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How the spike in gas prices is jolting California’s giant economy
LAT, LAURENCE DARMIENTO: "With crude oil topping $100 a barrel, and the average price of gas in the state approaching $5.50 a gallon, every touch of the nozzle is painful for California drivers.
Now, with the Iran war nearing its third week, the soaring costs of energy are rippling through the world’s fourth-largest economy."
California passed a law to curb spikes in gas prices. Why isn’t it using those powers now?
CALMATTERS, ALEJANDRO LAZO: "Three years ago, California built a first-in-the-nation system aimed at protecting drivers when oil markets turn calamitous. The legislature passed it. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it. He proclaimed “California took on Big Oil and won.”
Its author, then-Sen. Nancy Skinner called it a “landmark law” that “will allow us to hold oil companies accountable if they pad their profits at the expense of hard-working families.”"
A U.S. military refueling plane crashed in Iraq, killing 4. Here’s what to know
LAT, KIM TONG-HYUNG/ADAM SCHREK: "The U.S. military says a KC-135 refueling aircraft supporting operations against Iran crashed in western Iraq, killing four of its six crew members.
The U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said the crash followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace,” and that the other plane landed safely."
Dem House members say they’re in the dark about potential Iran threats to California
CHRONICLE, SARA DINATALE: "e Trump administration is keeping Congress in the dark about the war in Iran and potential threats to California, Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee said Thursday.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Castro Valley, said the administration is refusing to brief Congress, leaving him and other state leaders without any information about what the FBI “actually knows” about nonspecific threats to California and which cities could be at risk."
Get ready for California’s 2026 primary. Your questions about voting, answered
CALMATTERS, STAFF: "Where do I vote? Am I registered to vote? Does everyone get a ballot in the mail? Get the answers to your election day questions ahead of California’s June 2 primary election.
Be prepared for California’s primary: Sign up for our free election newsletter and be the first to know when we update the CalMatters 2026 Voter Guide with information on key primary races."
California sues over Trump demand for college race, test score and GPA admissions data
LAT, JAWEED KALEEM/MICHAEL CASEY: "California and 16 Democratic states are suing to challenge a Trump administration policy requiring higher education institutions, including University of California and California State University campuses, to collect data — including student grade-point averages — to prove they don’t illegally consider race in admissions.
Atty. Gen.Rob Bonta is among the state attorneys general who filed the suit Wednesday against a Department of Education rule that asks colleges to submit “the race and sex of colleges’ applicants, admitted students and enrolled students.” Bonta called the requirement a “fishing expedition” that is “demanding unprecedented amounts of data from our colleges and universities under the guise of enforcing civil rights law.”"
For 2 a.m. mental health care, Cal State explores working with an outside vendor
EDSOURCE, AMY DIPIERRO: "Jazmin Guajardo has seen students with the kind of anxiety that “consumes them” not only throughout their day, but outside the normal business hours of the campus mental health center.
“As a peer mentor, I have directly seen these impacts of mental health on student success,” said Guajardo, a student at CSU Channel Islands who serves on the California State University Board of Trustees, during a board meeting this week."
The new pillar of progressive politics
CAPITOL WEEKLY, CHRIS RAMIREZ: "There’s a wave of wealth tax proposals likely to appear on California ballots this year. Despite mounting opposition from lawmakers and some of the state’s wealthiest residents, progressives feel confident voters will approve them.
Taxing high earners has become a pillar of modern progressive politics. The slogan “eat the rich,” coined during the 18th-century French Revolution, regained popularity among progressives in 2020 — a response to growing economic inequality amid the pandemic. That phrase has evolved into calls for taxing billionaires and their corporations in the June primary and November midterm elections."
Stanford is No. 1 in nation for students reporting disabilities. Why?
CHRONICLE, LUCY HODGMAN/JACK LEE: "The number of college students who register as disabled has increased across the country, rising in tandem with diagnoses of anxiety, depression and ADHD among young people since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nowhere has that trend been more pronounced — or debated — than at Stanford University."
If the giant sequoia is dying out, why are there tens of thousands of seedlings and saplings?
LAT, DOUG SMITH: "In a Sierra Nevada canyon all but incinerated in the 2021 KNP Complex fire, a new forest of California’s beloved giant sequoias is now growing. Only not yet one that is actually giant.
The seedlings and saplings are mostly knee-high to chest-high and mixed with thickets of ceanothus and other post-fire brush growing amid the true giants that stand dead among them."
SoCal heat wave is intensifying in coming days: How bad will it get?
LAT, CLARA HARTER: "Southern California continues to sizzle under a heat advisory on Friday, as temperatures across the region remain a toasty 15 to 25 degrees above normal, with no meaningful relief in sight.
And although there will be a slight dip in temperatures on Saturday, officials warned that another round of even more extreme heat would arrive next week, bringing with it additional heat advisories and more record-breaking temperatures, according to the National Weather Service."
READ MORE -- Bay Area heat wave is about to get dramatically worse. Here is a timeline -- CHRONICLE, GREG PORTER
This O.C. city has California’s richest real estate. Why it beat out Silicon Valley gold
LAT, TERRY CASTLEMAN: "It’s hundreds of miles from the AI boom and tech billionaire class of Silicon Valley.
It maintains an image, at least in some minds, as a beachside mecca for old money, big yachts and conspicuous consumption."
Exclusive: Foreign government buys San Francisco’s ‘most iconic’ mansion
CHRONICLE, LAURA WAXMANN: "After more than two years on and off the market, one of Pacific Heights’ most recognizable historic mansions has finally found a buyer — the government of Algeria.
Public records show that the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria finalized a deal Tuesday to purchase 2800 Pacific Ave. for just under $10 million. The deal marks one of the rare occasions in recent years that a foreign government has stepped into San Francisco’s luxury housing market — and closes the chapter on the property’s prolonged sale that involved a series of price cuts."
S.F. public defender held in contempt for refusing cases. He’s not backing down
CHRONICLE, DAVID HERNANDEZ: "San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju said Thursday he plans to continue to turn down some criminal cases even after a judge found him in contempt.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman's ruling Tuesday marked the latest fallout from a rare institutional clash over Raju's stance."
