California’s water policy can be complex, and — let’s be honest — often polarizing. Water decisions frequently get distilled into unhelpful narratives of fish versus farms, north versus south, or urban versus rural. Climate change-driven droughts and flooding threats, as well as our divided political climate, compound these challenges. We...
California Justices Reject Law Requiring Trump Tax Returns
LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump does not have to disclose his tax returns to appear as a candidate on California’s primary ballot next spring, a unanimous state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The court said the law, the first of its kind in the nation and aimed squarely at Trump,...
Teen Used ‘Ghost Gun’ in California High School Shooting
LOS ANGELES — The teenager who shot five classmates, killing two, at a Southern California high school used an unregistered “ghost gun,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Thursday. Villanueva told media outlets Thursday that 16-year-old Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow’s .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol was assembled from gun parts and did not...
7 Arrested at Rally Against Ann Coulter Speech in Berkeley
BERKELEY — Police arrested at least seven people and one person was injured during a protest at the University of California, Berkeley against a speech by conservative commentator Ann Coulter. KPIX-TV reports a protester who disrupted Coulter’s Wednesday night speech inside a University of California, Berkeley auditorium was handcuffed and taken out...
Latest Fire-Prevention Power Outage Ending in California
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric expected to restore power Thursday to virtually all the 120,000 people it intentionally blacked out to avoid the risk of catastrophic wildfires. The nation’s largest utility cut the juice on Wednesday in 10 Northern and central California counties because of concerns that dry,...
School Bond Backers Have Some Selling to Do, Poll Shows
California voters have resoundingly approved tens of billions of dollars in state school construction bonds over the last two decades. But a new survey suggests that voters have yet to similarly warm up to the latest and heftiest proposal to come before them: a $15 billion state bond for public schools, community colleges...
Walters: Kamala Harris' Campaign Sputtering
It would be interesting to know the precise moment that California Sen. Kamala Harris realized that she would not win the presidency, at least not in 2020. If it’s not already occurred, it implies a state of denial. And if it has, one wonders why she’s continuing a campaign that...
PG&E Begins New Mass Power Shutoff Over Fire Danger
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. was set to begin shutting off power Wednesday to some 375,000 people in 18 Northern and central California counties as the region faces extreme fire weather that’s lasted since October. A virtually rainless fall has left brush bone-dry and forecasts called for...
Walters: Newsom Huffs and Puffs, Like the Big Bad Wolf
Remember the children’s fable about the wolf who was attempting to capture and consume the three little pigs? If a pig refused to admit him or come out of its house, the wolf threatened: “Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in.” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s declaration that the state...
50 Arrested, Guns Seized in Central California Gang Takedown
STOCKTON — Authorities say 50 people were arrested and dozens of guns seized in a law enforcement operation targeting the Norteno street gang in central California. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced Tuesday that the gang members are suspected of a variety of crimes in Stockton. The defendants could face...