California voters approve Prop. 50, redrawing congressional maps to favor Democrats
CALMatters, MAYA C. MILLER/JEANNE KUANG: "California voters on Tuesday passed a ballot measure to redraw the state’s congressional map to favor Democrats, a major victory for the party in a high-stakes national redistricting fight that could determine who controls the House of Representatives next year.
The Associated Press called the race shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m. Early returns showed the measure leading with nearly 65% of the vote."
READ MORE about Proposition 50 -- Voters approve Prop. 50, California redistricting, in a win for Democrats -- LAT, STAFF; Proposition 50 passed in California. Here’s what you missed -- CALMatters, JEANNE KUANG/MAYA C. MILLER;
Here’s just how big a victory Prop 50’s passage is for Newsom
Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Gov. Gavin Newsom raised so much money for his campaign to redraw California’s congressional districts that last Monday, more than a week before Election Day, he did something almost unheard of. He told his supporters to stop donating.
“We have hit our budget goals and raised what we need in order to pass Proposition 50,” he wrote in an email to supporters. “You can stop donating.”"
November 2025 Social Security: Who gets paid and when during government shutdown
Chronicle, JESSICA ROY: "The government shutdown is still going on. But Social Security recipients should still get their payments as scheduled for November.
Supplemental Security Income recipients won’t be getting a payment this month — but that’s not because of the government shutdown, and it won’t affect the total amount you receive this year. Chalk it up to a scheduling quirk."
Why a new California law could change the way all Americans browse the internet
CALMatters, COLIN LECHER: "The privacy changes web browsers will be required to make under a new California law could set the de facto standard for the entire country, changing how Americans control their data when using the internet, according to experts.
Assembly Bill 566, recently signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, requires companies that make web browsers to offer users an opt-out “signal” that automatically tells websites not to share or sell their personal information as they browse."
Spending on lobbying firms exceeded $91 million in Q3
Capitol Weekly, BRIAN JOSEPH: "Special interests, AKA “lobbyist employers” as the California Secretary of State calls them, paid lobbying firms more than $91 million to lobby state government in the third quarter of 2025, according to a Capitol Weekly analysis of lobbying firm reports.
As Capitol Weekly always notes in quarterly lobbying reports, that number doesn’t include all of the money spent on lobbying during the third quarter of the 2025-26 legislative cycle, as lobbying firm disclosure reports don’t include wages and expenses for in-house lobbyists."
L.A. County moves to ban ‘predatory solicitation’ amid questions about sex abuse lawsuits
LAT, REBECCA ELLIS: "L.A. County supervisors want to bar “predatory” salespeople who they say prey on vulnerable residents seeking benefits from the region’s social services offices.
The supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to explore creating a “buffer zone” outside county offices, prohibiting certain types of “aggressive” solicitation toward people seeking food stamps and cash aid. County lawyers have two months to figure out what such a zone would look like."
S.F. fines developer $1 million for illegal excavation tied to city’s permit corruption scandal
Chronicle, J.K. DINEEN: "A San Francisco Superior Court Judge has ordered developer Kevin O’Connor to pay the city more than $1 million for violating state and local laws by excavating under two Miraloma Park homes in a landslide zone without a permit and repeatedly lying about it to city officials, the latest in series of legal decisions related to a corruption scandal that has rocked the city’s building community for eight years.
In the decision Judge Garrett L. Wong found O’Connor violated city building and planning codes, as well as California’s Unfair Competition Law, and State Housing Law."
Building California’s future means investing in apprenticeships (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, DINA MORSI: "This summer, California overtook Japan to become the fourth largest economy in the world. Our state’s economic strength isn’t just about our size or market power in sectors ranging from technology to agriculture. It is also about the economic and physical infrastructure we’ve built to connect producers to markets, power emerging industries, and to invest in the development of a world class workforce.
Today, that work has never been more important."
Storm brings rain, strong winds to Bay Area. Here's the forecast
Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "Strong wind and heavy rain were anticipated across Northern California Wednesday as a powerful storm threatened the region.
After rain and winds battered the North Coast on Tuesday, the storm’s cold front moved through the Bay Area Wednesday morning. Notably, the coastal North Bay was warned for “damaging winds” gusting up to 65 mph in isolated areas, the weather service said. The warning will be in effect until 4 p.m. Wednesday, but the strongest winds were expected in the morning."
State agriculture dept. is hiding bird flu information, legal aid group alleges in lawsuit
LAT, SUSANNE RUST: "A rural legal aid group is suing the California Department of Food and Agriculture for refusing to disclose the locations of dairies infected with H5N1 bird flu.
More than half of the 70 confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu infection in the United States in the last year and a half have been in California dairy workers."
‘Emerging threat’: An invasive species is upending life in the Delta, with no help on the way
CALMatters, RACHEL BECKER: "Spurts of goo oozed between Jeff Wingfield’s fingers as he methodically crushed a handful of golden mussels, popping the shells of the tiny invaders like bubblewrap.
“You can just push your way right through them,” said Wingfield from the dock where he stood at the Port of Stockton, looking down at the thimble-sized debris in his palm."
Stuck in traffic? Google Maps has a smarter AI assistant for you
LAT, QUEENIE WONG: "Drivers navigating traffic on their morning commutes will be able to do much more than just find directions and the nearest gas station on Google Maps.
In the coming weeks, Google will add its artificial intelligence-powered assistant Gemini into Google Maps, making it possible for drivers to get answers to more complex questions while they’re on the road."
UPS plane crashes and explodes at a Kentucky airport, leaving at least 9 dead and others missing
LAT, BRUCE SCHREINER/HALLIE GOLDEN/DYLAN LOVAN: "First responders searched for more victims Wednesday after a UPS cargo plane crashed and exploded in a massive fireball while taking off from the company’s global aviation hub at the airport in Louisville, Kentucky, killing at least nine people and injuring 11, authorities said.
The plane crashed about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday as it was departing for Honolulu from UPS Worldport at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport."
Los Angeles man charged with pimping hundreds of women in Colorado, authorities say
LAT, SALVADOR HERNANDEZ: "A Los Angeles man is accused of trying to recruit hundreds of women and girls into a multi-state sex trafficking ring, according to prosecutors in Colorado.
Andrew Dominguez, 36, was charged with seven counts by a grand jury in Colorado, officials said, including one count of violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, two counts of attempted pimping, two counts of criminal impersonation, one count of extortion and another count of tampering with a victim or witness."
How a cat named KitKat became San Francisco’s latest symbol of anti-tech rage
Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "The crowd spilled from a convenience store entryway to the blacktop on busy 16th Street, encircling a shrine with cat pictures and wisps of baby’s breath.
Eight days had passed since the death of “KitKat,” a nine-year-old tabby struck and killed by a Waymo at this very site, in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District. Grief over the incident had transformed into palpable rage as mourners, and city leaders, shifted their focus to the self-driving vehicles."