Trump says he’s considering ways to serve a third term as president
LAT, CHRIS MEGERIAN: "President Trump said Sunday that “I’m not joking” about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends in early 2029.
“There are methods which you could do it,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago, his private club."
California vs. Trump: What it’s like to be the attorneys on the front lines
LAT, KEVIN RECTOR: "Michael Newman, head of the civil rights enforcement section in California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office, was exhausted.
Newman and his legal team had just worked all weekend, straight through that Monday and overnight into Tuesday on a growing pile of legal challenges to the Trump administration, and were overdue for some sleep."
This California law was supposed to stop gasoline price gouging. Has it?
Sac Bee, NICOLE NIXON: "Two years after California’s Democratic leaders declared victory over big oil with a law aiming to crack down on industry profits, the state has been unable to prove companies engage in price gouging when the cost of gasoline spikes in California.
Since late 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom has accused the oil industry of ripping off California drivers, pointing to an extreme price spike in the state compared to the rest of the country – while companies reported record profits."
The Micheli Minute for March 31, 2025
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "Lobbyist and author Chris Micheli offers a quick look at what’s coming up this week in Sacramento."
Increasing health care costs is the last thing lawmakers should pursue (OP-ED)
Capitol Weeklyt, MARCUS GOMEZ: "At the start of California’s 2025 legislative session, lawmakers in Sacramento emphasized that making the state a more affordable place to live would be a top priority. One of the most impactful ways our representatives can address the cost of living is to crack down on sky-high prescription drug prices.
Unfortunately, even at a time when many Californians are struggling to pick up the pieces from the devastating wildfires in Southern California, some politicians in Sacramento are pushing the same Big Pharma-backed proposals that threaten affordable healthcare options for patients across the state."
California-Mexico border, once overwhelmed, now nearly empty
LAT, ANDREA CASTILLO: "When the humanitarian aid workers decided to dismantle their elaborate tented setup — erected right up against the border wall — they hadn’t seen migrants for a month.
A year earlier, when historic numbers of migrants were arriving at the border, the American Friends Service Committee, a national Quaker-founded human rights organization, came to their aid. Eventually the group received enough donations to erect three canopies, where it stored food, clothing and medical supplies."
How could potential cuts and changes in Medi-Cal affect Californians?
Sac Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Over the next two weeks, Congress will again consider massive spending cuts, cuts that could dramatically affect the 15 million Californians who rely on Medi-Cal.
President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled House and Senate are trying to craft a budget blueprint that will shrink the size of government while extending massive tax cuts that are due to expire this year."
Will Trump kill programs that help drug users? L.A. harm reduction groups await fate
LAT, MALIA MENDEZ: "Samson Tafolo’s final count read 119.
For 45 minutes, he had tugged a wagon packed with mini water bottles, hemp cigarettes and miscellaneous hygiene products around Skid Row, handing out the supplies and keeping a tally of everyone he served on his usual route."
California teachers recall long road back from Covid
EdSource, DIANA LAMBERT: "The last five years have not been easy for students or their teachers.
During Covid school closures, teachers, accustomed to using overhead projectors and pencil and paper in classrooms, had to learn to use new technology so their students could learn from home."
Northern California weather: Big forecast shift as midweek storm disappears
The Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "The potential for a large midweek storm has vanished from the Bay Area forecast. But just as the midweek storm has trended much drier, Monday and Tuesday now look much more active, with rain, wind, thunderstorms and several feet of mountain snow across Northern California.
Here’s what to expect this week."
First layers of soil to be laid on 101 Freeway wildlife crossing, the world’s largest
LAT, SEEMA MEHTA: "The wildlife crossing designed to help mountain lions, deer, bobcats and other creatures safely travel over the 101 Freeway between the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains will reach a major milestone on Monday, as workers lay the first layers of soil on the overpass.
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing spans the 10-lane freeway in Agoura Hills and will become the largest such crossing in the world. It is designed to help animals avoid being killed while roaming in urban habitats. Although it is too late to help Los Angeles’ beloved mountain lion P-22 expand his territory, the passage will allow mountain lions and other wildlife to range farther for food and mates."
Marin beach covered with thick carpet of peculiar creatures
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "Heavy rains left behind a thick carpet of jellyfish-like creatures at Bolinas Beach in Marin County on Sunday.
Approaching the beach with his two dogs around 8 a.m. Sunday, Del Dickson said he initially thought the sand was covered in a dark layer of gravel. Closer inspection revealed that “thousands and thousands” of floating hydrozoans known as “by-the-wind sailors” — scientific name Velella velella — had washed ashore overnight."
Silver Fire near popular Sierra town forces evacuations, threatens ‘critical infrastructure’
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC/KATE GALBRAITH: "A fast-growing wildfire forced evacuations Sunday afternoon near Bishop (Inyo County), an Eastern Sierra city that is a popular springboard for High Sierra hikers and skiers.
The Silver Fire, which sparked shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday, was measured at 1,250 acres early Monday morning. The blaze forced evacuations in desert communities in Inyo and Mono counties Sunday as it spread rapidly toward the north and east."
Military review of fitness standards will find array of tests, but higher requirements for combat
LAT, LOLITA C. BALDOR: "The Defense secretary’s decision to review military standards on combat and physical fitness and appearance opens a Pandora’s box of widely differing rules among the services. And it will raise a crucial question:
Should there be a cookie-cutter approach, or should service differences, evolving social norms and recruiting realities play a role in policy decisions?"
Rush hour is over in the Bay Area. Welcome to the era of permanent traffic
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "David Lovato remembers, in painfully stark detail, the night he hit his misery point with Bay Area traffic.
It was 7:30 p.m. on a Wednesday last October, well after what would traditionally be called “rush hour.” Lovato caught a shuttle bus from his company in Mountain View, thinking he would zip up Highway 101 to San Francisco."
Meet the only sheriff vowing to defy California’s sanctuary law
The Chronicle, CONNOR LETOURNEAU: "Sheriff Gary Redman guided his gray Ford Expedition down Highway 49, past the oak-studded foothills and 19th century barns of Northern California’s Gold Country.
“I love this place,” he said. “I’d do anything to protect my county. If I have to break state law to do it, that’s what I’ll do.”"
See MAGA and anti-Tesla protesters face off for first time at Rocklin dealership
Sac Bee, NATHANIEL LEVINE: "Dueling protests filled both sides of Granite Drive in front of the Tesla dealership in Rocklin for the first time Saturday, as supporters of President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk mounted a counteroffensive to the weekly protests against the electric car brand that started in February.
The MAGA crowd, numbering around a hundred at its peak, had staked out the prime real estate on the dealership side of the four-lane road, which members of the group credited to their early arrival. A caravan of vehicles sporting Trump, DOGE and American flags passed by repeatedly."
Reports of San Francisco’s most notorious nuisance crime are at a 22-year low
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "In fall 2023, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott, standing at the landmark Palace of Fine Arts, announced that his agency would be cracking down on smash-and-grab car break-ins — a problem so seemingly perpetual in the city that it has its own name.
How perpetual? Minutes before the news conference began, a rental car was “bipped” just around the corner from where the city officials were set to speak."
