Facing self-imposed budget cuts, Republicans in Congress mull the future of Medicaid
LAT, FAITH E. PINHO: "Congress is forging ahead with its budget for next year, but the most controversial program on the chopping block — Medicaid — is causing a rift within the Republican Party.
Earlier this year, Congress passed a budget blueprint that contains billions of dollars in cuts to federal spending, which House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) promised did not touch Medicaid. But as lawmakers hammer out the details of the spending plan, changes to the popular government-funded healthcare program are looming."
Despite political promises, Californians are stressed about their finances
LAT, SANDRA MCDONALD: "After voters in November sent a clear message that the rising cost of living remained a top concern, California lawmakers came to the Capitol vowing to take decisive action.
“Our task this session is urgent and clear,” Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) told lawmakers at the start of the 2024-2025 legislative session in early December. “We must chart a new path forward. And it begins by focusing on affordability.”"
Plan to use Travis base as immigrant detention center criticized by California Dems
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Two Bay Area Democratic House members blasted U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for plans to use Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield as an immigrant detention center, calling it “a dangerous militarization of immigration enforcement” that will “unnecessarily degrade military readiness,” according to a letter to Hegseth obtained by The Chronicle.
Homeland Security and Defense Department officials discussed efforts to evaluate military installations for potential immigration detention and removal operations in early April, including at the Solano County base, KQED first reported last week. Trump has pledged to deport one million immigrants this year. Through March, the Pentagon has spent $376 million this year on border operations involving immigration."
Gavin Newsom says his latest lawsuit against Trump would ‘help Elon.’ Here’s why
Sac Bee, NICOLE NIXON: "With his latest lawsuit against President Donald Trump, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to help out another political opponent: Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta joined 16 other states Wednesday to challenge an executive order Trump signed on his first day back in the White House. The order directs the Federal Highway Administration to pull back billions of dollars to build electric vehicle charging stations around the country."
U.S. and U.K. expected to announce a trade deal that Trump says will cement their relationship
LAT, ZEKE MILLER/JILL LAWLESS: "The United States and Britain are expected to announce a trade deal on Thursday that will lower the burden of President Trump’s sweeping tariffs and deliver a political victory for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that a deal due to be announced at 7 a.m. Pacific will be a “full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come.”"
Amid climate change and Trump, CA lawmakers want better labor law enforcement
Sac Bee, WILLIAM MELHADO: "For nearly two decades, Laurie Wallace has worked at the Phillips 66 oil refinery in the Los Angeles area, where she has gained extensive experience monitoring the safety of a very dangerous workplace.
“I have one tank that has a five-mile blast radius,” Wallace said outside the Capitol Tuesday."
Pumping the brakes on CARB’s disinformation (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, CHRIS VENTURA: "As multiple media outlets have reported, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is getting into the ring to defend the electric vehicle mandates they have foisted upon California’s families and businesses. It all began with a five-page memo, ironically subtitled, Misinformation vs. Facts.
Unfortunately, CARB’s staunch defense of anti-consumer regulations is a master class in disinformation – purposefully designed to deceive Californians."
Meet the L.A. holistic doctor and wellness influencer who is Trump’s choice for surgeon general
LAT, JENNY JARVIE: "President Trump’s choice of Dr. Casey Means, a Los Angeles holistic medicine doctor and wellness influencer, as his nominee for surgeon general appears to mark another attempt to defy establishment medicine and longstanding federal policy.
Trump portrayed Means — a 37-year-old Stanford medical school graduate and author who describes herself on LinkedIn as a “former surgeon turned metabolic health evangelist” — in his announcement as fully in sync with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s mission to “Make America Healthy Again.”"
Federal judge orders Trump administration to unblock pandemic relief funding
EdSource, EMMA GALLEGOS: "A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Tuesday to undo its freeze of remaining pandemic relief funds, according to the Associated Press.
The Biden administration had granted extensions for expiring pandemic funds, but U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter on March 28, announcing that the department was rescinding that extension immediately."
Head Start gets a reprieve from Trump budget cuts, but the fight isn’t over
CALMatters, CAROLYN JONES: "Chalk one up for the 4-year-olds.
Thanks to a relentless onslaught of pleading, cajoling, lobbying and public pressure, Head Start appears to have dodged the federal budget axe — for the time being."
California promised to boost mental health in schools. Why one key program is behind schedule
CALMatters, ANA B. IBARRA: "California made a huge one-time investment in youth mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic as rates of depression, anxiety and eating disorders surged among children and teens. One piece of the state’s plan included a way to keep money flowing for schools that wanted to expand mental health services for students.
It involved allowing K-12 schools and colleges to charge Medi-Cal and private health insurance for behavioral health care provided on campus, a change that would allow them to provide more services and hire additional mental health staff."
Can a final push save San Francisco State’s marine research campus on the bay?
EdSource, AMY DIPIERRO: "To the untrained eye, the eelgrass in San Francisco Bay is unremarkable, a slimy marine plant easily mistaken for seaweed. But to the ecologist, it is essential: a natural carbon storage system, a hedge against climate change, and a protector of shorelines threatened by rising seas.
That’s why Katharyn Boyer, a biology professor who leads San Francisco State University’s estuary and ocean science center in Marin County, has spent much of her career studying how to restore and maintain the bay’s underwater meadows of ribbon-like eelgrass. It’s an effort growing more urgent as climate change nudges sea levels ever higher."
Fog, sun and big swings: Bay Area temperatures could span 30 degrees on Thursday
The Chronicle, GREG PORTER: "Thursday will showcase the Bay Area’s classic spring contrasts, with morning fog and coastal chill giving way to sunshine and rising temperatures inland.
Highs will range from the upper 50s at the coast to the mid-80s in parts of the East Bay and North Bay, where inland valleys warm up under mostly clear skies. That kind of 30-degree swing across the region isn’t unusual this time of year, but it’ll feel more pronounced Thursday as a shallow marine layer begins to erode and sunshine returns."
Coliseum officially set to make history co-hosting 2028 Olympic opening ceremony
LAT, THUC NHI NGUYEN: "During the near decade since L.A. was awarded the 2028 Olympics, new venues have arrived, proposed venues have fallen through and sports have shuffled, but the centerpiece of the ever-evolving plan has always been clear.
The Coliseum."
This California supermarket staple is expected to get cheaper under Trump tariffs
The Chronicle, MALIYA ELLIS: "President Donald Trump’s tariff war is expected to make the price of a host of goods go up.
But almonds — California’s most valuable agricultural export — may get a bit cheaper."
The nation’s largest cities are sinking, including San Francisco
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "The nation’s largest cities, including San Francisco, are sinking, according to a new study that calls the downward spiraling a “widespread” and “slow-moving hazard,” threatening thousands of buildings and millions of people.
The 28 cities studied, each with populations of 600,000 or more, averaged just a few millimeters of vertical movement annually. Still, this small amount of sinking adds up over time. In parts of some cities, the movement is as much as two inches a year."
Trump proposes cut to federal rental assistance. California would be hit hard
LAT, ANDREW KHOURI: "The Trump administration wants to sharply reduce funding for federal rental assistance that helps hundreds of thousands of California households afford a home.
The plan, part of the president’s 2026 budget proposal, calls for a 43% reduction in funding available for a variety of programs it labels “dysfunctional,” including public housing and the voucher program commonly known as Section 8."
The Fed held the line on interest rates. What does that mean for Californians?
Sac Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Californians shouldn’t expect much change anytime soon in interest rates for homes or cars.
The Federal Reserve left its key rates unchanged Wednesday amid all the uncertainty over the path of the American economy. Its target rate will remain between 4.25% and 4.5%. It’s the rate banks assess to lend money to each other overnight and has a major influence on consumer interest."
Who will S.F. Mayor Daniel Lurie find to replace Police Chief Bill Scott?
The Chronicle, MICHAEL BARBA: "San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott announced his departure Wednesday, confirming long-standing rumors about his future. Now one question rises to the forefront: Who will succeed him?
That decision will ultimately fall to Mayor Daniel Lurie, who must choose the next chief from a list of three finalists selected by the San Francisco Police Commission. If he’s unhappy with the roster, the mayor can tell the commission to bring him a new set of names."
