California Democrats are climbing on board with Newsom’s redistricting push
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Attention, exasperated Democratic voters frustrated that your leaders aren’t fighting back hard enough against President Donald Trump’s excesses: Your leaders have a pulse. It’s been located in California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to tear up California’s voter-approved redistricting system to counter Texas’ efforts to redraw congressional maps further in favor of Republicans may be shamelessly political — but it’s exactly what Democratic voters have been craving since Donald Trump returned to the White House: Democratic leaders who will fight just as dirty as the other side."
READ MORE -- California Democrats may target GOP congressional districts to counter Texas -- LAT, SEEMA MEHTA
Trump's 'South Park' Problem
Politico, CALDER McHUGH: "They said last year they were done with Donald Trump. They didn’t know what more they could say about him.
But in the return to the airwaves of Comedy Central stalwart South Park — the first episode since March 2023 — the creators of the irreverent, long-running cartoon series just couldn’t resist."
The Trump administration is gutting EPA’s research arm. Can California bridge the gap?
LAT, HAYLEY SMITH: "In the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle the research arm of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a robust if little-known California agency known as the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment is poised to take on an even bigger role to bridge the gap.
The EPA this month announced that it was eliminating nearly 4,000 employees as part of a cost-saving “reduction in force,” the majority of which are staffers from its Office of Research and Development — whose research into environmental risks and hazards underpins nearly all EPA rules and regulations. The reduction will save the agency $748.8 million, officials said."
Elena Kagan knocks SCOTUS use of ‘shadow docket’ at California judicial conference
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Thursday criticized the court’s increasing use of its so-called “shadow docket” in a series of rulings, with little or no explanation, that have generally favored President Donald Trump.
“Courts are supposed to explain” their reasoning, Kagan told an audience of lawyers and judges on the final day of the 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals’ annual conference in Monterey."
Court blocks ammunition background checks in new blow to California’s gun control framework
CALMatters, NIGEL DUARA: "The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down California’s first-in-the-nation law requiring background checks for ammunition purchases, another blow to the state’s gun control framework that has been pared down, case by case, since the U.S. Supreme Court dramatically expanded gun rights in a monumental 2022 decision.
The California law that forced ammunition purchasers to pass a background check was passed by voters in 2016. Gov. Gavin Newsom, at the time the state’s lieutenant governor, championed the initiative and was its primary advocate."
Key player in California’s water wars embraces controversial pact
CALMatters, RACHEL BECKER: "After decades of deterioration and ecological collapse in the heart of California’s water system, state regulators today embraced the Newsom administration’s controversial plan to overhaul how farms and cities take water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and rivers that feed it.
It’s a major development in a long-running battle over how much water must flow through the Delta for the survival of iconic Chinook salmon, sturgeon and other species — and how much can be tapped for tens of millions of Californians and vast tracts of Central Valley farmland."
California’s NPR and PBS stations will cut staff and programs after funding slashed
CALMatters, MAYA C. MILLER/CAYLA MIHALOVICH: "Dozens of California public broadcasting stations will lose millions of dollars in funding after Republicans in Congress voted to strip them of federal funding, cutting off a vital lifeline in rural communities and limiting access to local news programming in an era of hyperpartisan national media.
While California broadcasters are assuring audiences that they plan to keep their signals running, they also warn that cost-saving changes are inevitable."
Mayor Lurie signs $15.9 billion budget. Here’s where the money is going (OP-ED)
The Chronicle, ALDO TOLEDO: "After a grueling months-long process, Daniel Lurie signed his first budget as San Francisco’s new mayor on Thursday: a $15.9 billion two-year fiscal plan that closes a nearly $800 million two-year deficit.
Lurie signed the bill at his office while flanked by members of the Board of Supervisors just two days after the body gave final approval to the budget in a 10-to-1 vote. Supervisor Jackie Fielder voted no in protest of the mayor’s cuts and homelessness policies."
‘We don’t deserve this.’ Women held in limbo at ICE’s downtown S.F. center awaiting bed space
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: "Three women who were detained by federal immigration officers at court Wednesday were held overnight inside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s downtown San Francisco field office and remained there Thursday afternoon because there were no available beds at migrant detention facilities, one of the women and her attorney told the Chronicle.
The 27-year-old Colombian woman from San Jose said in an interview she was held overnight in a cell on the sixth floor of 630 Sansome St., along with two other women who were also detained on Wednesday afternoon at the U.S. Department of Justice’s San Francisco Immigration Court. She described the room as a small space with a toilet, a bench, a thin mattress and a small window where she could see officers standing outside."
Planned Parenthood closes 5 Northern California clinics, citing Trump budget bill
The Chronicle, SARA DINTALATE: JOE GAROFOLI: "President Donald Trump’s budget cuts to Medicaid have forced Planned Parenthood Mar Monte to shutter five clinics across Northern California and the Central Coast, including one in South San Francisco, the group said Thursday.
The GOP-led federal spending bill that Trump signed into law earlier this month eliminated federal Medicaid funding for any type of medical care to organizations that perform abortions."
They are still discovering bodies in Altadena 6 months after fire. Are there other victims?
LAT, GRACE TOOHEH: "While Katherine Alcantara was evacuating from her smoke-filled west Altadena home during January’s firestorm, she remembered seeing her longtime neighbor returning home across the street.
In the chaos, she assumed he had come back to rescue his pets and grab some important belongings before heading to safety."
Access denied: L.A. County sheriff, watchdog clash over deputy killing investigations
LAT, CONNNOR SHEETS: "It was just past 12:30 a.m. on June 9 when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a burglary in progress at a home in Lynwood.
Upon arrival, according to the department’s incident summary, they saw Federico Rodriguez, 45, through a window, holding what appeared to be a pair of scissors."
Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan has died at the age of 71 in Florida, family confirms
Sacramento Bee, MADELEINE MARR/JIM VARSALLONE: "Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan has died at the age of 71 in Florida, TMZ first reported.
The outlet reports that first responders arrived at Hogan’s Clearwater home Thursday morning regarding a “cardiac arrest.”"
