Category: California

Overview

What would Proposition 50 change about congressional districts in California?

Ballotpedia reports: California Proposition 50, 2025

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Proposition 50 would authorize the state to use a new congressional district map from Assembly Bill 604 (AB 604).[1]

The new congressional district map would be used to elect members of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2026 through 2030. The proposed map would replace the existing maps, which the 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission adopted on December 27, 2021, for elections from 2022 through 2030. Proposition 50 would provide that the Citizens Redistricting Commission will redraw congressional districts in 2031.[1]

CBS8

SAN DIEGO — As staffing issues continue to hit several major airports across the United States, the San Diego International Airport is advising travelers to arrive early to catch their flights.

While San Diego International Airport has not yet reported any immediate issues, in a post on Instagram, airport officials said travelers should arrive two hours early for domestic flights and three hours early for international flights as a precautionary measure.

The warning comes as a federal government shutdown enters its seventh day on Tuesday, impacting air traffic controllers and other federal employees.

On Monday night, the Hollywood Burbank Airport operated without air traffic controllers for several hours, creating a number of flight delays for travelers. The airport had no air traffic controllers in its tower from 4:15 p.m. until 10 p.m.

by Trena Turner / Cal-Matters / Sept. 19, 2025

As a California redistricting commissioner, I have witnessed firsthand the careful, deliberate and transparent process that drew our congressional lines to reflect the real people of our state. The work was not easy, but it was honorable — and it safeguarded the principle that every community deserves fair representation.

Which is why I am both alarmed and deeply disappointed at the way conversations around Proposition 50, California’s mid-cycle redistricting measure, have often been reduced to a single, shallow question: “What will it cost?”

Yes, this special election carries a financial cost. But if we view it only through dollars and cents, we ignore the greater risks. An estimated 3.4 million Californians stand to lose health care coverage due to Medicaid cuts, and another 3.1 million people — children, veterans and families — face the loss of vital nutrition assistance through SNAP.

There are measurable consequences of this moment that will reshape the health and stability of our state, while steadily eroding the foundations of our democracy.

We cannot ignore the reality that this year’s map-redrawing in Texas and other states, at President Trump’s urging, has been widely challenged as racial gerrymandering. This continues a generational pattern in many states where lines are drawn to weaken Black, brown, immigrant and working-class voices so politicians can pick their voters.

OB Staff Report / September 30, 2025

Former San Diego state senator Toni Atkins has withdrawn from the crowded race for California governor, saying in a statement Monday that “there is simply no viable path forward to victory.”

The decision comes just one month after a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll ranked Atkins 11th out of 12 gubernatorial candidates, with 1 percent of respondents choosing her as their first-place choice, and 38 percent undecided.

The three top-ranked candidates were Democrat Katie Porter, chosen as first by 17 percent, Republican Chad Bianco, chosen by 10 percent, and Democrat Xavier Becerra, chosen by 9 percent.

By Rachel Becker, Kristen Hwang, Alejandro Lazo, Cayla Mihalovich, and Jeanne Huang / CalMatters / September 29, 2025

John Lauretig remembers the filthy bathrooms, the overflowing trash cans and the community of people who rallied to clean up Joshua Tree National Park the last time the U.S. Government shut down.

For more than a month from December 2018 through January 2019, thousands of National Park Service employees were furloughed nationwide — but the Trump administration kept many national parks open.

Unsupervised, visitors drove through wilderness and historic sites, camped where they weren’t supposed to, and vandalized plants and buildings at parks across California. The trash — and the feces — piled up. In the days after the shutdown ended, park staff found at least 1,665 clumps of toilet paper littering Death Valley alone, where an estimated half-ton of human waste had been left outside the restrooms.

“It was insane to leave the gates open and tell the staff not to show up in the park — for our public lands, and all of our special places in this country, to be unprotected,” said Lauretig, a retired law enforcement park ranger and president of the Friends of Joshua Tree nonprofit.

Now, facing the prospect of another imminent shutdown, conservation groups and retired park service employees including Lauretig are calling to keep the gates locked at national parks and historic landmarks.

They’re among many Californians bracing for the shutdown, which is expected to begin Wednesday unless Democrats and Republicans can make a deal by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday.

By Eric Law / September 23, 2025

Everyone needs a place to live. We are bombarded with the idea that there are far too few houses, the available housing is very expensive, and we need to build a great deal more to drive prices down and availability up. Everyone agrees that housing affordability is a problem, even if they don’t agree on why.

But how much is enough? How many new dwellings do we need to build to get the housing market stable, where supply and demand reach an equilibrium?

The answer is surprisingly achievable and likely far less than the city, county and state assert.

Using data from the US Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey and housing market measures from the economic analysis firm Moody’s, San Diego has a current shortfall of about 25,200 housing units. Using expected population growth figure from the state, San Diego needs to build about 42,600 units over the next decade to reach a housing market equilibrium on par with that across the remainder of the country.

While that may seem like a great deal of required building, it’s very achievable at a normal building pace. To place this requirement in context, San Diego issued over 9,000 residential building permits in 2023, many for multifamily dwellings with multiple units. This means that the city will reach a balanced housing market in 5 years at this building pace.

by Mike McCarthy / Times of San Diego / Sept. 17, 2025

Point Loma High celebrated its centennial with a gala on Sept. 13, marking a major milestone for the school’s long and decorated history. More than a thousand alumni and guests gathered at the Port Pavilion on the Broadway Pier for the festive event.

Several older alumni were given special recognition, including Eileen Finley McCarthy, who was presented as the school’s oldest living alumna. She will turn 104 on Oct. 25.

McCarthy was born in 1921 and raised in Point Loma. Her parents and older brother immigrated from Canada and settled in Ocean Beach in 1918. McCarthy’s early life was dedicated to dance and the performing arts. Attending public school was usually not an option at that time. The opportunity to be at Point Loma High “for two wonderful years (1935-37), was one of the best times of my life,” she said.

As a young girl and then a teenager, McCarthy was well-known in San Diego as an actress on the radio.  During the Depression, this type of work was well-received and well-paid. The money was used to pay for her expenses as a ballerina, her first and real love. McCarthy was also the principal dancer for the San Diego Starlight Ballet.

By Gillian Mohney / SFGate / Sep 15, 2025 

Officials at UC Berkeley have sent over a hundred names of students and staff to federal officials, who are looking into allegations of antisemitism as part of an ongoing federal investigation.

The names of 160 students, faculty and staff were sent to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights after the office demanded documents related to complaints of antisemitism and discrimination at the university.

[See below for “Backlash”]

“The UC systemwide Office of the General Counsel (OGC), in compliance with its legal obligations to cooperate with the agency, directed UC Berkeley to provide those documents to the federal agency,” Janet Gilmore, the senior director of strategic communications at UC Berkeley, said in an emailed statement. “Numerous documents were provided over recent months to OCR, including the names of individuals in those reports.”

Gilmore added that the individuals were notified last week if they were named in the documents sent to the federal investigators.

By Ben Christopher / CalMatters Times of San Diego / Sept. 13, 2025

California lawmakers just laid the groundwork for a highly targeted building boom.

Senate Bill 79, authored by San Francisco Democrat Sen. Scott Wiener, would “upzone” neighborhoods immediately surrounding train, light rail and subway stations in many of the state’s most populous metro areas. That means apartment developers will be able to construct residential buildings — some as tall as 75 feet — regardless of what local zoning maps, elected officials or density-averse neighbors say.

In a legislative year teeming with controversial housing bills designed to kick-start more construction in California, SB 79 has been among the most controversial. Because it would override the planning decisions of local governments, the bill had to overcome opposition from a host of city governments and their defenders in the Legislature, while fracturing the Capitol’s reigning Democratic Party over questions of affordability, labor standards and who ultimately has the final say over what gets built where.

The bill now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom – supporters expect he will sign it.

By Ed Kilgore / New York Magazine- Readers Supported News / September 8, 2025

The ability to retaliate against Donald Trump’s power grabs and other outrages is a rare pleasure for Democrats, which is why Gavin Newsom’s counter-gerrymandering effort in California is so wildly popular among Democrats. If Democrats can’t stop Trump’s egregious policies in Congress (and they really can’t) and the U.S. Supreme Court is either enabling him or slow-walking efforts to rein him in (which it clearly is), then they need different arenas in which to contest his authoritarian ways.

Since Trump chose to intervene in state-government prerogatives by ordering the Texas legislature to grab the GOP some new U.S. House districts, it made perfect sense for California to respond, even though it would require a constitutional amendment enacted via an insanely expensive ballot-initiative fight.

But Democrats shouldn’t reflexively ape Trump’s every excess, particularly in formulating an agenda for their eventual return to power. They currently have the high ground with a small but strategically critical share of voters who dislike partisan power grabs no matter who is carrying them out. These voters may not want to restore Democrats to power in 2026 or 2028 if they believe that when it comes to lawless conduct, “both sides do it.”

by Jim Newton / Cal-Matters / September 4, 2025

At least two things are true about SB 79, a bill by state Sen. Scott Wiener that would clear the way for construction of apartment buildings near transit stops in California, most pointedly including Los Angeles: It’s a bad idea, and Los Angeles has only itself to blame for it.

The fact that Wiener’s approach is both wrongheaded and entirely understandable has led to some strange reactions in California’s largest city, where unusual bedfellows have found themselves together either supporting or opposing it. A bare majority of a city council normally divided between liberals and democratic socialists came together to formally oppose the bill, the eight no votes drawing from both political camps. Supporters similarly crossed ideological lines.

Mayor Karen Bass also opposed Wiener’s bill, positing a brief statement. “While I support the intent to accelerate housing development statewide,” she said, “as written, this bill risks unintended consequences for LA.”

She was joined by her once and possibly future opponent, developer Rick Caruso, who echoed Bass’ ambivalence as well as her conclusion.

“The state is right to encourage more housing,” he said, “but it must be done with the full engagement and support of local officials and residents.”

State Assembly: COMPLETE FORM HERE

State Senate: COMPLETE FORM HERE

WATCH HERE for Statewide rallies recap