An influential anti-abortion lawyer is targeting a Bay Area doctor — and California’s shield laws
Chronicle, RAHEEM HOSSEINI: "It’s a Texas-to-California abortion case with a Bay Area doctor in the middle and a Gordian knot of a legal question: What happens when states with opposing laws collide in federal court?
Jerry Rodriguez, 58, of Galveston County, Texas, alleges that Dr. Remy Coeytaux, 61, of Sonoma County prescribed Rodriguez’s girlfriend abortion medication in violation of Texas’ anti-abortion laws and a 19th century anti-obscenity statute, leading to two self-administered abortions in September 2024 and January of this year."
Newsom takes a ‘situational’ line with tech as Silicon Valley cozies up to Trump
CALMatters, JEANNE KUANG: "Despite watching one after another of his state’s tech titans head to the White House to seek President Donald Trump’s favor, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he doesn’t begrudge the industry’s rightward swing — mostly.
“It’s very situational with a lot of these guys,” he said when asked about tech businessmen going to “the other side.” “They are and they aren’t … I don’t see it as as big a shift as perhaps others do.”"
Economic woes drive precipitous drop in support for Trump
LAT, MICHAEL WILNER: "Weeks after suffering bruising election losses across the country, and facing an unusually tight special congressional race in ruby red Tennessee, President Trump told reporters Tuesday that a “fake” national narrative has taken hold of an economy in trouble.
Americans are employed and consuming more than ever, he said. Foreign tariffs and investments are bringing in trillions of dollars. “The word ‘affordability,’” Trump added, “is a Democrat scam.”"
READ MORE -- Trump tariffs, immigration policy drag down California economy -- SacBee, DAVID LIGHTMAN
Schiff launches Senate bid to block Trump from attacking Venezuela
SacBee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "If the United States launches military action against Venezuela, a group of senators is ready to act quickly to try to block the use of American military force there.
“We share the concerns of the American people who have made it abundantly clear that they don’t want more forever wars — especially ones decided in secret that will drive displacement and migration in our hemisphere,” said Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., in a joint statement."
Why one tribe has declared the Colorado River a legal person
LAT, IAN JAMES: "As I’ve followed the long-running negotiations over the Colorado River the last couple of years, very little progress has been made in transforming the century-old system of managing the river’s dwindling water. The Colorado’s giant reservoirs have dropped because of heavy water use and a quarter-century of drought, worsened by climate change, yet seven Western states have remained deadlocked on how to take less water and live within the river’s limits.
In the last month, though, leaders of a tribal nation on the California-Arizona border offered a concept that might help transform the discussions — or at least ensure that the health of the river itself isn’t completely ignored."
The constitutional path to online safety (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, CHARLIE TRIANA: "In September, Governor Newsom signed into law a bill that represents the single best opportunity we’ve had to make the online experience safer for kids online. On January 1, 2027, operating system providers will be required to provide an age signal to developers so they can provide an age-appropriate experience for young people, who we know deserve a safer experience online.
However, two recent federal lawsuits challenging a similar law in Texas show that Big Tech doesn’t want to do its part to protect our kids. Far from being unconstitutional, Texas’s new law has charted the most privacy-protective and constitutionally sound approach to youth online safety that exists today."
International travel. Fancy meals. Missing receipts. Who paid the tab for this top official?
LAT, PAIGE ST. JOHN: "Ricardo Lara’s transition from influence-brokering state legislator to autonomous insurance regulator was rocky.
Almost immediately upon assuming office in 2019, the California insurance commissioner was discovered soliciting money from those he regulated, even allowing his campaign fundraiser to set his office calendar."
The L.A. wildfires exposed a broken insurance market. Why wasn’t it fixed?
LAT, PAIGE ST. JOHN: "California’s property insurance market was unraveling fast in mid-2023 when the state’s insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, landed in Bermuda for four days of elbow-rubbing with industry figures.
The state’s largest carriers were dumping customers by the tens of thousands and refusing to write new policies across large swaths of the state. Insurers cited inflation, soaring reinsurance costs and inadequate rate hikes, with one national insurer threatening to leave California altogether if Lara didn’t make things right."
California CEO accused of $7M health care fraud arrested at SFO while trying to fly to Nigeria
Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Federal prosecutors say a California health care executive, accused of a sweeping fraud that allegedly drained more than $7 million from a program meant to support aging veterans, was arrested at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday just as he tried to board a flight to Nigeria.
Cashmir Chinedu Luke, believed to be 66 and living in Antioch, now faces a criminal complaint alleging he billed the Department of Veterans Affairs for thousands of home care services that never happened."
California students with disabilities face ‘terrifying’ special ed cuts after Trump changes
CALMatters, CAROLYN JONES: "Sleep is a rare commodity at Lindsay Crain’s house. Most nights, she and her husband are up dozens of times, tending to their daughter’s seizures. The 16-year-old flails her arms, thrashes and kicks — sometimes for hours.
But these days, that’s not the only thing keeping Crain awake. The Culver City mother worries about how President Donald Trump’s myriad budget cuts could strip their daughter of services she needs to go to school, live at home and enjoy a degree of independence that would have been impossible a generation ago."
Who’s to blame for CA school issues? State bureaucracy, governor candidates say
SacBee, JENNAH PENDLETON: "As California students continue to lag behind pre-pandemic achievement levels, candidates vying to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom say that state bureaucracy is to blame for a lackluster education system in one of the most powerful economies in the world.
Teachers and elected officials agree: Education is being underfunded. Organizations such as the California Teachers Association and the California School Boards Association have each criticized Newsom and his administration for seeking to undermine Proposition 98, which guarantees a minimum funding level for K-14 education each year."
Highlands charter leaders make the case for keeping school open
EdSource, DIANA LAMBERT: "Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools moved one step closer to revocation or redemption this week after its authorizer, the Twin Rivers Unified School District, held a hearing on its possible closure.
Since the charter school opened in 2014 to help adult students earn a diploma, improve English language skills, or learn a trade, it has been the subject of scrutiny. A recent state audit found that the school had received more than $180 million in K-12 funds it was not eligible to collect."
Atmospheric rivers could bring 10 straight days of rain to these West Coast cities
Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "Ten consecutive days of rain in Seattle. Twenty inches of rain in the Cascade Mountains.
Those are just two highlights of the stormy forecast for the Pacific Northwest, where a parade of atmospheric rivers are predicted throughout the next week."
Lawsuits challenge Trump administration’s radical homeless policy changes
CALMatters, MARISA KENDALL: "California is fighting back after President Donald Trump’s administration instigated homeless housing cuts that local service providers said would be “devastating.”
Two recently filed lawsuits accuse the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development of illegally going over Congress’ head to make massive changes to the way federal homelessness funds are distributed."
Expected loss of federal funds could push thousands of L.A. County households into homelessness
LAT, ANDREW KHOURI: "Local officials are warning that more than 14,500 L.A. County formerly homeless households in subsidized, permanent housing could be forced back onto the streets or into shelters over the next year, mostly because of a loss of federal funding.
The predicted displacement would wipe away the slight reduction in the local homeless population since 2023 and is setting off a scramble by nonprofits and local government officials to try to blunt the potential effects."
Families identify all four victims who died in Stockton mass shooting
Chronicle, ANNA BAUMAN: "As investigators continue searching for the suspect or suspects who opened fire at a 2-year-old’s birthday party Saturday in Stockton, more families have identified loved ones who died in the gunfire.
Journey Rose Reotutar Guerrero, an 8-year-old girl who attended Commodore Stockton Skills School, was among four people who were fatally shot, according to a verified GoFundMe page. The third-grader had many friends at school, and came home every day “excited to tell her family about what she learned,” the fundraiser said."
READ MORE -- What’s next for Stockton after the mass shooting? It is trying to figure that out -- SacBee, GRAHAM WOMACK
Mayor Lurie taps department veteran Derrick Lew as S.F.’s new police chief
Chronicle, MICHAEL BARBA: "Mayor Daniel Lurie on Wednesday picked Derrick Lew, a longtime San Francisco police investigator who climbed the ranks to lead the city's crackdown on downtown drug dealing, as his next police chief.
Lew will begin his tenure as chief at a time when the San Francisco Police Department is emboldened by support from the public and City Hall to try new strategies for responding to the city’s thorniest challenges. Although it struggles to fill its dwindling ranks, it has recently embraced new surveillance technologies, including drones, to fight crime."
UC Berkeley animal rights activist to serve jail time after ‘chicken rescue’ conviction
Chronicle, JULIE JOHNSON: "A Sonoma County judge ordered an animal rights activist to jail for a case involving four chickens she claimed needed rescue from a Petaluma poultry processor — the culmination of a two-year court battle between a controversial animal liberation movement and one of the Bay Area’s core agricultural regions.
Zoe Rosenberg, 23, a recent UC Berkeley student and high-profile representative of Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, a Berkeley-based group seeking “total animal liberation,” must report to the Sonoma County Jail on Dec. 10. She will serve the 90 days, but 60 of those may involve jail alternates. Rosenberg will also have 2 years of probation, and is ordered to stay away from Petaluma Poultry and all Purdue facilities in Sonoma County."
Sacramento council OKs plan for better pedestrian safety — will it get funded?
SacBee, ARIANE LANGE: "Sacramento’s City Council voted to approve the Streets for People plan, a policy document that builds on existing goals to create safer roadways, particularly for those outside cars.
The plan proposed 567 miles of new or improved sidewalks throughout the city, as well as 417 miles of new or upgraded bike paths."