Category: California

By Erwin Chemerinsky / LA Times Commentary  / August 26, 2026

The Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday allowing President Trump’s executive order on mail voting to go forward is stunningly insensitive to the context: Trump is trying to exercise control over elections when he has absolutely no authority to do so. In one sense, the justices decided nothing, simply saying it was too soon for federal courts to get involved. But in a more important way, the court could have and should have put an emphatic end to the president’s efforts to try to regulate voting operations that are legally the domain of state governments.

The context for the Supreme Court’s ruling is Trump’s repeated assertion that noncitizens are illegally voting in the United States. However, many studies done on this topic have come to the same conclusion: Instances of noncitizens voting are extremely rare.

One study from 2017, by the Brennan Center for Justice, looked at 42 jurisdictions across which more than 23.5 million votes were cast, and found only 30 instances in which there were investigations into noncitizens voting — or 0.0001% of ballots cast.

City News Service – Times of San Diego / August 11, 2026

Following an attempt to inspect the Otay Mesa Detention Center in February, the county released a public report Monday detailing conditions in the facility.

The conditions during the inspection were generally within recommended state standards for detention facilities, areas of concern in the findings included an individual who was not provided a needed medical device 18 months after admission, as well as not having any vaccines in stock, the report reads.

Another major area of concern was lack of responsiveness with County Public Health to coordinate tuberculosis-related cases. Two tuberculosis cases “were not reported from the facility’s medical staff but were instead discovered through a facility vendor that provides medical testing services.”

The facility was unresponsive for several weeks before the facility finally cooperated with the communicable disease investigation.

“Tuberculosis requires immediate reporting and a coordinated response to identify exposed individuals, initiate appropriate treatment, and prevent further transmission,” said County Public Health Officer Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan.

Feds Want to Begin ‘Review’ of How California Manages Our Coast

By Tammy Murga / KPBS / August 11, 2026

Public hearings this week could influence the future of oil production, rocket launches and other federal industrial projects off California’s coast.

The Trump administration is evaluating the state’s Coastal Commission and other coastal agencies. Depending on the outcome, the state could lose its authority to review and regulate projects that involve the coastline.

Coastal leaders and environmentalists across California, including San Diego County, said the results of the federal government’s new review are already predetermined.

“The current federal administration is behaving in an unprecedented way, and they are very excited to advance offshore oil drilling and other types of projects off the California coast,” said Jennifer Savage, the Surfrider Foundation’s California policy manager.

A routine review that the Biden administration largely completed last year showed favorability with the agencies managing the coast, she said.

In May, however, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said California “has repeatedly and unfoundedly obstructed spaceport development in bad faith.”

Spaceport development could include construction of infrastructure for spacecraft to launch and land. The Coastal Commission had rejected a request last year from the U.S. Space Force to increase SpaceX rocket launches off California’s coast due to concerns over beach closures and environmental and noise impacts.

By Blanca Begert / LA Times / July 31, 2026

California hit a major milestone in May, generating more than half its electricity from the sun in what is believed to be a global first, according to an analysis of federal data.

“California has had a wealth of solar growth in the last five years,” said Abby Lestina, an analyst at Grid Status, a group that tracks electricity supply and demand in U.S. power markets but was not involved with the analysis. “It makes sense that they would reach this goal.”

It’s the first time a large-scale power system is known to have surpassed 50% solar for an entire month.

It’s also the second significant power record set by the state recently. For the first five months of 2026, California made more electricity from solar than from natural gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Burning natural gas has long been the dominant source of electricity in the state. This could be the first year that solar beats gas in California’s power mix.

California has been trending in this direction for years, but the boom in new battery storage around the state allows it to save solar power when it’s overabundant and use it when the sun goes down.

A Classic Story of Mid-West Immigrants Coming to Southern California During the War

By Philip Roger Shafer

Retold by His Daughter Micaela Porte 

Chapter 1

The Idea  — It started with the letters. The letters from California. The letters from my father’s friend, Walter, had been arriving for over a year, who moved there to work for the defense industry.

Father read them to us at the dinner table. We could hardly believe it. Roses and oranges in winter? A postcard of snow-capped mountains in the background and fruiting orchards in the foreground from Burbank, California.

It was January, 1944. We lived in Columbus, Ohio. I think we all dreamed a lot of California that year.

Christmas had been dreary. Dreary weather, dreary long war rationing, dreary death of Uncle Sydney, prisoner of war, my mother’s young brother, she was so sad. Dreary death of my dad’s mother, Grandma Emma, from a long illness, he was so sad.

I wasn’t sad about death and war. I was ten. I loved sledding, but I busted my front teeth in a jump and all the dental work was making me sad.

“Dear Phil and Edith,

Happy New Year 1944, glad we are alive.
Friends, you must move to California. The place is booming, towns forming overnight. Ask for a transfer, we need good Bell Men.

The war drags on, our condolences to you for the lost of your loved ones in this tragedy…

I miss the snow sometimes, for about 15 minutes at Christmas. Our winter coats hang unused in the hall closet.

Give our love to the family,
Happier New Year to all,

Beginning August 1, NPR Music will publish a week-long list of stories and podcast episodes exploring the legacy and future of the Grateful Dead fandom. And they want to hear from you!

They want to know: How did you become a fan of the Grateful Dead? Maybe it was a specific album that converted you, or you were transformed by a show you saw. And what would you say to someone who just doesn’t understand the band’s appeal?

By Marc Elias / Democracy Docket / July 27, 2026

Election Day is less than 100 days away.

Donald Trump is deeply unpopular. The Republican Party has little to show for its time in power. Prices are up, and the economy is stagnant. We are at war in the Middle East.

The GOP is not acting like a party trying to persuade voters to support its candidates — because it isn’t. Instead, the Republican Party’s entire strategy boils down to this:

1. Change the rules and misuse government resources to make it harder for Democratic voters to cast ballots.
2. Control and manipulate voter registration databases to disqualify enough Democrats from voting.
3. If all else fails, make false claims of fraud as an excuse to subvert the results.

By JW August / Special to OB Rag

Shirley Weber, California’s Secretary of State. has responded to a recent veiled threat from the Trump administration warning about criminal prosecutions of any election official allowing ineligible individuals to vote.

President Trump frequently repeats the claim of ineligible voters swinging the results of the 2020 presidential election he lost. No legitimate evidence has ever been provided to back the claim.

Weber’s response was to a letter from attorney and Trump supporter Harmeet Dhillon, who oversees the administration’s civil rights division as an Assistant Attorney General. Weber told Dhillon that “California is in full compliance with federal election law obligations.”

Weber did not respond to an offer of “assistance” from the Trump administration. Instead her unspoken response seemed to say, California electors know what they are doing. To prove her point she sent Dhillon a lengthy list of California and federal laws and codes her office enforces.

By Andrea Margolis / Fox News / July 18, 2026

A family’s unusual discovery in a rental home that left some TikTok viewers shocked finally has an explanation.

Libby Birrell and Aubrey Birrell, two sisters from Utah, recently went viral on social media after checking into an Airbnb rental and recognizing members of their own family in a framed beach photo hanging on the wall.

In an interview with Fox News Digital this week, the sisters admitted they were extremely “creeped out” by seeing the picture.

They were at a rental home in Oceanside, San Diego, with about 30 relatives to celebrate their grandfather’s 80th birthday in early July, they said, when they spotted the photo.

“The moment we saw it, we made everyone come up and look, and they were all in awe,” Aubrey Birrell said. “I started FaceTiming my friends because they all know my family. They were in shock, too. It was crazy.”

By JW August / Special to OB Rag

San Diegan Shirley Weber, California’s Secretary of State, has received a warning from the U.S.Department of Justice, advising her that she or “any election officer” in California faces serious criminal charges for “knowingly retaining non-citizens on the Statewide Voter Registration List.”

The letter, sent July 7, was signed by Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights  Division. At one time, she was one of the most influential  Republican women in California politics, and her stature has grown even more since following President Trump to Washington, where she is now a powerful voice in the party. Under her direction, the division, which 69 years ago was created to protect voting rights and to fight inequality, has changed course.

Before joining the administration, Dhillon was in private practice, and the firm she founded filed lawsuits in support of many of Trump’s goals.  This included a case in San Diego, where a Trump anti-vax supporter’s protests were gaining momentum.

Fast forward to the current Trump admiration and her role is again in support of conservative causes. In a recent Los Angeles Times article, a dozen former attorneys in the division said “the division has taken on a far more partisan approach.”

In the same story, Dhillon defended her work, stating that “the division’s actions aren’t political.”  She added her work isn’t combative; instead, “it’s transparent.”

Dhillon believes there is clear potential for non-citizens to vote in California elections. The letter to Weber comes amid increasing pressure by the Trump administration to discredit the nation’s voting systems, which the President says are inherently flawed.

By JW August

Laurie Holcomb, founder of a multiple cannabis companies, has made serious errors in judgment, alleges the U.S.Attorney’s Office in San Diego. The government announced last week it had filed a false claims act complaint against her, claiming that she had illegally obtained five pandemic loans from the federal government.

Her companies were engaged in the “cultivation, distribution, and retail sale of recreational cannabis and cannabis products,” according to the government’s filing.  As is commonly known, it’s legal to plant, cultivate and smoke marijuana in California if you play by its rules.  Not so with the federal government if it’s sold for recreational use, it’s still considered highly restricted Schedule I drug.

Holcomb’s mistake, the U.S. Attorney alleges, was when she asked the government for money. It was during the pandemic times and she borrowed from the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, which was created to help businesses during the pandemic.  She  convinced the government to give her $1.4 million.

Holcolm’s company claims to have generated $100 million in annual sales of cannabis, according to various media reports. The company also has a 100,000 square-foot cultivation campus in Los Angeles.

The company is described in the media reports as one of the leading legal cannabis companies in the state, having distributed marijuana all over California, including numerous locations in San Diego. Debts and merger decisions forced her to file for bankruptcy protection in March of last year.

By Shannon Handy / CBS8 / July 8-9, 2026 

Researchers reveal alarming statistics about gray whales, declaring a “catastrophic mortality event” along the West Coast as strandings escalate dramatically this year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports a staggering 145 gray whales have been found stranded dead on the West Coast, including regions in Mexico and Canada, marking a significant increase that could make 2026 one of the deadliest years on record for these marine mammals.

The current stranding rate starkly contrasts with the previous two decades, where the average number of stranding per year was around 43 from 2006 to 2023. In 2025, the number surged to 179, raising further concerns among scientists and conservationists.