Category: California

by Amie Parnes and Julia Manchester / The Hill / October 6, 2026

President Trump is stoking outrage among California Democrats and at least one House GOP candidate after he suggested at a midterm rally that he would allow Iran to “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) led the charge, telling The Hill on Tuesday that Trump is “mentally ill.”

“TIME FOR THE 25TH!” the governor said in a statement.

The sentiment follows a social media post from Newsom on Monday where he called Trump “deranged and dangerous.”

Newsom is widely seen as a prospective presidential contender for Democrats in 2028.

“Gavin Newscum is the worst governor in America, and he also may be the dumbest,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in response to the remarks.

Newsom was far from the only California politician lashing out at Trump, however.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) said Trump’s remarks are “dangerous and could potentially compromise our safety,” while San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria (D) told Trump in his own statement to “keep our city out of your reckless war talk.”

Meanwhile, Republican Jim Desmond, who is running for a San Diego-area House district, said he “vehemently” disagrees with the president.

At a campaign rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, while discussing the war with Iran and its economic effects, Trump suggested that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego as a “small price to pay.”

“It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” Trump said. “They can take out a city, let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego.”

The comments drew cheers, laughter and applause from the relatively small sized rally. But they laughed and cheered anyhow at the thought that Iran could bomb and wipe out up to 10 million people who live in the two cities. Because they’re only blue — they / we don’t matter.

They laughed in Nebraska, but no one in California was smiling. Here’s some of the reaction, as compiled by Patch San Diego.

Gov. Gavin Newsom responded on social media, pointing to Trump’s previous deployment of National Guard troops and Marines to California before criticizing the president’s latest remarks.

“Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego,” Newsom wrote. “He is deranged and dangerous.”

Newsom’s press office also condemned the remarks, noting that more than 10 million people live in the two metropolitan areas.

“Let’s be clear: The President is advocating for an attack on 10+ million U.S. residents in two of America’s largest cities,” the governor’s press office wrote on social media. “This is not normal. None of this is. And we will continue to remind folks of that every day.”

By Tammy Murga / kpbs / Oct. 2, 2026

A bright yellow circle slowly formed in the water at Glorietta Bay Park in Coronado on Thursday afternoon.

They were surfers, clean water advocates and community members on surfboards, paddleboards and kayaks. Except they weren’t wearing wetsuits. They donned hazmat suits.

“The hazmat suit is a visual cue that we’re in a crisis,” said Corey Cleary-Stoner, one of the community members. “The most essential natural resource is under attack, and it’s under attack by us.”

He was referring to what’s been happening for years on the other side of the San Diego Bay, about eight miles south of the park: beaches closed for swimming because of sewage contamination that makes its way from Tijuana.

The pollution has forced lifeguards to adapt by limiting their time in the water and using mobile showers attached to their vehicles; children in local summer camps are bussed to beaches outside of their communities, and residents have become sick from exposure to the sewage contamination.

Public Gets Kicked in the Gut- Part 3

By Donna Frye

Here is Part 1- and here is Part 2–

On Tuesday, September 30, 2026, Governor Newsom signed SB 344, a gut-and-amend bill that eliminated the public’s ability to file a civil lawsuit and challenge in court any unmitigated environmental impacts that may be caused by the Midway Rising project. Specifically, SB 344 “Declares the City of San Diego’s Midway Rising Specific Plan Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SPSEIR), which is pending certification by the City, fully complies with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).”

That means the San Diego City Council will be the final deciders of whether the environmental analysis for the project is adequate and what mitigation measures will be required.

To say that this gut-and-amend legislation reached the governor’s desk in record time is a gross understatement.  Here’s a condensed history of the approximate six week “public process” for SB 344.

On February 12, 2025, SB 344 was introduced as legislation related to the disposition of human remains and the scattering of the ashes at sea. For some reason, on July 17, 2025, SB 344 was placed in the inactive file where it remained for over a year.

By Paul Krueger

I take serious issue with the Union-Tribune’s latest story on Midway Rising, (see image above) and the paper’s  failure to include a response from any of the numerous, very credible opponents of two new “special interest” state laws that allow the city and Midway Rising’s developers to ignore established environmental review.

It’s also beyond my comprehension that the UT’s reporting lacks any response from the equally well-informed critics of the Midway Rising project, as currently proposed.

Sen. Weber-Pierson’s introduction of her special interest legislation (Senate Bills 344 and 958) was immediately met with a well-documented backlash from San Diegans who objected to what they saw as a blatant attempt to thwart legitimate legal challenges to Midway’s Rising negative and irreversible environmental impacts.

Both of the reporters who wrote this story cover housing issues as part of their important and influential work at the Union-Tribune. I must assume they’ve followed the very public debate about the merits and drawbacks of special state legislation that allows developers of a specific project to skirt established environmental reviews.

In San Diego, the sources for an informed, intelligent, and credible criticism of SB 344 and 958 are obvious, starting with attorney Everett DeLano, who successfully challenged the city’s failure to complete an adequate environmental impact study

Latest UC Berkeley survey: Democratic candidate has 58% support among likely voters, while Republican Steve Hilton receives 33%.

Por SanDiegoRed / September 26, 2026 

Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for California governor with roots in Tijuana, is holding a wider lead over Steve Hilton in the race, according to the latest survey from UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies.

The poll puts Becerra at 58% among likely voters, compared with 33% for Hilton. That gives the Democratic candidate a 25-point margin and marks a seven-point increase from the difference recorded in Berkeley’s August survey.

The new numbers also come as another California poll released in September showed a similar gap between the two candidates.

by Dorian Hargrove / Peninsula Beacon / Sept. 29, 2026

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 344 into law on Tuesday, clearing Midway Rising’s path to begin construction on a massive redevelopment of the former San Diego Sports Arena.

The plan, to convert the land around the arena into a project with 4,250 housing units, 130,000 square feet of retail, a new 16,000-seat arena and 14.5 acres of park space, has long been challenged by residents citing coastal height limits.

The bill, proposed by State Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, declares the environmental reports studying the impacts of the redevelopment as sufficient, allowing city officials to grant approval of the project.

The bill states that because the Midway Rising project includes 2,000 affordable units, the environmental review approved by the city is enough and should not be held up by any further litigation.

With the bill now law, the Midway Rising project will soon go before the San Diego City Council for final approval. It also likely ends all legal challenges which thus far have thwarted progress on the redevelopment of the site around Pechanga Arena, as it is now known.

The project, proposed by local developer Brad Termini and his company Zephyr, is mostly owned by billionaire Stan Kroenke, who owns the Los Angeles Rams, the Los Angeles Angels, Arsenal F.C., Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets sports teams.

Kroenke is said to be the largest private landholder in the country.

SB 79 and Budget Cuts in Letters to Editor

Sometimes the truth is more forthright and evident in the Letters to the Editor than in the news articles — or lack of — themselves.(I always check them out in both the U-T and LA Times daily.)

Here’s two from today, Wednesday, Sept. 23, that speak volumes; they both are responding to the news that San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System may have to make budget cuts that would eliminate over one-third of the current bus routes, force cut backs on another third, and less frequent trolley trains on all four lines. The letters make the case that with drastic, even draconian budget cuts to MTS, the foundational logic for Senate Bill 79 and other pushes for high-density near transit has been lost. Despite this, our politicians are not taking note of these potential heavy-weight changes to our urban landscape.

Let’s say that again, as it’s very important and immediately stands out amid this news.

The grim news of potential major service cuts— including eliminating a third of bus routes and reducing trolley frequency due to projected $100M–$150M deficits by fiscal year 2030—has intensified criticism that building high-density, low-parking housing near transit stops under laws like Senate Bill 79 is losing its foundational logic.

Here’s the first from RC of Sunset Cliffs:

What an eye-opener. After years of the “build, baby build” housing policies of the YIMBYs, Todd Gloria, our City Council and the state Legislature — pushing the building of high-density housing along transit routes — we learn that MTS is going broke and may need to cut back bus routes and trolley service. Yet our politicians keep wanting to build high-density housing with minimal parking requirements.

From SOHO

We have some very good news to share: Monday, September 14, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2576 into law!

This is an important victory for historic preservation, and you helped make it happen.

Thank you to everyone who contacted the Governor, sent emails, shared our action alert, and spoke up in support of this important legislation. Your voices mattered.

AB 2576 closes an important gap in California’s new transit-oriented housing law, SB 79. It provides protections for qualifying contributing properties within historic districts listed in the California Historical Resources Inventory Database, as well as individually listed historic resources in the inventory, when designated before January 1, 2025.

By Nicholas Riccardi and Matt Brown / AP / September 14, 2026

Democratic state parties announced Monday that they are launching an operation for the midterm elections they’re calling the “New Battlefield Project,” intended to recruit 10,000 volunteers to guard polling places in case armed federal officers show up.

Activists are planning mass protests if the Trump administration tries to interfere with voting or ballot counting. And legal scholars are distributing white papers advising judges what they should do if the government tries to seize ballots.

The unprecedented efforts are in response to President Donald Trump’s equally unprecedented moves to interfere in this year’s midterm elections, which include attempts to impose proof-of-citizenship requirements to register to vote and directing the Postal Service to play a central role in deciding which voters should get a mail ballot.

The anxious contingency planning as voting gets underway has become a marker for how fraught democracy has become in the country that once stood as an example to the world.

“We have never prepared for an election sabotage event like we have now,” said Ezra Levin of the left-leaning group Indivisible.

By Alexandra Hutzler / Democracy Docket / September 14, 2026

In a major win for voters, the Supreme Court Monday rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to reinstate its mail voting restrictions ahead of November’s pivotal midterm elections.

The justices declined to lift a block on the measure that a lower court judge has said is likely unconstitutional.

“The Government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the District Court’s preliminary injunction,” the court said in a brief, unsigned order. “And the equitable factors applicable for obtaining emergency relief from this Court do not favor a stay.”

The ruling* was 6-1-2, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing a concurring opinion and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissenting.

By Marc Elias / Democracy Docket / September 8, 2026

We are less than two months until Election Day for the most important midterms of our lifetime. Ballots have already started to be sent out. The threats to free and fair elections are real and growing more serious by the day.

What once seemed like an abstract threat has now become concrete. The risk of a rigged election is no longer unthinkable. The need for action can no longer be delayed or denied.

I have often said that Donald Trump’s plan is to make it harder for you to vote and easier for him to cheat. Now we know what that will look like in 2026.

Donald Trump issued an executive order claiming powers over federal elections that he does not have. In response, the U.S. Postal Service is trying to ram through a rule that will make voting by mail more difficult while requiring states to turn over sensitive voter data.

The Postal Service has not been shy in making clear that it is taking these steps to allow federal law enforcement to conduct criminal investigations of alleged voter fraud.

That is not all the USPS has done to make voting more difficult. A series of smaller changes have resulted in slower mail service and delayed postmarks on envelopes. While these are not limited to returned ballots, the results have been devastating for those trying to vote by mail.