What we know about Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office order for California state workers
Sac Bee, WILLIAM MELHADO: "Gov. Gavin Newsom surprised state employees and unions this week by announcing public employees are expected to return to offices four days a week starting July.
The announcement was met with frustration and disappointment from employees who have enjoyed telework benefits since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced many public servants to work from home."
In long, combative speech, Trump targets trans people, electric vehicles and ‘Pocahontas’
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "President Donald Trump did not explicitly mention California (unless you count him deriding “radical left lunatics”) in his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday, but his address made clear that his war against the state is raging as fiercely as ever.
Much of what he proposed and lauded is antithetical to what Californians value, from the environment to LGBTQ rights to racial and ethnic diversity to the humanity of the nation’s newest immigrants."
READ MORE -- Heavy on migrant crime, light on inflation: 8 takeaways from Trump’s speech to Congress -- LAT, MICHAEL WILNER/FAITH E. PINHO; ‘Will I be safe’? Transgender California youth feel threatened by Trump’s executive orderss -- CALMatters, JOCELYN WIENER/KRISTEN HWANG
Back-to-back storms to drench parts of California, bring mountain snow
The Chronicle, GREG PORTER: "A dynamic set of storms hitting in quick succession will bring widespread rain, mountain snow and even the potential for thunderstorms to much of California on Wednesday and Thursday.
The storm systems will take unusual trajectories, drawing in offshore moisture and directing it toward the Central Coast and Southern California rather than Northern California, where most of this season’s storms have delivered their heaviest precipitation."
READ MORE -- Storm set to unleash rain, mountain snow across Los Angeles County starting Wednesday -- LAT, HANNAH FRY
Trump tariffs and immigration policy create uncertainty for California economy, study shows
Sac Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "The Trump administration’s tariff and immigration policies create uncertainty about California’s economy that’s “very much elevated,” a new UCLA Anderson forecast said Wednesday.
The forecast cited “unique challenges” because of a “disruption of the previous functioning of national government.“"
READ MORE -- Here’s exactly what will get more expensive in the Bay Area under Trump’s tariffs -- The Chronicle, ROLAND LI
California farmers backed Trump. Now, his tariffs could hurt them
LAT, JESSICA GARRISON/RACHEL URANGA: "A day after President Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on three of the country’s biggest trading partners, many California farmers, who produce the largest share of the nation’s food, were worried the move could hurt their operations.
The state’s rich fertile ground is a major global supplier of produce and its farmers could be hit hard as Canada, Mexico, and China retaliate by slapping levies on U.S. exports. Farmers also rely heavily on fertilizer from Canada, which could cost more as the tariff’s take hold."
Have federal agents served warrants at California’s Capitol? The Legislature doesn’t want you to know
CALMatters, RYAN SABALOW: "California’s legislative leaders don’t think the public should know whether federal agents are investigating state lawmakers for public corruption, nor do they believe taxpayers should know how much of their money the Legislature is spending on criminal defense lawyers.
Following recent reports that Southern California Sen. Susan Rubio has been questioned in a federal public corruption investigation, CalMatters filed requests with the state Assembly and Senate seeking copies of federal law enforcement subpoenas and search warrants dating to 2020."
Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, turns down Trump appeal over disbursing foreign funds
LAT, DAVID G. SAVAGE: "A divided Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts turned down an appeal from President Trump’s lawyers on Wednesday, keeping in place a judge’s order that requires the government to disburse nearly $2 billion in foreign funds.
Last week, Roberts put this dispute on pause in response to a late-evening appeal from Trump lawyers."
Californians continue to pay the price for war on oil industry (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, CATHERINE REHEIS-BOYD: "California’s oil industry watchdog, Tai Milder, still doesn’t get it. Last month, Milder, the Director of the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight (DPMO) gave an update on the California gasoline market which was presumably prompted by recent events at a Bay Area refinery. Unfortunately, what is missing from this report to California’s leadership is a basic understanding of the impact that decades of bad policies are having on consumers – including the state’s goal to phase out fossil fuels and advance policies that actively increase the price of gasoline while demand remains high.
WSPA has seen plenty of poor policy choices in California over the years. Many of these have pushed companies in the oil and gas industry to make hard, costly choices including scaling back, changing operations, or leaving the state. Ironically, even when refiners lose money with price fluctuations, the state always makes money via the highest state gasoline taxes and other state per gallon cost additions when consumers fill their tanks. In fact, the latest numbers pulled from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, Low Carbon Fuel Standard data and recent Auction Settlement Price for California Carbon Allowances show that California consumers pay $1.07 in every California gallon pumped.”"
Sacramento has hundreds of millions of federal funding at risk under Trump administration
Sac Bee, MATHEW MIRANDA: "Sacramento remains committed to not cooperating with President Donald Trump administration’s immigration agenda despite the risk of losing hundreds of million dollars in federal funding.
The city has joined several jurisdictions across the country in a lawsuit to stop an order directing the U.S. Department of Justice to withhold funding from “sanctuary jurisdictions.”"
California is embracing psychiatric hospitals again. Behind locked doors, a profit-driven system is destroying lives
The Chronicle, CYNTHIA DIZIKES/JOAQUIN PALOMINO: "Soon after taking office in 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to finally fix a crisis that had come to define California. Emergency rooms were overflowing with people routed by depression, drug addiction and psychosis, many with unstable housing and nowhere to go except the streets.
“This is California’s original sin,” Newsom would say, pointing to decades of government mistakes and neglect that had left the state with a severe shortage of psychiatric treatment beds and narrow restrictions on who could be forced into them. “This is the manifestation of our failure.”"
Parents are blaming Snapchat for their teens’ fentanyl deaths. Will an L.A. lawsuit shape the future of social media?
LAT, MARISA GERBER: "Jaime Puerta keeps a shrine to his son, Daniel, behind his desk — a collection of candles, old pictures and his son’s beloved toy car.
He also keeps a stash of naloxone, the lifesaving opioid overdose reversal drug, and a yellow poster Puerta carried while marching with other grieving parents outside the headquarters of Snap, creator of the disappearing messaging app Snapchat. At the bottom of the poster is the solemn slogan of his son’s life:"
California tribal college looks to become independent, but financial questions loom
EdSource, MICHAEL BURKE: "After operating for the last six years as an affiliate of a nearby community college, California Indian Nations College (CINC) appears likely to become the state’s only standalone, fully accredited tribal college. It’s something education experts say would be a boon for Native American students who now start and complete college at lower rates than other ethnic groups.
But first, money has to be found to ensure the college can survive, let alone expand and build its own campus."
First-of-its kind court order halts sweep of California homeless camp
CALMatters, MARISA KENDALL: "The Bay Area city of Vallejo is putting California cities’ newfound power to clear homeless encampments to the test.
A federal judge last month stopped the city from dismantling the makeshift shelter of 64-year-old Evelyn Alfred, which she erected nearly two years ago on an empty strip of land next to a residential neighborhood. The ruling proves that, even as more cities in California crack down on encampments with sweeps and criminal charges, there are pathways open for unhoused people to fight back."
S.F. spent millions on a site for homeless RV dwellers. Now, they’re back on the street
The Chronicle, MAGGIE ANGST: "The demise of San Francisco’s only parking site for homeless people living in vehicles could be used as a case study on how difficult it is for one of the nation’s wealthiest cities to solve its intractable homelessness crisis.
Over the past three years, San Francisco has poured more than $18 million into establishing and operating the site in an underused parking lot at Candlestick Point — likely the most expensive per capita intervention ever tried by the city. But despite city efforts to get the residents into housing or shelter, when officials shut down the site late Monday night, nearly all of the site’s 35 or so residents were back to where they started — on the streets."
