News Analysis: ‘Disrupt, break, defund’: Trump’s imperial first 100 days
LAT, MICHAEL WILNER: "In every government building and federal courthouse, in the offices of boutique nonprofits and the world’s largest law firms, in high schools and cancer wards, there is a palpable sense that the country has changed — all within President Trump’s first 100 days back in office.
White House officials are hailing the milestone this week, proclaiming that, in his initial sprint, the president has already accomplished much of what he had promised. Border crossings are at their lowest levels in decades. Diversity initiatives are receding. Efforts to shrink the size of government are well underway."
READ MORE -- 100 days in, here’s how California has fared under Trump -- The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI/BOB EGELKO
California has sued Trump 15 times in his first 100 days. Where do those cases stand?
LAT, KEVIN RECTOR: "At a hearing in Boston in March, U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun asked attorneys for a coalition of states what they stood to lose if he didn’t immediately intervene to block hundreds of millions of dollars in Trump administration cuts to teacher training programs nationwide.
“Your Honor, the situation is dire,” California Deputy Atty. Gen. Laura Faer responded. “Right now, as we speak, our programs across the state are facing the possibility of closure and dissolution and termination.”"
California can lead on PFAS reform—but not with SB 682 (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, LANCE HASTING: "At a time when California’s global economic leadership is under pressure, we cannot afford to adopt sweeping policies that put entire industries at risk without clear, science-based justification. Yet that’s exactly what Senate Bill 682 (Allen) threatens to do. Reintroduced this year without addressing previous critical concerns from legislators and stakeholders, SB 682 would create a vague and overly broad regulatory framework that could put California’s economy at risk.
SB 682 seeks to ban the manufacturing, sale, and distribution of any consumer products containing intentionally added PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), including in processes where they are used safely and are considered essential by federal standards. While the intent to protect public health is commendable, the bill’s current language ignores real-world applications and consequences. It casts such a wide net that it would effectively ban a range of products—including some cookware, dental floss, cleaning products, and food packaging—all items which many Californians consider critical to daily life and are vital sectors of our economy."
AB 470 will help close California’s digital divide (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, RICK L. CALLENDER: "In its 116-year existence, the NAACP has adapted to changing times and shifted priorities when necessary. But one thing has remained true: our commitment to fighting for political, educational and social equality for everyone. That is why we are proud to support AB 470, a bill moving through the California State Legislature that will help close the state’s digital divide and establish more high-speed connectivity to California’s communications network.
For Black and Brown Californians, the digital divide is a reflection of systemic inequities that persist across education, health care, and economic opportunity. Too many of our students struggle with remote learning, elders are cut off from telehealth, and working families can’t afford reliable internet. As we push for racial justice, we must also fight for digital equity."
Shirley Weber on the SAVE Act; and Trans rights activist Ebony Harper (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "We have a packed show today: first up, we chat with California Secretary of State Shirley Weber about The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, proposed federal legislation that would require all Americans to reregister to vote, in person, with either a birth certificate or passport. Weber outlines concerns that the law would effectively disenfranchise millions of voters who may not have access to their birth certificate, and those – like many married women – whose documents no longer match their birth name. And, perhaps an even bigger problem: who pays? Counties project millions in costs to administrate, but the legislation includes no funding mandate.
We also spoke with Trans activist Ebony Harper, founding executive director of California TRANScends, and the author of The Trans Manifesto. Harper shared how she is responding to the current wave of anti-Trans sentiment, her reaction to Governor Newsom’s recent podcast comments, and how Coast to Coast and NPR shaped her life."
Edison told the government that Calderon was an ‘executive.’ Now it claims she wasn’t.
LAT, MELODY PETERSEN: "Southern California Edison has repeatedly insisted that its former government affairs manager, state Assemblywoman Lisa Calderon (D-Whittier), was never an executive with the company.
But that’s not what Edison told the federal government."
Inside the GOP’s secret plan to destroy Medicaid
LAT, MICHAEL HILTZIK: "You may have heard some of our federal lawmakers attest to their respect for Medicaid and its generally low-income enrollment base.
Listen to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Fox News a couple of weeks ago talking about the need to preserve the state-federal program so it serves “young single mothers down on their fortunes for a moment, the people with real disability, the elderly.”"
Newsom moves to set emergency staffing rules in psychiatric hospitals following Chronicle investigation
The Chronicle, CYNTHIA DIZIKES: "Gov. Gavin Newsom is moving to impose minimum staffing requirements in California’s psychiatric hospitals in response to a Chronicle investigative series that spotlighted rampant abuse and neglect tied to understaffing in many of the locked facilities.
By deploying the state’s emergency regulations process, the Newsom administration intends to establish nurse-to-patient ratios within these hospitals, which treat tens of thousands of people experiencing mental health crises every year, according to the state’s Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS)."
How the state sent Californians’ personal health data to LinkedIn
CALMatters, TOMAS APODACA/COLIN LECHER: "The website that lets Californians shop for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, coveredca.com, has been sending sensitive data to LinkedIn, forensic testing by CalMatters has revealed.
As visitors filled out forms on the website, trackers on the same pages told LinkedIn their answers to questions about whether they were blind, pregnant, or used a high number of prescription medications. The trackers also monitored whether the visitors said they were transgender or possible victims of domestic abuse. (See the data on our Github repo.)"
ACLU sues to halt Trump administration attacks on Head Start child-care program
LAT, KATE SEQUEIRA: "The American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of six early childhood organizations, including one in California, sued the Trump administration Monday to halt the dismantling of Head Start and restore cuts to the program, alleging that the actions required congressional approval.
The lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Washington, also alleged that the administration’s directive to strip the program of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts is “unconstitutionally vague,” violates the free speech of its teachers and does not provide enough guidance for providers to know what must be done to avoid losing federal funding."
California school districts spend millions on policing, with little scrutiny
EdSource, THOMAS PEELE/DANIEL J. WILLIS: "Many California school districts pay cities and counties millions of dollars a year to put law enforcement officers on campuses, moving tax dollars allocated for education to policing with little oversight by elected school boards, an EdSource investigation found.
Not every district has what are commonly called school resource officers. Many call 911 if they need help, and 20 have their own police departments. Others contract with cities and counties, which provide resource officers from the ranks of local police, sheriffs, and probation departments."
Northern California faces risk from terrifying Pacific Northwest earthquake fault
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "The Cascadia Subduction Zone, a major fault that runs offshore from Northern California to British Columbia, is best known for putting the coast in danger of large earthquakes and tsunamis. A new study sounds another alarm: A big earthquake on the fault could cause land along the coast to sink permanently, increasing its long-term exposure to flooding.
If such a quake happened today, it will likely cause subsidence of anywhere from a half foot to 6 feet along coastal areas between southern Washington and Humboldt Bay, doubling the flood exposure in those areas, according to the authors. Federal, state and local governments should take the risk into consideration along with other factors that go into floodplain maps and flood preparation, such as sea level rise and tsunamis, they argue."
Bodega Bay isn’t what it used to be. How an ailing industry has transformed this fishing village
CALMatters, ALASTAIR BLAND: "From the living room window of their waterfront home, Carol and Tony Anello have watched the rise and fall of Bodega Bay. Traffic on Westshore Road flows past in waves, fishing boats pull into the docks and throngs of visitors line up at Spud Point Crab Co., their restaurant next door. Launched more than 20 years ago and known for its chowder and Dungeness crab rolls, the restaurant has helped make the Anellos beacons of the community.
It has also served as a life raft as they left the commercial fishing business."
San Francisco is no longer hemorrhaging workers to other cities — with one big exception
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI/HANNA ZAKHARENKO: "San Francisco is still losing workers to other tech hubs — and one destination is trumping them all.
The San Francisco metro area, including the East Bay, had a net loss of thousands of jobs to emerging tech hubs like Seattle, Austin, Texas and the much-hyped Miami. But in recent years, San Francisco has been losing fewer workers to those cities as an artificial intelligence boom takes hold and its population begins to recover, according to a Chronicle analysis of Census Bureau data. The data shows the location, industry and characteristics of the worker changing jobs."
Trump cuts millions in California crime prevention grants: ‘This was a sledgehammer’
CALMatters, CAYLA MIHALOVICH: "Dozens of California violence prevention and victim service programs, including ones to protect survivors of domestic violence and end sexual abuse in jails and prisons, are facing devastating cuts after the Trump administration abruptly pulled funding from them.
“These programs literally save lives – not just for the victims, but for our entire communities,” said Tinisch Hollins, executive director of the nonprofit organization Californians for Safety and Justice. “When they go away, we lose a safety net.”"
Thousands of California prisoners falsely tested positive for opioids. Did it cost them their freedom?
LAT, SALVADOR HERNANDEZ: "Thousands of inmates wrongly tested positive for opiate use inside California state prisons last year because of a laboratory mistake, and civil rights attorneys now worry many of them could be denied parole and a chance at freedom because of it.
About 6,000 drug tests are believed to have generated false positive results in 2024, according to attorneys at UnCommon Law, a nonprofit advocacy group that represents inmates seeking parole. The organization confirmed the false test results through a series of public records requests, which showed positive test results suddenly spiked across California prisons between April and July last year."
S.F.’s Parks Alliance is in financial disarray, endangering critical funding source
The Chronicle, MICHAEL BARBA/JD MORRIS: "The most important nonprofit fundraiser supporting San Francisco’s parks and open spaces is in financial disarray, prompting some of the neighborhood groups that work closely with the organization to consider cutting ties with the charity, the Chronicle has learned.
The San Francisco Parks Alliance has struggled in recent months to reimburse some of the many small community organizations around San Francisco that rely on the nonprofit to help them collect donations from neighbors and funding from other sources for a small fee. The alliance acts as a fiscal sponsor so that the smaller groups do not need to hire accounting staff or obtain nonprofit status on their own."
