#california-redistricting

#california-redistricting

Scott Graves, budget director with the California Budget and Policy Center, said Proposition 36 is what is called a "ballot box budgeting measure". "The authors of the measure did not provide, as a part of Prop 36, any way to pay for these new services," Graves said. "As a result, they ended up putting state and local policy makers in a pretty tough position."

The California Republican Party said it will ask the US Supreme Court to weigh in on the state's new congressional map that favors Democrats. A lower court in Los Angeles said last week that the new map is lawful and can be used in the 2026 midterm elections, rejecting a bid by the Trump administration and the California GOP to block the redistricting on the grounds that it was racially gerrymandered. The state party filed a notice of appeal late Thursday.

Local mushroom experts and enthusiasts have bemoaned the state's messaging around the poisonings as narrow and fear-based. Many would prefer to see an emphasis on education, rather than a prohibition on all foraging, and point out that touching, smelling and looking at mushrooms is safe. "There's a lot more nuance," said Debbie Viess, co-founder of the Bay Area Mycological Society. "It's much more important to steer people to places where they can educate themselves about the safety and the dangers of eating wild mushrooms."

The Nov. 4 vote is now set to be the marquee event in a nationwide showdown between Democratic and Republican states over political district lines that could help determine control of Congress in 2026. "When all things are equal, when we're all playing by the same set of rules, there's no question that the Republican Party will be the minority party in the House of Representatives next year," Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a signing ceremony late Thursday.

Sonoma County's wine industry is facing significant challenges, in line with global declines in wine sales, and shifting consumer trends. Local vintners and grape growers are joining forces to explore a possible solution for the wine and ag sector. Industry leaders have formed a steering committee to explore creating a Sonoma County Wine Improvement District, or WID. A handful of California regions already have WIDs in place. Livermore Valley, Santa Barbara County and Temecula.

Today's Supreme Court decision is not the end of this fight. Although the Court denied our petition, it did not explain the reason for its ruling. This means Governor Newsom and the Democrats' plan to gut the voter-created Citizens Redistricting Commission, silence public input, and stick taxpayers with a $200+ million bill will proceed. Polls show most Democrats, Republicans, and independents want to keep the commission, not give politicians the power to rig maps.

Dozens of masked and armed Border Patrol agents turned up at the press conference, held at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo. Regional Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino declared that his crew was making 'Los Angeles a safer place, since we don't have politicians who can do that. We do that ourselves.' Some of his men brandished rifles.