Today, December 2, is Giving Tuesday - a day to support nonprofit organizations. Open California, the nonprofit organization that produces Capitol Weekly, The Roundup, The Capitol Weekly Podcast and many other nonpartisan projects is taking part in this year’s event, and we have received an incredible offer:
The Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations has graciously offered to MATCH all donations we receive today, up to $2,500! The value of your donation will be DOUBLED if received today!
We don't need to tell you how important independent, fact-based journalism is in this era… but we will say that the support of people like you is how we continue to produce The Roundup, and all of our other programs.
We hope you will take this opportunity to support informed, nonpartisan public policy journalism from Capitol Weekly and Open California. Thank you!
-------
Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "California lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom approved more than 900 new laws this year, including measures aimed at countering the influence of President Donald Trump, lowering drug costs and requiring landlords to maintain refrigerators and stoves in apartments.
Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "California’s requirement of background checks for buyers of firearms ammunition was revived Monday, at least for now, when a federal appeals court blocked an earlier ruling that the 2019 law was unconstitutional.
The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in July that the law, which the state’s voters approved in 2016, interferes with the Second Amendment right to bear arms by imposing a fee and a waiting period for the background checks. But the court announced Monday that a majority of its 26 judges had voted to set that ruling aside and order a new hearing before an 11-judge panel, led by Chief Judge Mary Murguia."
LAT, NOAH GOLDBERG: "MacArthur Park has come to symbolize some of Los Angeles’ most intractable issues.
Homeless people crowd the park and streets nearby. Drug dealers peddle fentanyl in public. Businesses struggle to stay afloat. The mayor and other city leaders have searched for answers."
Chronicle, ALYCE MCFADDEN/NANETTE ASIMOV: "Alan Wong, the child of immigrants, a military veteran and twice-elected member of the Board of Trustees for City College of San Francisco, was sworn in Monday to represent the Sunset District at City Hall.
Wong’s appointment turns the page on an embarrassing chapter for Mayor Daniel Lurie, whose first pick to fill the seat on the Board of Supervisors resigned after only a week in office."
LAT, DAKOTA SMITH/JACK FLEMMING: "Outraged Santa Barbara residents jumped into action when a developer unveiled plans last year for a towering apartment complex within sight of the historic Old Mission.
They complained to city officials, wrote letters and formed a nonprofit to try and block the project. Still, the developer’s plans went forward."
LAT, KEVIN BAXTER: "For organizers of the 2026 World Cup, Friday’s tournament draw is a like the bell lap of a long-distance race, the moment when the slow slog turns into a sprint.
“This is going to be huge,” said Kathryn Schloessman, president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission. “This
CW, ADAN ORTEGA: "California is unique in that our state policy recognizes the human right to water – a principle that every resident deserves safe, clean, affordable and accessible water. Yet affordability, the ability for families to pay their utility bills without sacrificing other basic needs like rent, food or medicine is increasingly strained. Increasing costs for infrastructure development, regulatory and environmental compliance and climate resilience have made essential services such as water, energy and wastewater more expensive than ever. In many communities, utility rates are increasing faster than inflation, leaving even middle-class California families struggling to keep up.
These rising operational costs inevitably trickle down to ratepayers, which disproportionately impacts those least able to pay. From small, rural regions to ow-income urban communities, those with the fewest resources are supported by some of the smallest water systems with limited resources."
CW, Chris Michelil: "Lobbyist, author and McGeorge law professor Chris Micheli offers a quick look at what’s coming up this week under the Capitol Dome."
Chronicle, GREG PORTER: "November ended on a record cold note in San Francisco. Sunday’s high reached only 50 degrees, the coldest high temperature ever recorded on the last day of the month and the first time since February 2023 that the city failed to climb above 50.
It’s been cold all over Northern California. Sacramento logged its coldest November day in nearly 40 years on Thanksgiving, topping out at just 48 degrees. And across the inland Bay Area, places like Concord, Napa and Vacaville spent the final week of the month running 8 to 12 degrees below normal."
LAT, JACK DOLAN/HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS/RICHARD WINTON: "Mandy Pifer, a therapist, was with a client in Los Angeles on Dec. 2, 2015, when she received a text about a mass shooting in San Bernardino. Her fiance, Shannon Johnson, was a restaurant inspector there.
She didn’t panic until, driving home, she heard on the radio that the victims were employees of the county’s health department. She grabbed her phone and dialed Shannon’s number over and over, but it kept going straight to voicemail. That’s when, she said, she knew, “in my bones,” he was gone."
CW, LIZ PEARLMAN: "A few weeks ago, 40,000 University of California workers went on strike across the state. All were members of AFSCME Local 3299, the people who clean patient rooms, prepare hospital meals, keep labs safe, move patients through care facilities, maintain campus infrastructure, and ensure students live and learn in functioning environments.
We did not take striking lightly. Most of us work in healthcare. We know what it means to show up in a crisis, to fill the gaps when systems buckle, and to put the needs of others ahead of our own. That’s exactly what we did during the COVID Pandemic, and every day since. But we are also at a breaking point."
Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "Stockton, where four people were killed over the weekend in a mass shooting at a child’s birthday party, consistently has one of the highest murder rates in California, the Chronicle found.
As of September 2025, Stockton had an annual murder rate of 13.3 per 100,000 residents, according to data from the Real-Time Crime Index, which aggregates crime data from different jurisdictions. That’s the second highest rate among cities in California with more than 100,000 people that also had recent data available."
Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "At 88 years old, the Bay Bridge needs a lot of repair and regenerative surgery: coats of paint on her peeling towers, new fenders at the base of each pier, cables turned inside out for inspection.
Maintenance costs are rising for the workhorse span and the region’s six other state-owned bridges. So transportation policymakers will ask motorists to dig in their pockets again."