Category: California

By Michael Wilner and Queenie Wong / Los Angeles Times / June 12, 2025 Updated 6:19 PM PT

A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to “return control” of the California National Guard to Gov. Gavin Newsom after the president issued an extraordinary order deploying them to Los Angeles over the weekend.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, presiding over the case, granted California’s request for a temporary restraining order, granting the federal government a stay until Friday to appeal the ruling.

Breyer had expressed skepticism at a hearing Thursday over the matter, questioning whether President Trump had operated within his authority.

“We’re talking about the president exercising his authority, and of course, the president is limited in his authority,” Breyer said. “That’s the difference between the president and King George.”

“We live in response to a monarchy,” the judge continued, adding: “Line drawing is important, because it establishes a system of process.”

The Marines are trained in combat, not crowd control. People are likely to get hurt.

By Marjorie Cohn / Truthout / June 11, 2025

Four and a half months after his inauguration, Donald Trump is exercising his authoritarian chops, targeting immigrants in the state he most despises — California. Making good on Trump’s nativist pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security started conducting widespread raids outside workplaces in Los Angeles. They began on June 6, with no prior notification to the California governor, L.A. mayor or local law enforcement.

During these raids, ICE officers arrested people in military-style operations that instilled fear and panic in the community and terrorized immigrants.

[Please see original for all links.]

As a result of the Trump administration’s repressive anti-immigrant actions, thousands of people of all races and backgrounds took to the streets in solidarity with their fellow Angelenos and conducted protests that have largely consisted of mass marches and rallies. Some protesters have also engaged in direct actions, such as blocking portions of the 101 freeway. A handful of protesters have vandalized corporate-owned, self-driving Waymo robotaxis to highlight their role in expanding the police surveillance state: the driverless cars are constantly recording surveillance videos that are then used by police.

By Joni Halpern

“Go ahead and take my place in line,” said the old man in front of me as we stood recently in a long queue of people waiting to enter a local Social Security Administration (SSA) Office.  “I’ve been here since 7 o’clock this morning,” he told me.  “I can’t take it anymore.”

He had just climbed out of the ground cover into which he had fallen after one of his bandaged legs had finally given way.  He had been waiting in line to schedule an appointment so he could return at some later date to resolve a Social Security problem of which he had been notified by mail some weeks earlier.

Americans who need help from SSA staff members cannot enter an SSA office without an appointment.  The trick is to schedule the appointment.  In the long line of people I met that day at the SSA office, every single one had tried to get an appointment by calling the highly publicized phone number listed on the SSA website and on every other communication issued by SSA.  Most had also tried to get an appointment by going online.  When that failed, their last resort was to go in person to an SSA office to wait in line to schedule an appointment.

Here’s two brief reports on Bernie Sanders’ reaction to Trump deploying hundreds of National Guard troops to Los Angeles.

By Sudiksha Kochi / USA TODAY / June 8, 2025

Progressive firebrand Sen. Bernie Sanders said he believes President Donald Trump is “moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism” after Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to help quell immigration protests in Los Angeles.

“This guy wants all of the power. He does not believe in the Constitution. He does not believe in the rule of law. My understanding is that the governor of California, the mayor of the city of Los Angeles did not request the National Guard, but he thinks he has a right to do anything he wants,” Sanders, a Vermont independent, told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

The protests come as the Trump administration has taken stronger actions to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants. Demonstrators allege the administration’s immigration enforcement has violated civil and human rights.

By OB Rag Staff / June 6, 2025

In a decision that has received international “only in California” news coverage, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that San Diego’s 2024 ban on teaching yoga at shoreline parks and beaches is unconstitutional.

The judgement, which reversed a lower court ruling that yoga instruction is not protected by the First Amendment, clears the way for plaintiffs Steven Hubbard (aka “NamaSteve”) and Amy Baack to resume their free oceanfront yoga instruction.

By Ben Christopher / CalMatters / June 4, 2025

The northern tip of the Vermont Square neighborhood in South Los Angeles gentrified in many of the usual ways over the last decade.

Median incomes shot up. The neighborhood’s share of Black residents declined. On the list of fastest growing home prices across the region, Vermont Square cracked the top ten. Along Western Avenue, new apartment buildings popped up as visible markers of change.

But there is a less obvious, if no less profound, marker: Fewer people began riding the bus.

Between 2012 and 2017, public transit ridership fell in this Census designated tract — a roughly half-square mile neighborhood spanning Western — by 24%. In that same period, the neighborhood-wide rent increased by an average of $468 per month.

That, according to UCLA researchers, is probably not a coincidence. A study published late last year compared changes in transit ridership numbers to rental market trends in neighborhoods across Los Angeles and Orange counties. It found that in neighborhoods well-served by buses and trains, transit ridership tended to fall in places where the rents were rising.

By Neighbors for a Better San Diego / June 2, 2025

While Neighbors For A Better San Diego has been focusing on San Diego’s revisions to the Bonus ADU program, a bill is moving through the California State Senate — Senate Bill 79 (SB 79) — that could radically change for the worse single-family neighborhoods across the state, including right here in San Diego.

SB 79 would allow housing developments up to 6 stories tall (65 feet or more) in single-family zoned neighborhoods within a half-mile of bus rapid transit (BRT) or trolley lines — all under the pretense of climate action and transit accessibility. This could include transit stops that are planned but may never be built.

Neighbors For A Better San Diego strongly opposes SB 79.  Our objections are detailed in our white paper.

While some of our objections arise from the specific conditions of San Diego, others apply to all California cities:

By Paul Coogan / San Diego Urban Wildfire / May 21, 2025

As Los Angeles reels from the devastating loss of 16,251 structures and 29 lives in the Palisades and Eaton fires, city, county, and state are studying the ashen landscape to learn how we can better survive the next urban wildfire. Those lessons will be essential in crafting new policies for land use, building codes, infrastructure enhancements, and technological advancements.

San Diego has a golden opportunity to leverage this information and craft new policy without undergoing our own tragic devastation. But will our civic leadership heed the science?

We are bound to live with increasing wildfire risk as climate change makes for hotter, drier, and windier fire seasons. We must mitigate that risk by taking a hard look at our current state of affairs and applying strategic planning and policy implementation.

By Dan Walters / Calmatters / May 20, 2025

One of Gavin Newsom’s political ploys is to depict political rivals as bullies and himself as someone who stands up to them.

Last September, for example, he devoted an entire segment of his podcast, “Politickin’,” to denouncing Donald Trump, saying he is “a bully. But here’s the thing about bullies — they’re weak.”

That was before Trump was elected and before Newsom had to play nice in hopes of securing billions of dollars in federal relief aid for fire-damaged Los Angeles County. After initially saying he would provide such aid during a visit to L.A., Trump began hinting on imposing conditions on California, such as tightening up voting requirements and loosening up on water deliveries to farmers.

Newsom then reverted to his previous role as a leader of resistance to Trump.

Yes, Trump does use bullying tactics to get his way. He uses aggressive policies — such as tariffs on imports — as a negotiating tactic. So does Newsom.

By Dr Shirley Weber / Los Angeles Times Op-Ed / May 2, 2025

In my family, voting isn’t just a right — it’s a lifeline.

My parents were sharecroppers in Arkansas until 1951, when my dad dared stand up to his boss for not paying him a fair wage at the agricultural weigh station. Under threat from the KKK, he left town in a wagon, covered in hay so he wouldn’t be discovered. Three months later — after months of threats of violence from the Klan at our home — the rest of our family rode in that same wagon on our way to join him in California.

Only when we settled in Los Angeles were my parents able to register to vote, finally free from fear of the violent and deadly retribution that such a simple act would trigger across the Jim Crow South.

My family’s lived experience facing discrimination and the vigilantes of the South cannot be forgotten, especially now as Congress considers the SAVE Act. The House recently approved the SAVE Act under the guise that it will prevent illegal voting — an issue that is infinitesimally rare but buoyed by baseless narratives.

If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the act’s true effect would be to disenfranchise millions of voters across the country and in California.

by Jeanne Kuang / CalMatters /  April 23, 2025

Amid a post-2024 wave of Democratic interest in the burgeoning pro-development “abundance” movement, this seemed to be an easy year for California’s yes-in-my-backyard housing development activists. Democratic leaders in the state Legislature declared their intention to tackle affordability this year. Gov. Gavin Newsom and other politicians have since embraced the “abundance” platform, which argues that Democrats must do more to quickly deliver housing, transportation and other infrastructure projects to their constituents.

Lawmakers have introduced ambitious bills that would, for housing developments in existing neighborhoods, blow a hole through the longstanding thicket of environmental reviews and regulations that often slow down projects and add costs. One of those passed its first committee on Monday, April 21.

Still, YIMBY-ism hit a stumbling block Tuesday, April 22, in the form of the Senate housing committee. The committee, led by Sen. Aisha Wahab, nearly killed a closely watched bill to require cities to allow taller, denser apartments and condo construction near public transit stations.