President Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom are escalating a partisan tug-of-war match — each threatening to manipulate electoral maps for short-term advantage. However, their proposals are receiving significant pushback from voters, election reform advocates, even members of their own parties.
Lorena Gonzalez, one of California’s most influential labor leaders, entered the fray this week in a growing Democratic debate over the so-called “abundance” movement.
Last July, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order “to address (homeless) encampments” and allocated funding to local governments to clear encampments and connect “those living in them to housing and supportive services.”
Republican lawmakers, political groups, and donors are going to attempt to qualify a constitutional amendment for California’s November 2026 ballot that would require voters to present government-issued identification and verify their citizenship before casting a ballot.
What began as peaceful immigration policy protests on June 6 has escalated into a national political crisis, with violent clashes, arrests, looted businesses, burning Waymo cars, a smashed government building, nighttime curfews, and an epic legal showdown between California officials and President Donald Trump fueled by partisan flames of political division.
In a stunning show of bipartisan agreement, the California Assembly voted 74-0 on June 2 to approve legislation that would pause a significant tax increase on the state’s legal cannabis industry.
Given the state’s role as home to many leading AI companies, a bipartisan coalition of California legislators is urging Congress to strike a little-noticed provision from the sweeping federal tax package that would block states and local governments from regulating artificial intelligence (AI) for the next decade.
Last week, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials announced the sudden passing of Annie Covarrubias, a correctional officer at the Correctional Training Facility (CTF) in Soledad. She was 35 years old. In the words of her colleagues, Annie was a “dependable, professional, and kind” officer, known for her dedication to both her peers and the incarcerated individuals she worked with every day.