Newsom planning $19-million push to polish California’s national image
LAT, MELODY GUTIERREZ: "Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to spend $19 million promoting California and dispelling “myths driven by misinformation and political rhetoric” in a marketing campaign that would run through the final months of his administration as he weighs a potential run for president.
The new contract, which is in the bidding process, comes as Newsom’s political future and national standing are closely tied to how voters view California’s economy, crime and quality of life — issues that have become central to attacks from President Trump and conservative media outlets."
A podcaster gave Newsom a gun. Are California laws keeping him from taking it home?
CALMATTERS, RYAN SABALOW: "Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed some of the country’s toughest gun-control laws, but he had nothing but nice things to say to a conservative podcaster who gave him a new handgun as a gift last year.
“Brother, this is fabulous,” Newsom told the host, Shawn Ryan, last summer. “The last thing people would expect is that I respect this gift. … I’m not anti-gun at all,” Newsom said."
Would Sacramento voters send a Republican to Congress? Kevin Kiley is betting on it
CALMATTERS, MAYA C. MILLER: "After months of suspense, deliberation and a game-show-style process of elimination, Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley has finally chosen a district in which to seek reelection.
The two-term congressman from Roseville announced this week that he will file paperwork to run for the Sacramento-area 6th Congressional District after California’s Proposition 50 dramatically reshaped his current district into a solid pickup for Democrats."
California, 23 other states sue Trump over new tariffs
CALMATTERS, LEVI SUMAGAYSAY: "California and 23 other mostly Democratic states on Thursday sued the Trump administration over its new justification for the president’s wide-ranging tariffs.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta is co-leading the lawsuit with the attorneys general of Oregon, Arizona and New York. They say President Donald Trump’s use of Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — which he invoked after the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 ruled that his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act was unconstitutional — is also illegal."
Senators demand return of deported California DACA recipient
LAT, ANDREA CASTILLO: "Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called for the Department of Homeland Security to return a California woman with DACA who was recently deported a day after her green card interview.
DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is the Obama-era program that since 2012 has shielded certain immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and allowed them to work legally."
Napa man indicted for allegedly threatening to kill senior Trump official
CHRONICLE, ANNA BAUMAN: "A Napa man was indicted in February for allegedly threatening to kill a senior Trump official in dozens of emails sent to the official’s ex-wife last year, the Department of Justice said Thursday.
Prosecutors said Haddow Mills, 64, found a public email address for the official’s ex-wife and in May 2025 began sending a flurry of threatening and harassing emails, such as “I will hunt you down. I am not kidding. Watch your back bitch.”"
Billionaire Ron Burkle accuses his political power-broker protégé of multimillion-dollar fraud
LAT, CLARA HARTER: "Billionaire Ronald Burkle is suing political power-broker Darius Anderson, accusing his former protégé and friend of cheating him out of millions of dollars.
Burkle alleges that Anderson used the billionaire’s network and a seed investment to build a powerful lobbying firm — only to later divert Burkle’s share of the profits to himself. The legal feud marks a dramatic falling-out between Anderson and his longtime mentor Burkle, who was the best man at Anderson’s wedding."
2 men arrested after allegedly attacking S.F. Mayor Lurie’s bodyguards
CHRONICLE, ALDO TOLEDO: "Two men were arrested Thursday after they allegedly attacked San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s security detail near the Tenderloin.
Lurie was unharmed in what the head of San Francisco’s police union described as a “violent incident.” Mission Local reported that one of the mayor’s bodyguards was “left bleeding from the back of his head” after the incident, which the news outlet said happened after a group of people blocked the black sport utility vehicle that Lurie uses regularly."
L.A. feds ramp up use of ‘doxxing’ charges as anti-ICE protesters fear chilling effect
LAT, JAMES QUEALLY: "The masked protesters screaming at a federal agent outside his home was the type of scene Trump administration officials had long feared.
Cynthia Raygoza, Ashleigh Brown and Sandra Samane followed a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer from the downtown L.A. Metropolitan Detention Center to his Baldwin Park residence last August. The off-duty ICE agent’s unmasked face and the name of the street he lived on were broadcast to more than 50,000 followers on a livestream from the popular “ice_out_ofla” Instagram account."
The neuro disease rat lungworm has reached California
LAT, SUSANNE RUST: "A disease that can cause neurological illness and meningitis in people, rat lungworm, has been found in wild opposums, rats and a zoo animal in San Diego County, indicating its establishment in California for the first time.
Researchers reported their findings in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors, who include veterinarians, researchers and wildlife biologists, urged physicians and other healthcare workers in the region to consider lungworm infection when patients come in with nervous system disorders."
Was ‘The Pitt’ inspired by a Bay Area disaster? Latest plot twist has striking parallels
CHRONICLE, PETER HARTLAUB: "The HBO medical drama “The Pitt” ended on a cliffhanger tonight that might send a jolt of recognition through Bay Area television viewers.
The show’s ripped-from-the-headlines twist has striking similarities to a real-life tragedy that occurred in Concord three decades ago. This article will include spoilers for the end of Season 2, Episode 9, which aired Thursday, March 5."
California colleges spend millions on faulty AI systems: ‘The chatbot is outdated’
CALMATTERS, MARTIN ROMERO: "California community college districts are spending millions of dollars on artificial intelligence-powered chatbots intended to help students navigate admissions, financial aid and campus services.
However, they struggle to consistently provide clear and accurate answers, leaving students frustrated and seeking help from others on unofficial social media channels."
One Sacramento school district on strike, another could walk out next week
EDSOURCE, DIANA LAMBERT: "Two Sacramento school districts could have teachers on strike next week if they can’t come to terms with teachers over salary, benefits and classroom conditions.
Twin Rivers Unified School District teachers went on strike Thursday, and teachers in the adjacent Natomas Unified announced they will go on strike on Tuesday."
Why this college president came out of retirement to help East Los Angeles navigate the Trump era
EDSOURCE, MICHAEL BURKE: "After working more than 50 years in higher education, including stints as president of Los Angeles Mission College and Moreno Valley College, Monte Perez was enjoying retirement in 2024. That’s when he received a call from Francisco Rodriguez, then the chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District.
Rodriguez wanted to know if Perez, 78, was willing to step in as the interim president of East Los Angeles College, the district’s largest college."
Is California’s ski season deadlier than usual? Here’s why we don’t know
CALMATTERS, RACHEL BECKER: "It’s been a deadly winter on California’s slopes, but the state has no idea how bad it really is.
In February alone, a 21-year-old skier was found dead on a black diamond at Northstar California. Witnesses reported another skier trailed blood down a Mammoth Mountain run. A fatal collision at Northstar followed yet another death within less than two weeks — and that’s before a catastrophic avalanche killed nine backcountry skiers near Lake Tahoe."
San Francisco could hit 80 degrees this weekend in rare March warm spell
CHRONICLE, GREG PORTER: "Get ready for a taste of summer in March. A favorable offshore wind pattern will send temperatures soaring over the weekend, with downtown San Francisco having a shot at reaching 80 degrees on both Saturday and Sunday.
If an 80-degree day happens, it would be the earliest the city has reached that mark since 2004, when it hit 81 degrees on March 10. And if the city somehow reached 80 degrees on both days, it would mark an even rarer occurrence. The last time the city had two consecutive 80 degree days in March was in 2011."
Employers cut a surprising 92,000 jobs last month as the unemployment rate rose to 4.4%
LAT, PAUL WISEMAN: "American employers unexpectedly cut 92,000 jobs last month, a sign that the labor market remains under strain. The unemployment rate blipped up to 4.4%.
The Labor Department reported Friday that hiring deteriorated from January, when companies, nonprofits and government agencies added a healthy 126,000 jobs. Economists had expected 60,000 new jobs in February."
Hundreds of applications, no jobs and AI competition: California’s brutal tech work landscape
LAT, QUEENIE WONG: "Laid-off tech worker Joseph Tinner has spent almost a year hunting for a job. It has been a depressing crash course on the sea change in Silicon Valley.
The former product instructor from the San Francisco Bay Area has ridden the tech wave throughout his career, easily jumping from Verizon to Fitbit to Workday. Since losing his job early last year, the 59-year-old has hit a wall."
Jaylen Brown video sparks furor over how Beverly Hills police treat Black people
LAT, HANNAH FRY: "Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown was in the middle of a brand event at a Beverly Hills mansion on Valentine’s Day when police showed up.
It was 7 p.m., and the music for the event — an invite-only gathering for his 741 Performance brand — had long been silent. Brown came down to talk to an officer, expressing confusion at why police had been called."
BART is turning parking lots into housing. Will 700 new units help its fiscal crisis?
CHRONICLE, J.K. DINEEN: "BART’s future may be up in the air amid a devastating budget outlook but one thing is certain: The next wave of housing development on the transit agency’s vast parking lots is coming down the track.
El Cerrito elected officials and BART leaders gathered Thursday to celebrate the start of construction on a mixed-income modular development that will eventually transform six-and-a-half acres of surface parking lots into 734 units, including about 290 affordable homes. Once built out, the project could add 1,500 new residents into a post-war bedroom community with a population of about 26,000."
