was before 8:30 a.m. and the third day in a row last month she had spent in a court waiting room, looking to see who was supposed to appear before a judge. Twenty people were on the list she hoped would leave the courthouse that morning without being detained."
ICE arrests in L.A. plummeted in July, new data show
LAT, JENNY JARVIE: "Arrests of undocumented immigrants have dropped significantly across the Los Angeles region two months after the Trump administration launched its aggressive mass deportation operation, according to new figures released Wednesday by Homeland Security.
Federal authorities told The Times on July 8 that federal agents had arrested 2,792 undocumented immigrants in the seven counties in and around L.A. since June 6. Homeland Security updated that number Wednesday, indicating that fewer than 1,400 immigrants have been arrested in the region in the last month."
Migrants Vanish Into Opaque ICE Detention System
Wall Street Journal, RUTH SIMON, ELIZABETH FINDELL and TARINI PARTI: "When immigration lawyers sought to defend a North Texas construction worker detained in early March, they couldn’t find him.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement records initially showed that Felix Morales Reyna, a 28-year-old Mexican father, was in Alvarado, Texas, 30 miles south of his home in Fort Worth, paralegal Andrea Avila said. But he was actually more than 200 miles north in Cushing, Okla. By the time her firm found Morales, he had been moved to Aurora, Colo.—but his case had inexplicably moved to Anson, Texas."
COVID is rising again in California — just as school and festival season start
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "As students head back to classrooms, travelers squeeze in last-minute getaways and crowds pack San Francisco’s summer festivals, California is experiencing a renewed uptick in COVID-19 infections — part of a broader national trend that health officials say echoes previous seasonal surges.
State health data shows that test positivity rates nearly doubled in July, from 3.94% on July 5 to 7.91% by July 26. While still categorized as low, the trajectory is concerning enough that public health officials are watching closely as fall approaches."
Trump’s broad tariffs go into effect, just as economic pain is surfacing
LAT, JOSH BOAK: "President Donald Trump began levying higher import taxes on dozens of countries Thursday, just as the economic fallout of his monthslong tariff threats has begun to create visible damage for the U.S. economy.
Just after midnight, goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union became subject to tariff rates of 10% or higher. Products from the EU, Japan and South Korea are taxed at 15%, while imports from Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh are taxed at 20%. Trump also expects the EU, Japan and South Korea to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S."
Trump is cutting solar funding — but California is taking the heat
Politico, NOAH BAUSTIN and CAMILLE VON KAENEL: "The Trump administration wants to cancel solar programs that let everyday people tap into nearby panels. In California, the technology never even got off the ground.
Almost none of the $250 million that California received from the Inflation Reduction Act’s Solar for All program, which the Trump administration is making plans to terminate as soon as this week, has made it out the door yet."
California must protect access to natural kratom (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, DIJON EVANS: "Living with chronic pain isn’t just physicall red me real relief when everything else had failed.
Natural leaf kratom comes from the leaves of a tropical tree native to SoutheastAsia known as Mitragyna speciosa. It’s been used for centuries in traditional healing practices for its pain-relieving and mood-enhancing effects. In recent years, it has gained attention in the U.S. as an alternative option for people dealing with occasional pain or anxiety. Yet its legal status remains murky—caught between outdated stigma and growing scientific interest—leaving many of us who depend on it in a precarious position."
L.A. County’s failure to educate incarcerated youth is ‘systemic,’ report says
EdSource, BETTY MARQUEZ ROSALES: "Local government agencies in charge of youth violated the educational and civil rights of students in Los Angeles County’s juvenile justice facilities for decades by punting responsibility and inaction, according to a report released Wednesday.
“Who has the power? Chronicling Los Angeles County’s systemic failures to educate incarcerated youth” blames the disconnected, vast network of local and state agencies — from the board of supervisors to the local probation department to the county office of education and more — that play one role or another in managing the county’s juvenile legal system, for the disruption in the care and education of youth in one of the nation’s largest systems."
Homeowners say the Army Corps and its contractors mishandled L.A. fire debris cleanup
LAT, TOMY BRISCOE: "After January’s wildfires reduced thousands of homes in Altadena and Pacific Palisades to heaps of ash and rubble, wildfire survivors hoped federal disaster workers would give them a fresh start on a rebuild-ready lot.
But many residents say that has not been the reality."
No charges for L.A. County deputy who shot man in back as he lay on pavement
LAT, JAMES QUEALLY: "A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who shot a man in the back in 2021 will not face criminal charges, according to records made public by the district attorney’s office late last month.
Los Angeles County prosecutors found there was “insufficient evidence” to prove Deputy Yen Liu was not acting in lawful self-defense when he shot Adrian Abelar at a Rosemead auto body shop four years ago, firing a round that fractured several vertebrae and nearly paralyzed him, according to court records and Abelar’s attorney."
A plan to boost Sonoma’s struggling wine industry has erupted into controversy
The Chronicle, ESTHER MOBLEY/JESS LANDER: "The ongoing downturn in wine consumption has hit Sonoma County hard, and the vintners and grapegrowers in California’s second-most-famous wine region haven’t figured out how to answer the crisis.
Now, the local industry’s leading trade organizations have proposed a solution. But their idea has ignited fierce opposition from dozens of wineries — and revealed just how dire Sonoma County’s wine business is."