California braces for disaster as Congress fails to come to a deal on health care plans
Chronicle, ALEXEI KOSEFF/SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Insurance premiums for nearly 2 million Californians who buy health plans through the Affordable Care Act exchange are almost certain to spike in a matter of weeks as a fractured Congress allows federal subsidies for those customers to expire.
The loss of aid will ripple through California’s entire health care system, experts warn, forcing patients to drop their coverage, burdening emergency departments, further straining medical providers’ finances and leaving municipal governments and their taxpayers holding the bag."
Trump signs order that will limit AI regulations in California
LAT, SKYLAR WOODHOUSE/EMILY BIRNBAUM/HADRIANA LOWENKRON: "President Donald Trump signed an order aimed at thwarting state-level regulation of artificial intelligence through lawsuits and funding cuts, handing a win to tech industry leaders who’ve pressed for preemption of local rules.
Trump said the measure was necessary to bolster the emerging technology and counter a patchwork of state-level rules the industry worries will hamper its growth."
READ MORE -- Trump’s new order against AI regulation hits California especially hard -- CALMatters, KHARI JOHNSON
Why California should publish its bill drafting manual
Capitol Weekly, CHRIS MICHELI: "According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), about half of the states publish the manual used by their state’s legislative drafting attorneys. California and its Office of Legislative Counsel (OLC) is one of those states that does not. Why do I think our state should publish its bill drafting manual? I believe it would enhance the ability of the state’s judiciary to better interpret statutes.
When first reviewing a statute, judges and justices rely upon the plain meaning of the words in the statute. However, when that statute is ambiguous, then our state courts will try to ascertain the intent of the Legislature. And, in my mind, one helpful document to assist the judicial branch in interpreting the statute could be the drafting manual used by the attorneys in the OLC. Why?"
Trump administration demands California drop proposal to ‘redistribute’ farmland to minorities
Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "The Trump administration is warning Gov. Gavin Newsom not to proceed with a proposal to help disadvantaged communities gain access to California’s farmlands, saying it violates federal and state laws that mandate equal treatment for Americans.
In a letter sent Thursday from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to Newsom, the USDA takes aim at a set of recommendations recently drafted by a state task force for how to address land inequities in the ag sector. Among the recommendations are returning farmland to tribes and providing funding to minority farmers for land purchases and leases."
Capitol Briefs: Comings, goings and bills oh my
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "Gonzalez announces joint effort to restore LGBTQ+ crisis line: Lawmakers don’t officially come back into session until January 5th, but Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez (D-Los Angeles) has already announced plans to introduce a bill that would reestablish the 988 Press 3 LGBTQ+ Youth Suicide Crisis Line, an effort to backfill a program cut by the Trump Administration.
“I am not waiting for this federal administration to realize what they’ve done,” González said in a press release. “Lives are on the line right now, and every day we wait, more LGBTQ+ youth are pushed into crisis. If we stand by, thousands could be lost to suicide. Before this reckless cut, 1.5 million contacts were made to Press 3. That doesn’t happen by accident — that happens because LGBTQ+ youth trust this lifeline and rely on it in their darkest moments.”"
Newsom expresses unease about his new, candid autobiography: ‘It’s all out there’
LAT, DAKOTA SMITH/MELODY GUTIERREZ: "Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that he is nervous about the public response to his forthcoming autobiography’s candid details about his life and those around him.
“Just being honest — it comes with a cost,” said Newsom, who made the rounds at a Democratic National Committee meeting in Los Angeles on Thursday."
Alameda lined up $400 million in federal funds to build a veterans clinic. Then Trump stepped in
Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "Over the course of a decade, the federal government invested nearly $400 million to transform a defunct naval base in Alameda. The site would get new life as an outpatient clinic and columbarium for veterans, nestled alongside a sprawling waterfront park.
Then, in August, the Trump administration quietly torpedoed the project, declaring it dead without telling the people who toiled to see it through."
Homeland Security says it doesn’t detain citizens. These brave Californians prove it has
LAT, ANITA CHABRIA: "Call it an accident, call it the plan. But don’t stoop to the reprehensible gaslighting of calling it a lie: It is fact that federal agents have detained and arrested dozens, if not hundreds, of United States citizens as part of immigration sweeps, regardless of what Kristi Noem would like us to believe.
During a congressional hearing Thursday, Noem, our secretary of Homeland Security and self-appointed Cruelty Barbie, reiterated her oft-used and patently false line that only the worst of the worst are being targeted by immigration authorities. That comes after weeks of her department posting online, on its ever-more far-right social media accounts, that claims of American citizens being rounded up and held incommunicado are “fake news” or a “hoax.”"
California bans harvest of ocean delicacy until 2036
Chronicle, CLAIRE BARBER/ANNA HOCH-KENNEY: "Just outside the town of Mendocino in the middle of Van Damme Beach, a weathered placard educates bystanders about the region’s red abalone, a once prolific seasnail whose mild taste and iridescent shell attracted throngs of divers up the Northern California coast.
But this November, the beach was quiet aside from small waves lapping against the shoreline and a steady stream of cars racing along Highway 1. Commercial abalone fishing has been illegal for decades, and recreational diving for abalone has been banned since 2018 due to significant population decline. Now all that remains of abalone culture here is the old sign, with its illustrated abalone fading in the sun."
California schools that need foreign workers for teacher jobs can’t afford Trump’s new visa fee
CALMatters, SOPHIE SULLIVAN/ALINA TA: "There is a new cost to hiring an international worker to fill a vital but otherwise vacant position in a California classroom: $100,000.
In September, the Trump administration began requiring American employers to pay a $100,000 sponsorship fee for new H-1B visas, on top of already required visa application fees that amount to $9,500 to $18,800, depending on various factors. These visas allow skilled and credentialed workers in multiple job sectors to stay in the U.S."
Is a rapid reversal from La Niña to El Niño brewing in the Pacific?
Chronicle, GREG PORTER: "The Pacific Ocean remains officially locked in a La Niña phase, but the mechanisms keeping it there are beginning to sputter. On Thursday, the Climate Prediction Center left a “La Niña Advisory” in place, confirming that cool sea surface temperatures continue in the equatorial Pacific.
But it won’t last much longer. The agency expects the La Niña phase to fade by February."
Ancient lake from ice age comes back to life in Death Valley after record rainfall
LAT, SUMMER LIN: "Between 128,000 and 186,000 years ago, when ice covered the Sierra Nevada, a lake 100 miles long and 600 feet deep sat in eastern California in what is now the Mojave Desert.
As the climate warmed and the ice retreated, the lake dried up, leaving a white salt pan in its place."
Explosion injures six near Hayward after construction crew strikes gas line
Chronicle, ANNA BAUMAN/BROOKE PARK/KATE TALERICO: "Six people were injured and three buildings were destroyed in a residential explosion and fire Thursday morning near Hayward, hours after a construction crew hit an underground gas line, according to East Bay officials and Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
The Alameda County Fire Department responded around 9:38 a.m. to reports of an explosion and house on fire on the 800 block of East Lewelling Boulevard, located just south of Interstate 238 and north of Hayward, said Deputy Chief Ryan Nishimoto."
20% of Sacramento shelter guests go on to permanent housing. Is there a better way?
Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article313411991.html#storylink=cpy
No charges for ‘Capt. Hollywood’; detectives claim LAPD mishandled CBS exec case leak
LAT, RICHARD WINTON/JAMES QUEALLY/LIBOR JANY: "A former Los Angeles Police Department commander who authorities said tipped off CBS to a rape allegation against the network’s top executive will not face criminal charges, with two LAPD detectives claiming department leaders undermined the investigation, according to documents obtained by The Times.
The L.A. County district attorney’s office decided in April it would not prosecute Cory Palka for warning CBS executives in 2017 that a woman had walked into the LAPD’s Hollywood station and accused then-Chief Executive Les Moonves of sexual assault, according to a document provided to The Times in response to a public records request."
Crime in San Francisco is declining even faster than other cities. Will the trend continue?
Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "Crime in San Francisco just keeps falling and falling.
By now, the refrain has become familiar. Last year, both violent and property crime rates hit their lowest points in more than two decades. Homicides hit a six decade low. And this year, crime rates in all categories are set to be even lower, according to police data."
