Federal healthcare cuts will cause millions of Californians to lose coverage, state officials say
LAT, KATIE KING: "Top California health officials warned that federal cuts will deliver a devastating blow to public health, even as the state grapples with ways to mitigate the damage.
“These changes will impact our emergency departments, rural hospitals, private and public hospitals, community health centers, ambulance providers and the broader health care system that serves every community,” said Michelle Baass, director of the California Department of Health Care Services."
READ MORE -- No paychecks. No food assistance. When will this government shutdown end? -- Sac Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN
Trump is trying to subvert California’s Nov. 4 election results, state attorney general says
LAT, DAKOTA SMITH: "State Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said Monday that he anticipates the Trump administration, which last week announced plans to use federal election monitors in California, will use false reports of voting irregularities to challenge the results of the Nov. 4 special election.
Bonta, California’s top law enforcement officer, said on a call with reporters that he is “100%” concerned about false accusations of wrongdoing at the polling places."
READ MORE -- California Attorney General warns Trump will try to undermine Prop. 50 election -- Sac Bee, KATE WOLFFE
Prop 50 supporters have raised so much money it keeps straining the state’s reporting system
Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "With a week to go, supporters of Proposition 50 have raised more than twice as much as opponents, a gap that has widened significantly in recent weeks.
Supporters have reported $129 million in contributions while opponents have reported just $46 million. Spending is also lopsided, with supporters reporting more than twice in expenditures than opponents."
Newsom’s Prop. 50 would tie coastal cities to desert towns under San Diego maps
CALMatters, NADIA LATHAN: "Fredrich Bahrke moved to Lakeside 25 years ago, lured by the ranch-style homes that dot its open landscape and the slower pace of life in the town of 63,000.
“I’ve always been an out-in-the-country kind of boy. The rural life is more comfortable for me,” Bahrke said."
Gavin Newsom teases White House plans after 2026
Sac Bee, LIA RUSSELL: "Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would consider running for president after the 2026 midterm elections, according to a CBS interview that aired Sunday.
Newsom told the national network on Thursday in San Jose that he would give the idea of running for the White House “serious thought” after next year’s contest and said he’d “be lying” if he said otherwise, but that any definite decision was “years away.”"
A chat with Leah Barros of Barros Clay & Associates (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "Today we welcome lobbyist Leah Barros of Barros Clay and Associates. Barros is a familiar face in Sacramento, having worked in the Capitol as a staffer and later as a lobbyist for various firms before launching her own shop. Among her notable wins was leading the lobbying effort to enact The CROWN Act, the first statewide law in the country to prohibit racial discrimination on the basis of natural hairstyles in the workplace and schools. That experience changed her perception of what she could – and should – do as an advocate. Plus – Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics?"
The Micheli Minute, October 27, 2025
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "Lobbyist, author and McGeorge law professor Chris Micheli offers a quick look at what’s coming up this week under the Capitol Dome."
CA woman suing ICE contractor for sex harassment abused before deportation, lawyer says
Sac Bee, MARCOS BRETON: "A Sacramento lawyer representing an undocumented woman who is suing a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor for sexual harassment says his client, Silvia Reyna, was brutally abused in the moments before being deported to Mexico Saturday morning.
“They took her out of her cell and once she was away from her cellmates they started to rough her up,” said Israel Ramirez, one of the lawyers in Reyna’s civil lawsuit against ICE contractor BI incorporated and two of its employees."
New COVID vaccine says it’s for the ‘senior class’ — does it reduce side effects?
Chronicle, CATHERINE HO: "You may have seen ads for a new, lower-dose Moderna COVID vaccine marketed to “the senior class” — adults 65 and older.
The new vaccine, which goes by mRNA-1283 or mNexspike, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May, so this is the first fall respiratory virus season that it’s available for. It is approved for adults 65 and older and people 12 to 64 with an underlying medical condition that puts them at higher risk for severe COVID. The new Moderna vaccine is 10 micrograms, one-fifth the dose of the old Moderna vaccine (mRNA-1273 or Spikevax), which is 50 micrograms. Both are mRNA vaccines that target the LP.8.1 variant."
What’s inside Trump’s $1.2 billion settlement demand letter to UCLA? It’s finally public
Chronicle, LYNN LA: "At a planned rally Monday at UCLA, the faculty associations of UCLA and the wider University of California are taking a victory lap and urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to join their fight against President Donald Trump’s demands for a $1.2 billion settlement with the renowned public university.
The federal administration’s 27-page settlement proposal was made public Friday after the UCLA Faculty Association and the Council of University of California Faculty Associations sued the public university to disclose the information under the California Public Records Act. The proposal outlines the administration’s vision for higher education that is free from efforts to promote diversity and transgender inclusion."
LA’s oceanfront power plant is a test of clean-energy ambitions in the new Trump era
CALMatters, ALEJANDRO LAZO: "The Scattergood Generating Station in Los Angeles is an oceanfront natural-gas-burning relic that sits on the uncertain brink of a clean-energy showdown.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners will decide whether to advance a plan to shift the plant to futuristic hydrogen-ready turbines. The $800-million-plus retrofit is an anchor in California’s effort to boost hydrogen, a potentially clean fuel that for now remains costly, water-intensive and rarely produced without oil and gas."
Above-normal temperatures return to Bay Area. Here’s how warm it will get
Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "Temperatures will soar into the 70s throughout the Bay Area on Tuesday, perhaps even at the beaches. The warmup is being triggered by a high-pressure system over California that is steering storms away and keeping the Golden State under sunny skies.
Wednesday is forecast to be the warmest day this week as highs reach the 70s along the coast and upper 70s to mid-80s inland and along the bay shoreline."
Amazon reportedly plans up to 30,000 layoffs in one of tech’s biggest job cuts ever
Chronicle, ROLAND LI: "Amazon is reportedly planning to lay off up to 30,000 workers this week, in potentially one of the biggest job cuts ever in the tech industry, according to Reuters.
The layoffs would account for over 8% of the tech giant’s 350,000 office workers, according to Reuters, though a smaller portion of its huge 1.5 million workforce including warehouse staff."
READ MORE -- Amazon cuts 14,000 corporate jobs as AI investment accelerates -- LAT, MICHELLE CHAPMAN
California fences Capitol ginkgo to protect people from horrible-smelling fruit
Sac Bee, ARIANE LANGE: "A ginkgo tree at the California state Capitol was fenced off this month because its putrid fruit was both a slip and a sniff hazard.
Incidentally, the berries — technically seeds with a casing — do contain toxins and should be handled only with gloves. However, Department of General Services officials said that staffers who work in Capitol Park were primarily concerned that people might step on fruit that fell to the ground, or that foragers might leave berry detritus because they were only after the seeds inside."
Major California home insurance company requests new rate increase
Chronicle, MEGAN FAN MUNCE: "USAA, the seventh largest home insurer in California, is seeking permission to raise rates on homeowners by an average of 7.3% starting next year.
If approved, USAA’s nearly 350,000 customers would see their rates change at their first renewal date following April 30, 2026, according to a filing with the California Department of Insurance."
This California town is battling the state's deepest housing conundrum
Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER/HARSHA DEVULAPALLI: "In California, 1 of every 5 new homes is built in an area prone to wildfire, according to a Chronicle analysis.
In Nevada County, it’s every home."
Struggling Santa Monica’s recovery plan: More cops downtown, luring back lost business
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN II: "It’s been a rough few years for Santa Monica.
Businesses have abandoned its once-thriving downtown. Its retail and office vacancy rates are among the highest in Los Angeles County. The crowds that previously packed the area surrounding the city’s famous pier have dwindled."
Developer, opponents of Placer County affordable housing complex file appeals
Sac Bee, ISHANI DESAI: "The developer of a controversial affordable housing project in Penryn — as well as opponents of the project — have taken their complaints to the Placer County Board of Supervisors.
Developer USA Properties Fund, which is trying to construct the Hope Way Apartments on an 11.43-acre lot, appealed on Friday the Placer County Planning Commission’s rejection of the proposed project. That same day, residents opposed to building the complex also filed an appeal seeking to reverse the commission’s approval of the project’s components."
L.A. County asks court to block release of thousands of sheriff’s deputy photos
LAT, CONNOR SHEETS: "Los Angeles County is attempting to block a journalist from obtaining the names and photographs of about 8,500 deputies and other sworn personnel employed by the Sheriff’s Department.
The legal dispute centers on a public records request filed in April 2023 by Cerise Castle, an independent journalist. Castle asked county officials to release the names and official headshots of all deputies not working undercover, then sued last summer after her request was denied, alleging a violation of California’s open records law."
Freddie Freeman is Dodgers’ World Series walk-off hero again in 18-inning marathon win
LAT, JACK HARRIS: "In the twilight hours of the early evening, before one of baseball’s most remarkable nights transformed from relatively normal to patently absurd, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts thought he knew where Game 3 of the World Series was heading.
“Ultimately,” he said during an in-game interview with the Fox television broadcast, “it’s gonna be a battle of the bullpens tonight.”"