Newsom calls for special election to counter Texas redistricting effort
Times of San Diego, STAFF: "Gov. Gavin Newsom stood with other prominent Democratic leaders Thursday to announce that the state will move forward with a partisan plan to redraw congressional maps in an effort to help his party win five more U.S. House seats in 2026.
Meanwhile, federal agents conducted an immigration enforcement operation just outside Japanese American National Museum, making at least one arrest as Newsom spoke."
Border Patrol chief crashes Newsom’s rollout of California redistricting campaign
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "As Gov. Gavin Newsom launched his California redistricting campaign Thursday at an event in Los Angeles, a U.S. Border Patrol sector chief showed up outside with a contingent of armed and masked agents.
Agents, some heavily armed and carrying zip ties, arrested “a few” people outside the event, Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said. Video posted online showed one man in handcuffs being led away."
READ MORE -- Feds gather outside Los Angeles museum during Newsom speech -- Times of San Diego, BROOKE BINKOWSKI
‘He lied to us’: S.F. Supervisor Joel Engardio facing uphill battle in recall election
The Chronicle, ALDO TOLEDO/KO LYN CHEANG: "On a recent foggy morning in the Outer Sunset, San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio started door-knocking on a desolate stretch of 45th Avenue.
Amid a fight to keep his seat on the Board of Supervisors, Engardio was putting his trust in the value of face-to-face conversations with voters."
The one thing Trump wants out of his meeting with Putin
Politico, ELI STOKOLS: "President Donald Trump, soon on his way to meet President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, has swung this week from optimism that the Russian leader is “going to make a deal” to suggesting it’s just a preliminary meeting.
And while White House officials have resisted setting red lines and have tried to temper expectations of a breakthrough, Trump has repeatedly made clear his marker of success: a second meeting."
READ MORE -- Alaskans greet Putin with Ukrainian flags, protest ‘war criminal hanging out here’ -- Politico, VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA
Bondi names DEA head as DC's 'emergency police commissioner,' but capital leaders push back
The Chronicle, ASHRAF KHALIL/ALANNA DURKIN RICHER: "The Trump administration, stepping up its crackdown on policing in the nation's capital, on Thursday named the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration to be Washington's “emergency police commissioner" with all the powers of the police chief — a significant move that increases national control over the city as part of the federal government's law-enforcement takeover.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a directive issued Thursday evening that DEA boss Terry Cole will assume “powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police.” The Metropolitan Police Department “must receive approval from Commissioner Cole” before issuing any orders, Bondi said. It was not immediately clear where the move left Pamela Smith, the city's current police chief, who works for the mayor."
READ MORE -- DC sues over Trump administration’s attempted takeover of city police -- Politico, NICOLE MARKUS
Inside the border command center tracking migrants with drones
LAT, STEVE FISHER: "Inside a windowless and dark shipping container turned into a high-tech surveillance command center, two analysts peered at their own set of six screens that showed data coming in from an MQ-9 Predator B drone.
Both were looking for two adults and a child who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and had fled when a Border Patrol agent approached in a truck."
READ MORE -- Home Depots across L.A. become battleground in new phase of ICE raids -- LAT, JENNY JARVIE; As Trump’s immigration raids swept CA, private-sector jobs numbers dropped sharply -- SacBee, WILLIAM MELHADO/DAVID LIGHTMAN/KATE WOLFFE
Putin’s ‘America Guru’ Changed His Mind About the US. Here’s What That Means for Ukraine.
Politico, TOBY T. GATI: "The man sitting closest to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska will be Yuri Ushakov, his top foreign policy adviser and ‘America guru.’ During the summit, he’ll be a largely silent presence, perhaps occasionally providing some information or clarification to his boss. After the summit, he will explain Putin’s objectives going forward to foreign leaders and the western media.
Ushakov spent 10 years in Washington serving as Russia’s ambassador to the United States and for much of that time, I’d have lunch with him every few months at his favorite Italian restaurant on P Street, near Dupont Circle. Of course, I wouldn’t actually know where we would meet until the last minute; we would agree in advance on the time but not the location. The morning of our lunch his assistant would call to tell me where to go. I always assumed Ushakov wanted to minimize the possibility of our table being bugged by either American or Russian security agents. All the same, he assumed that I would share information about our lunches with my former colleagues at the Department of State or the National Security Council. Which, of course, I did."
Millions of Californians could see higher health insurance premiums in 2026
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Health insurance premiums for Californians buying coverage through Covered California will rise by an average of 10.3% in 2026, the state marketplace announced Thursday. Officials warned that costs could climb even higher if Congress allows enhanced federal subsidies to expire at the end of next year.
The projected increase — up from a 7.9% hike in 2025 — is driven largely by rising medical and prescription drug costs."
Covered California health insurance will cost more in 2026. Here’s what’s behind the double-digit increase
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "Californians who get their health insurance through the state’s marketplace will see premiums increase by an average of 10.3% next year.
Covered California officials on Thursday announced the first double-digit rate increase since 2018, saying it represents a “confluence” of factors putting upward pressure on the market."
La Niña is brewing. Here’s what it means for California weather
The Chronicle, JACK LEE: "Forecasters expect La Niña conditions to develop this fall and winter, according to an update Thursday by the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center. The agency has issued a La Niña watch, indicating that conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean are favorable for the climate pattern’s formation in the coming months.
La Niña is defined by cooler than average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific along the equator. The ocean waters affect atmospheric activity, tilting the odds toward drier than normal conditions in Southern California and wetter than average conditions to the far north, especially in the winter."
Hundreds of Californians have been paid $10,000 to relocate to Oklahoma. Did they find paradise?"
LAT, HANNAH FRY: "Cynthia Rollins doesn’t hate California — far from it.
The sun-drenched shores of San Diego, the vibrant desert oasis of Palm Springs and the hustle of San Francisco all held special places in the California native’s life story.
The rise and fall of a once promising biofuelCapitol Weekly, KURT SCHUPARRA: "Late last year, the California Air Resources Board updated the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), which aims to reduce the carbon intensity (i.e., greenhouse gas emissions) from the diesel fuel and gasoline sold in the state. The Board’s decision created controversy regarding the additional costs consumers will pay at the pump, though just how much more is a matter of contentious debate.
Defending the LCFS update, which took effect on July 1, the Board recently downplayed the cost impact and maintained that the “LCFS has been very effective to date, reducing carbon in California’s fuel mix by almost 13% and displacing 75% of the diesel used in the state with cleaner alternatives.” In fact, the vast majority of the 13% carbon reduction came from petroleum diesel alternatives, especially from renewable diesel – and not from gasoline."
California invested millions pushing these careers for women. The results are disappointing
CALMatters, ADAM ECHELMAN: "Ten years ago, it seemed everyone was talking about women in science.
As the economy improved in the years after the Great Recession, women were slower to return to the workforce, causing alarm, especially in vital fields like computing. State and federal leaders turned their attention to women in science, technology, engineering and math, known by the acronym STEM.
