Here's my story on the Supreme Court ruling on President Trump's tariffs, including about their effects on California.

The more money and political muscle that gets pumped into opposing the billionaire tax, the less the policy or precedent of the initiative bothers me, and the more I think voters deserve a say on something that makes all these politicians and ultrarich types upset www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/u...

It’s surreal to be searching for a house and then realize the property management company on a listing is owned by a giant hedge fund. It’s like encountering a wild animal you knew existed but never saw face to face until now…but instead of wonder you feel sad and cynical.

We’re about to find out whether Choudri’s aggressive push to bring in private sector money created enough momentum for the authority to keep advancing the strategy without him.

It’s encouraging to see a message like James Talarico’s start to break through. It took a(nother) lame partisan move by CBS to set it off, but it shows just how much people fear the millennial generation of political leaders. Old elites are clinging desperately trying to keep this era sidelined.

Even the Woke Street Journal says billionaire tax avoidance has gone too far www.wsj.com/finance/bill...

In Los Angeles County, a December UC Berkeley report found 167 preschools closed between 2020 and 2024 — a decline in child care spots that researchers attributed partly to the addition of the public school grade. bit.ly/4kGiFyF 📸 Miguel Gutierrez Jr.

First the Washington Post gutted its climate desk. Now its editorial board is cheerleading for Trump’s biggest and most dangerous climate rollback. My latest for Climate-Colored Goggles: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/jeff-bezos...

A bit too late to rediscover your spine, buddy.

With the high-profile departures at OpenAI and Anthropic, and news of the latest coding model using AI to improve itself (no matter how narrowly), it feels like another wave of alarm bells are going off. Yet we are doing nothing at the societal level needed to prepare www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovat...

The more I listen, the more I am convinced @pablo.show solely exists to stress out Adam Silver.

It’s depressing that a handful of really skilled conservative operatives with a narrow ideology can effectively override the country’s universally shared belief that we need to slow climate change.

This an understandable and compelling case, made by the gawd @conordougherty.bsky.social, but I’m skeptical of any housing crisis solution that ponders sprawl. What Irvine lacks is what built cities already have. A new 21st century town offers capacity but little else www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/b...

A member of the Yurok tribe who advocated for better mental health treatment and suicide intervention in rural Northern Californian has died in an apparent murder-suicide. Celinda Gonzales was 59. bit.ly/4awt2AB 📸 Alexandra Hootnick

We are being governed by morons, and it makes American life so much more fickle than necessary — we all should be able to at least agree on that basic truth. That is, of course, assuming you don’t believe the lies spread daily by these same morons www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/u...

“I am the billionaire who will take on the billionaires.” Tom Steyer’s gambit is that Californians believe a billionaire can be a savior — a real populist who actually can help working people, @joegarofoli.bsky.social writes: www.sfchronicle.com/politics/joe...

Early backers can tell you a lot about a candidate and what they actually stand for. This isn’t a good sign if you want a California governor who prioritizes the many over the few www.mercurynews.com/2026/02/10/m...

Wow. Two neighborhood associations in East Sacramento are so heavily invested in opposing an infill apartment project that they hired PR firms www.abridged.org/news/six-sto...

what a shot

Hidden deep in the contingency plan to slash costs at BART if voters decline to bail out the rail agency is an all-out nuclear scenario called Phase 3: Shut the rail system down altogether.

If nothing else, having the Super Bowl in the Bay Area will reveal how incredible it is to a lot of Americans who let other people do the thinking for them.

It’s easy to feel hopeless about the state of the news industry if all you focus on is legacy outlets. Obviously I’m biased, but reporting like this is a reminder we are in a transition, not an end. There is quality journalism everywhere, if you care enough to look calmatters.org/education/20...

“…by creating D.H.S., we chose to view all people and goods as potential threats. And by moving so many functions of government under its umbrella, we chose to make them — by design — part of fighting a war.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/o...

We're hiring! CalMatters is looking for a dynamic political reporter to cover California’s unique political landscape, hold power accountable, and explain clearly why it matters to Californians’ daily lives. More details, including salary range and benefits: bit.ly/4ahgjBH

"The pressure campaign on the governor underlines not only how important such protections are to unions but also how much Newsom is expected to resist them." @khari.bsky.social calmatters.org/economy/tech...

Yuck. Sergey Brin, one of the Google co-founders who made a stink about the wealth tax proposal before moving out of California, is in the Epstein files. He apparently went to the island multiple times. Nevada can keep him www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/u...

If a proposal to tax 5% of the wealth held by California's billionaires qualifies for the ballot, don't fall for the go-to lie that it'll lead to an exodus or strangle our golden goose. Talk is cheap for the ultrarich. The reality? They don't flee. For @calmatters.org calmatters.org/commentary/2...

Ta-Nehisi Coates: Alex Pretti and Renee Good were labeled “domestic terrorists” of The Homeland—rhetoric employed by the administration to justify the state taking life, by associating the dead with national villainy

In December, Tom Homan warned at the San Diego border "you haven’t seen anything yet." While the nation watches the Midwest, La Migra has turned up the heat in San Diego. Fantastic reporting and data work by @wendyfry.bsky.social & Natasha Uzcátegui-Liggett calmatters.org/justice/2026...

Los Angeles is such an ideologically confusing place. The same city council that fought the state to preserve local control on housing policy just rebuffed its own local control, inviting powerful state interests to instead come kick in the door.

Residents of Kettleman City live surrounded by pollution. A composting facility handles human sewage waste. Particulate matter and diesel fumes from heavy freeway traffic in the air. And the West Coast’s largest hazardous waste landfill is just a few miles away bit.ly/3LFrLPs 📸 Larry Valenzuela

In case anyone is wondering, crime rates keep going down in California. Some, like homicide, are at or near historic lows @nigelduara.bsky.social calmatters.org/justice/2026...

NEW: The Transportation Department, which oversees the safety of airplanes, cars and pipelines, plans to use Google Gemini to draft new regulations. “We don’t need the perfect rule,” said DOT’s top lawyer. “We want good enough.” By @jessecoburn.bsky.social

Park service workers removed a plaque at Muir Woods that explained how California redwoods store carbon and can slow global warming, part of the Trump regime's follow-through on orders to remove science and rewrite history at our public monuments www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/c...

You know things are truly upside down when the gun rights lobby, including the NRA, are publicly calling out Repubs www.latimes.com/california/s...

We are witnessing a modern-era Western nation send armed, masked agents into cities that voted for the other candidate in a democratic election, and then kill its own citizens with impunity, trampling on just about every constitutional law and norm imaginable. What is our breaking point? Truly.

The Minneapolis protester fatally shot by a federal officer was 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, his parents say.

A Democratic lawmaker is pushing a proposal to speed up $10 billion in funding for climate programs more than a year after voters approved Proposition 4, the state’s biggest investment yet to combat climate change. bit.ly/4aaLcsD 📸 Larry Valenzuela

If I see another news outlet that covers California politics push the “billionaire exodus” narrative…

The discourse about theatrical releases and their decline in the streaming era doesn't give enough room for the discussion about just how good 2025 was for movies. Last year was one of my favorite years going to theaters, period. I was being drawn in every month almost ritually.

Mark Carney’s speech at Davos is not just a powerful reminder of what a real North American statesman sounds like, but a warning shot to the U.S. of what competent leaders are doing and how quickly they are moving to enable our sprint toward global isolation.

It's ironic Newsom popped off like this in Switzerland of all places. California may have a global economy but much of our wealth comes from products and technologies most of the world either shuns, loathes or gets addicted to. Newsom's global clout is self-ascribed www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

Indiana was the team of destiny this year. Glad to see it for Fernando Mendoza.

I went to Minneapolis last week. What I saw was horrifying and inspiring in equal measure. Gift link to my latest column: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...

The flood of real estate investors swarming on coveted LA land post-fires (and the way this appears more broadly in every California market, honestly), makes the looming gut shot of the 2030 census, and what it means for California power, feel inevitable www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

This morning Gov. Newsom is announcing the release of $419 million for local homelessness programming, funded back in 2024. But in the coming months, the Legislature will be fighting over the NEXT round of HHAP funding — and on the conditions that will come with it. calmatters.org/housing/home...

Trump and his allies have raised nearly $2 billion since the election, likely more than during the campaign itself. Of 346 donors identified by the @nytimes.com at least 197 have benefited from Trump policies or actions. @karenyourish.bsky.social @kenvogel.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

“(Newsom) talks about democracy, he talks about how critically important it is, and then he allows our journalists to starve on the vine.” calmatters.org/politics/202...

Opinion | California’s insurance laws are a regulatory mirage, failing fire survivors The state’s law requiring fair treatment by insurers has largely been unenforced. Fire victims are left with delays, gaslighting and denials.

The fact that the Democratic Party is so consumed trying to figure out messaging to win back voters, versus dealing with shady, engrained behaviors like this, is why they risk failing again -- if not this year, then in 2028. It's not their agenda. It's how they move www.sacbee.com/news/politic...