Category: California

By Scott Dance and Joshua Partlow / Washington Post / March 7, 2025

The Army Corps of Engineers colonel responsible for releasing water from two California reservoirs at President Donald Trump’s direction in January knew that it was unlikely to reach the southern part of the state as Trump had promised, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post.

The agency carried out Trump’s directive, which came in the wake of catastrophic wildfires in Los Angeles County, on short notice on Jan. 30, though it would normally require days to coordinate. A memo written four days after the release, obtained by The Post through a public records request, shows how federal officials rushed ahead with the plan to release irrigation water despite objections from the state’s elected officials and some local farmers.

Col. Chad W. Caldwell, commander of the Army Corps’ Sacramento district, wrote that the water that poured out of Lake Kaweah and Success Lake “could not be delivered to Southern California directly.”

Editordude: The Rag is forced to quote from today’s UT about this important City council hearing yesterday, Tuesday, March 4; we will have some follow-up hopefully in the days ahead.

By David Garret / San Diego Union-Tribune / March 5, 2025

San Diego is substantially rolling back a controversial city incentive that allows the owner of a single-family lot to build potentially dozens of backyard apartments on it.

The City Council voted 6-3 Tuesday to eliminate the program in eight types of single-family neighborhoods where lot sizes tend be larger than other single-family neighborhoods.

The goal is preventing abuse of the program by developers who target what city officials call “outlier” lots: large, unusually shaped lots that allow more backyard apartments than city officials ever intended or imagined.

Council members said the compromise they reached will retain the positive aspects of the program, such as producing more housing relatively quickly, while eliminating some of the biggest negatives.

The council also voted in favor of other significant changes to the controversial incentive, which is formally known as a bonus accessory dwelling unit program. City officials call backyard apartments accessory dwelling units, or ADUs.

The City of San Diego’s Bonus ADU Program will be on the minds of many as residents across the city will be attending the City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 4. They will be urging the Council to restore the vote to eliminate the ADU Bonus Density Program—a decision they unanimously supported on January 28, 2025 before later rescinding it due to a procedural problem involving the Brown Act.

Here is some background provided by the group Neighbors for a Better California:

On January 28, 2025, the City Council voted unanimously to end the San Diego ADU Bonus Density Program, but a [possible] Brown Act violation means it’s still in place. On March 4, 2025, Footnote 7 and Bonus ADUs will be discussed, but this Item 330 only impacts footnote 7 in Southeastern San Diego—not the full citywide bonus ADU repeal we want. We need to keep fighting to formally get the Stop Bonus ADU officially on the agenda!…

The local ACLU in San Diego has joined a lawsuit against the Border Patrol along with other state affiliates by the United Farm Workers and residents of Bakersfield for border agents’ unlawful raids in the Latino areas of Kern County.

Formerly called the ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties, it joined the lawsuit with their Southern California and Northern California affiliates, a lawsuit whose story played out in the media. In short, in January 2025, Border Patrol agents based at the United States-Mexico border traveled more than 300 miles north to Bakersfield to launch “Operation Return to Sender”.

This was a weeklong sweep through predominantly Latino areas of Kern County and the surrounding region to indiscriminately stop, detain and arrest people of color who appeared to be farmworkers or day laborers, regardless of their actual immigration status.

By Brae Canlen 

This is an ode to the California Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV), an agency much maligned by people who use it. It’s also an early obituary; the astute observer will have already seen the signs of its oncoming demise.

When I approached the Hillcrest DMV to replace a lost driver’s license, it looked like business as usual. The things I love most about the place hadn’t changed. The chronically unemployed were sitting in plastic chairs next to the day traders, the newly retired with fresh bus passes, and the moms with fussy babies. (I have yet to figure out how billionaires avoid the DMV, but I’m pretty sure they do.)

In a world of growing social chasms, the DMV is one of the last great levelers of society, an unparalleled cross section of San Diego. Occupy any chair for 15 minutes and let the masses –washed, unwashed, and cell-phoned– swirl around you.

And every person from every stratum gets the same level of service. DMV employees have long had a reputation for being indolent and cranky. But I have found the opposite to be true. Most make an effort to be helpful. (Except for the security guard at the door, of course.)

But what they can’t cancel out, no matter how hard they try, is their fatal flaw.

Moves to Bolster Country’s Sovereignty Against Trump’s Threats to Invade Under Guise of Attacking Cartels

By Mexico News Daily Staff / Feb. 20, 2025

At her Thursday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to the United States’ designation of six Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations by announcing she was sending a constitutional reform proposal to Congress to bolster the protection of Mexico’s sovereignty.

Among other issues, Sheinbaum also spoke about United States President Donald Trump’s decision to launch an anti-drug campaign.

Sheinbaum’s proposed reform would add two paragraphs to the Mexican constitution’s Article 40, stating among other things, that Mexico will not consent to intervention by foreign entities in Mexican territory, not even for the purpose of investigating or prosecuting crimes. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)

On the day the United States’ designation of six Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations took effect, Sheinbaum declared that Mexico’s sovereignty is not up for negotiation.

The terrorist designations of the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and other Mexican criminal organizations “can’t be an opportunity for the United States to invade our sovereignty,” she said.

Presidents Day, Feb. 17th, turned into a day of protests against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk in dozens of cities across the United States.

The “Not My Presidents Day” and “No Kings on Presidents Day” gatherings on Monday were mainly organized by the 50501 Movement, which planned demonstrations in all 50 states to protest what the group called “the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.” More than 75 protests had been scheduled for Monday.

Demonstrators marched to state capitols in California, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana and Pennsylvania to denounce Trump, Project 2025, billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an outside-government organization designed to slash federal spending.

Southern California Grocery Workers Are Rising for Fair Wages and Better Working Conditions

By Todd Walters, President, UFCW Local 135

For too long, the hardworking union grocery workers of Southern California have been overworked, understaffed, and underpaid. These essential workers, who showed up day in and day out during the pandemic to keep our communities fed, now find themselves struggling to make ends meet. With inflation driving up the cost of living at an alarming rate, it’s time for major grocery corporations—Kroger/Ralphs, Albertsons/Vons, Stater Bros., and Gelson’s—to step up and provide the fair wages and benefits that these workers have earned.

Southern California UFCW Locals are gearing up for what will likely be the toughest round of negotiations in decades. Bargaining with Kroger/Ralphs and Albertsons/Vons kicks off on February 13, with Stater Bros. negotiations beginning on March 6.

Videos on social media are circulating showing Latinos rejecting or turning away from American products in response to mass deportations taking place around the country.

One video shows a family about to have dinner together when a young man emphatically tells his mother “how could you do that when Coca-Cola is turning its back on Mexicans.”

In response, the mom takes a large bottle of Coke and pours its contents down the drain.

This is part of an effort by a group called Freeze Latino Movement to boycott American companies while poking fun of the ongoing deportations launched by the Trump administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

By Kate Williams / The Point PLNU /  Feb 5, 2025

California’s State Assembly Bill 413, a measure that prohibits cars from stopping, standing or parking within 20 feet of both red and unmarked intersections, went into effect Jan 1.

The Daylighting Parking Law’s goal is to give drivers and pedestrians more visibility around crosswalks.

Alex Irving, a second-year communications major at PLNU, commutes to Marine Physical Training in Mission Bay twice a week. She experienced difficulty turning when cars were parked right along the intersection, blocking the view.

From CNN / Feb. 3, 2025

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened two dams on Friday [Jan. 31] in Central California and let roughly 2.2 billion gallons of water flow out of reservoirs, after President Donald Trump ordered the release with the misguided intent to send water to fire-ravaged Southern California.

Trump celebrated the move in posts to Truth Social post on Friday and Sunday, declaring, “the water is flowing in California,” and adding the water was “heading to farmers throughout the State, and to Los Angeles.”

There are two major problems, water experts said: The newly released water will not flow to Los Angeles, and it is being wasted by being released during the wet winter season.

Noon this Friday, January 31st, is the deadline to register to vote online for your local representatives to the California Democratic Party.

If you’re in California Assembly Districts 77, 78, 79 or 80, you’re in Region 22, which covers all of San Diego County. Here is the link 

For those who are still appalled by the shellacking last November at the national level, or concerned about cronyism at the local level, this is an opportunity to weigh in on who gets to decide which Democratic candidates you get to vote for.