WASHINGTON When the head of the Environmental Protection Agency announced a wide-ranging rollback of environmental regulations, he said it would put a "dagger through the heart of climate-change religion" and introduce a "Golden Age" for the American economy. What Lee Zeldin didn't mention: how ending the rules could have devastating...
Valley Foster Care Agencies Are Facing an Insurance Crisis and Possible Closure
The nonprofit agencies that serve some of the Central Valley's most vulnerable youth have found themselves stuck between the proverbial rock and the hardest of decisions. After the largest insurer of nonprofit foster care agencies across California announced it was pulling out of the market and would not renew policies...
World’s Largest Almond Processor Will Shutter Sacramento Plant. 600 Workers Impacted
The world's largest almond processor, Blue Diamond Growers, says it will close its Sacramento processing plant this year The almond cooperative of 3,000 growers called the move an effort to "streamline" operations as the 50-acre facility had become "inefficient," according to a news release from the organization. The cooperative said...
Trump Eyes Major Funding Cuts for California, Including All Public Universities
The Trump administration is gearing up to eliminate substantial federal funding for California, with actions potentially beginning Friday, according to a report by CNN. Federal agencies have received directives to identify grants that could be withheld from the state. The administration is particularly eyeing complete termination of federal grant money...
Farming Regulation Costs Rise 1,300% Since 2006: Cal Poly
A nearly two-decade study from Cal Poly illustrates just how much regulation costs have grown in farming. And, while many regulations address serious food safety issues and labor costs, the amount farmers pay to do business has increased more than 1,300% since 2006. All of this while commodity prices have...
Southern California Air Regulators Weigh a Plan to Phase Out Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters
DIAMOND BAR — Air quality regulators in Southern California heard impassioned public comments Friday before an anticipated vote on proposed rules that would curb harmful emissions from gas-powered furnaces and water heaters. The rules aim to reduce emissions of smog-contributing nitrogen oxides, also called NOx, a group of pollutants linked...
US Supreme Court Allows DOGE Broad Access to Social Security Data
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday permitted the Department of Government Efficiency, a key player in President Donald Trump's drive to slash the federal workforce, broad access to personal information on millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems while a legal challenge plays out. At the...
Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.
Four years ago, an unconscious Kentucky man began to awaken as he was about to be removed from life support so his organs could be donated. Even though the man cried, pulled his legs to his chest and shook his head, officials still tried to move forward. Now, a federal...
Abrego Garcia Is Returned to US From El Salvador
WASHINGTON — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man at the center of a political and legal maelstrom after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, has been returned to the United States to face charges related to transporting migrants living in the country illegally, according to an indictment unsealed Friday. The...
Proud Boys Convicted in Jan. 6 Attack Sue Government on Claims of ‘Political Persecution’
Five members of the Proud Boys who were convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges in connection with the violent assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sued the government for $100 million Friday, claiming that federal officials had subjected them to "political persecution" as "allies of President Trump."...