California schools brace for fallout from U.S. Supreme Court decision on religious rights
EdSource, THOMAS PEELE: "Two months after the U.S. Supreme Court granted public school parents the right to withdraw their children from materials and discussions on LGBTQ+ issues and other subjects that conflict with their “sincerely held religious beliefs,” conservative leaders in California are predicting schools will be swamped with opt-out demands.
That hasn’t happened yet, but attorneys agree that this latest escalation of the culture wars will likely cause turmoil, confusion, and years of litigation, largely because the court offered no guidance on how opt-out requests should be handled, how religious belief claims can or should be verified, and how schools should handle potential logistical issues."
Pickett Fire: Napa County declares emergency as crews safeguard homes
Chronicle, SUSIE NEILSON, ANTHONY EDWARDS, JULIE JOHNSON and DAVID HERNANDEZ: "Napa County officials declared a state of emergency Sunday as the stubborn Pickett Fire continued to burn in the rugged, forested hills east of Calistoga and crews fought to keep the blaze from reaching populated areas nearby.
The fire had churned across about 10 square miles in three days, with no structures lost, Cal Fire said. The fire measured at 6,803 acres. It was 11% contained."
Legal weed clashes with child care. Why a cannabis tax cut could spell trouble for children
LA Times, JENNY GOLD: "A fight over taxes consumers pay for cannabis products has prompted a standoff between unusual adversaries: child-care advocates and the legal weed industry.
On July 1, California’s cannabis excise tax increased from 15% to 19% as part of a political deal struck in 2022 to help stabilize the fledgling legal market. But the industry now says the increase is untenable as it faces a sharp decline in revenue and unfair competition from the growing illicit market.'
California’s cannabis packaging rules are failing. Kids are paying the price
SacBee, AMELIA WU: "When California legalized recreational cannabis in 2016, voters were promised a safe, regulated market that would prioritize child safety.
Nearly a decade later, a lack of clear state regulations and insufficient enforcement from the Department of Cannabis Control created a system that critics say is failing to protect the state’s most vulnerable."
Trump is a redistricting bully, not a wizard (OPINION)
LA Times, GEORGE SKELTON: " There are “Wizard of Oz” echoes in the retaliatory redistricting fight being waged by California Democrats against President Trump and Texas Republicans.
That’s mainly because of the script being followed by Republican opponents. But Democrats seem to be parroting some Oz lines, too."
UC marks red lines as it moves to negotiate with Trump administration over $1-billion fine
LA Times, JAWEED KALEEM: "Top UC leaders will attempt to negotiate a settlement with the federal government and have identified guardrails to protect the nation’s premier public university system after the Trump administration cut more than half a billion dollars in UCLA research grants and demanded a $1-billion fine to atone for antisemitism, according to high-placed UC officials.
The talks with the Justice Department are just beginning and so far involve 10 of the 24 UC regents, including chair Janet Reilly and UC President James B. Milliken. The group held its first publicly announced meeting last week after an emergency convening of all regents Aug. 11."
Unexpected release of audio file causes drama as Menendez brothers are denied parole
LA Times, SALVADOR HERNANDEZ and JAMES QUEALLY: "Access to the parole hearings this week for brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez was tightly controlled by state prison officials, but despite the efforts to limit outside interference and drama, the unexpected release of an audio recording nearly derailed Friday’s proceeding.
The disclosure of an audio recording of Erik’s parole hearing, held Thursday, tossed his older brother Lyle’s hearing into disarray the following evening."
The Supreme Court could give immigration agents broad power to stop and question Latinos
LA Times, DAVID G. SAVAGE: "This year’s most far-reaching immigration case is likely to decide if immigration agents in Los Angeles are free to stop, question and arrest Latinos they suspect are here illegally.
President Trump promised the “largest mass deportation operation” in American history, and he chose to begin aggressive street sweeps in Los Angeles in early June."
How a Historic Immigration Drop Is Changing the Job Market
Wall Street Journal, PAUL KIERNAN: "Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. labor market has entered “a curious kind of balance.” The demand for workers has cooled, yet the unemployment rate has held steady because the supply of labor has slowed abruptly.
Behind that slowing in the labor supply is a dramatic swing in immigration, from one of the biggest waves in U.S. history to almost none. Economists say that could have subtle but lasting consequences."
Hemp grower accuses Sutter County of changing maps to benefit private ranch
SacBee, JAKE GOODRICK: "For months Sutter County supervisors swung back and forth — as reflected by their changing votes — on the county’s industrial hemp regulations before continuing the farm program with expanded maps that blocked out large swaths of land where hemp farming would be prohibited.
But between the map’s approval and growers planting their crop, the areas allowing and banning hemp have changed."
Mysterious ‘ghost ship’ lurks off California coast. What happened to missing captain?
LA Times, SALVADOR HERNANDEZ: "Joel Kawahara’s fishing boat, the Karolee, traveled down the coast from Washington toward California waters, keeping a steady course that offered no hint that something had gone terribly wrong.
But when Coast Guard crews boarded the boat this month in Northern California, officials found no one on board. Its captain was nowhere to be seen. Somewhere along the roughly 400-mile journey, the 70-year-old Kawahara was lost."
California’s lightning-fast push for partisan redistricting reflects Trump’s new America
LA Times, KEVIN RECTOR, DAVID G. SAVAGE, MELODY GUTIERREZ and LAURA J. NELSON: "In an evening social media post about a supremely partisan battle that could reshape American political power for generations, President Trump sounded ebullient.
“Big WIN for the Great State of Texas!!! Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself,” Trump wrote, of the nation’s most populous red state pushing a mid-decade redistricting plan designed to win more Republican seats in Congress and protect Trump’s power through the 2026 midterms."
How California bluffed its way into a redistricting war with Trump
Politico, MELANIE MASON, JEREMY B. WHITE, SHIA KAPOS, DUSTIN GARDNER AND AARON PELISH: "When word got out that Texas might undertake an extraordinary mid-decade redistricting at Donald Trump’s behest, a handful of top California Democratic operatives floated an idea to Rep. Zoe Lofgren: Could California respond in kind?
Lofgren, the chair of California’s 43-member Democratic delegation, consulted in June with a trusted data expert who dismissed it as absurd — a foolhardy end-run around the state’s popular redistricting panel with no guarantee of yielding enough blue seats to fully offset Texas. Deterred by those misgivings, California Democrats instead spent weeks putting up a front, dangling the threat of a countermove without making any real plans to do so."
Permits were expedited for this California clean energy project. Were residents sidelined?
LA Times, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "The fallowed farmland — too dry, salty and barren to grow crops — stretches across a remote, sunbaked expanse crisscrossed by rutted dirt roads.
Soon, roughly 15 square miles of these retired agricultural fields in western Fresno County will hold one of the world’s largest solar and battery energy storage projects — a behemoth capable of powering some 850,000 homes for four hours."
Burning Man dust storm flips tents, installations — forecasters warn of flood danger
Chronicle, SUSIE NEILSON and ANTHONY EDWARDS: "A fierce dust storm hit the Black Rock Desert on the eve of its annual Burning Man festival, causing at least four minor injuries and damaging campsites that had been set up early.
Winds of up to 50 mph stirred up the lake bed’s alkaline dust so ferociously that participants in the annual art and culture festival reported not being able to see beyond a foot. Still, gates to the festival had opened by Sunday morning, with organizers cautioning new arrivals to “drive safely!”
Three bills would protect California workers from AI management, but will costs stand in the way?
CalMatters, KHARI JOHNSON: "Committees in both houses of the California Legislature will decide this week whether more than half a dozen bills that seek to protect people from AI will move on to final votes.
One closely watched bill before the Assembly appropriations committee, Senate Bill 7, would require employers to give workers 30 days notice before they use AI to make decisions related to employment such as compensation, hiring, firing, or promotions. It would also give workers the right to appeal decisions made by AI and prevent employers from making predictions about a worker related to their immigration status, ancestral history, health, or psychological state."
How the Sacramento Ukrainian community celebrated Independence Day
SacBee, JENNAH PENDLETON: "Three and a half years since Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, the Sacramento community of Ukrainian immigrants and refugees gathered Sunday to celebrate their country’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Ukrainian community in Sacramento is a large one — more than 20,000 Ukrainians lived in Sacramento as of 2022, a number that has only grown since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 as hundreds of thousands of people have sought refuge in the United States. The Ukrainian refugee population is concentrated on the West Coast and Sacramento holds the highest per-capita and third-largest total Ukrainian population."
Poll: Nearly half of voters support Gavin Newsom’s redistricting counterpunch
SacBee, NICOLE NIXON: "Gov. Gavin Newsom began with a head start in his quest to convince California voters to join him in hitting back at Texas Republicans in a gerrymandering war: a new poll shows 48% of voters support it, compared to 32% who said they’ll vote against it.
“The results suggest that the redistricting initiative starts out with relatively strong support. Even so, with 20% of registered voters undecided, there is considerable uncertainty about what will happen in November,” said IGS co-Director Eric Shickler. “This will be an intense campaign with both sides spending tens of millions to try to move those undecided voters.”
California joins effort to cut chronic absenteeism in half by 2030
EdSource, MALLIKA SESHADRI and BETTY MARQUEZ ROSALES: "After years of working to restore students’ attendance rates in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced that California is on track to cut chronic absenteeism by half in the next five years.
To help districts meet that goal, the state Department of Education has issued a California Attendance Guide. The effort comes as part of a partnership with Attendance Works and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence."
San Diego Zoo mourns deaths of three beloved animals in less than a week
LA Times, RUBEN VIVES: "It has been a challenging time for the San Diego Zoo, where three beloved animals — a polar bear, giraffe and gorilla — died within days of each other.
The latest death occurred Monday, when Maka, a 30-year-old Western lowland gorilla, suffered a cardiac event, according to zoo officials.
His sudden death came four days after Kalluk, a 24-year-old male polar bear; and Nicky, a 28-year-old Masai giraffe, were euthanized on the same day to minimize suffering as they neared the end of their lives."
