President Donald Trump promised jail for California officials who don’t heed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) warning that they will be criminally charged if they include the mail-in ballots of the some 200,000 people reportedly identified as potential noncitizens in their midterm election tallies.

“They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday.

Along with his statement the president shared a copy of a letter the DOJ sent to the Los Angeles County Counsel’s Office, promising “significant” consequences for “facilitating or ignoring” the “federal crime” of illegally voting in a federal election.

On Thursday, the DOJ sued the Golden State after providing state and local election officials with a USB drive “containing voter roll citizenship data, giving the state 48 hours to compare 20,000 names the Department of Homeland Security flagged as non-U.S. citizens with its own data rolls,” the Hill reported.

Earlier in the week, the DOJ sent a letter to election officials that included a password to access the files on the thumb drive.

“If California was unable to independently confirm the citizenship of people on that list, the Federal Government asked that California set aside ballots received from them until the person’s citizenship was confirmed,” according to the lawsuit, which was also posted online as a “courtesy to the public,” the DOJ said.

California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a written response to the civil complaint, calling it a “sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day.”

“The courts have made clear that the federal government has no role in how a state carries out its election process, and now, in the middle of Californians voting, they have asked local officials — who do a damn good job defending democracy — to violate federal law,” Newsom also said in the statement.

In September, a group called the UCLA Voting Rights Project, sued the DOJ and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) questioning how the administration came up with their numbers of noncitizens registered to vote, according to news reports.

The Hill reported that the group would seek a temporary restraining order if the Trump administration did not abandon plans for a criminal crackdown on the state’s officials.

“Your clients’ actions in compiling the list violates established law; your efforts to employ this list to systematically purge voters, less than a month before the election, further violates the National Voter Registration Act, among other laws,” attorneys for the group wrote in its most recent letter to the DOJ.

Earlier this year, President Trump alleged that California, along with three other states, collectively had 250,000 noncitizens on their voter rolls, a number disputed by his opponents.

A weed farm boss who trapped three migrant workers on a remote Northern California property, withholding their wages and leaving them stranded for months, has been sentenced to less then a year behind bars.

Georgi Antonov Tonev, 45, of Los Angeles, was sentenced Thursday to 320 days in jail after being convicted of multiple crimes against the three Spanish-speaking migrants, including false imprisonment, felony grand theft of wages and unlawful possession of cannabis for sale, the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office announced.

The nightmare began in 2025, when Mexican migrant Javier Escamilla-Garcia was working in Tennessee and heard about Tonev’s seemingly lucrative offer: $3,500 a month, plus free housing and meals, to work on his cannabis farm.

Escamilla-Garcia saved enough money to make the trip to Humboldt County, where two other migrant workers later arrived after receiving the same promise of steady pay.

Instead, authorities said, the men were effectively imprisoned at Tonev’s Showers Pass Farm, a remote property about two hours from his home in Bridgeville.

The workers were kept behind a locked gate without a key and were told Tonev was monitoring them through surveillance cameras.

“All three workers were trapped at the farm and were reminded that they were not allowed to leave unless they walked,” the DA said.

The men spoke no English and had no transportation, no way to get into town and no money. Flooded roads eventually left them even more isolated.

“Food was delivered sporadically and no safe drinking water was supplied,” the DA said. “Two victims suffered medical complications as a result that necessitated professional medical care.”

Eventually with no payment for their work, two of the three men took off, leaving Escamilla-Garcia alone, with no car and no money.

Tonev promised the migrant if he worked through the trimming season, he would pay him all his wages once he sold the weed on the black market, authorities said.

But Escamilla-Garcia spent five months completely isolated on the farm, authorities said. By February 2026, heavy snow was hitting the area, and after going unpaid for 10 months of labor, he feared he would die if he did not escape.

He managed to contact the Mexican Consulate through Facebook Messenger. The consulate alerted the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department, which launched search-and-rescue efforts and found him.

Before remanding Tonev into custody, Judge Steven Steward condemned the exploitation, describing it as “a profound imbalance of power.”

“Tonev controlled their wages, he controlled their living conditions, he controlled their access to food, shelter, and water. And he abused his power,” Steward said.

“The seriousness of Mr. Tonev’s actions cannot be measured by just the dollar amounts he stole from workers.”

In addition to the 320-day jail sentence, Tonev must serve two years of felony probation, with a three-year-and-four-month prison term suspended, according to the DA’s office.

He was also ordered to pay all the unpaid wages to his three victims, with the DA seeking more than $120,000 in restitution for them.

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Two years ago, you said enough is enough’

By Katy Grimes, October 17, 2026 6:30 am

California is getting good results with Proposition 36. San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow made this announcement Friday:

Today Lauren Pamela Johnston, 35, of Paso Robles, has been sentenced to 9 years in California state prison, with an additional 2 years stayed pending the outcome of an open felony case in Monterey County. She pleaded no contest to all 31 felony counts from a string of car break-ins and identity-theft crimes against North County residents during the 2025 Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

District Attorney Dow said the case is clear, local evidence that Proposition 36 works. Fifteen of Johnston’s 31 felony convictions were filed under Penal Code section 666.1, the felony for repeat thieves that California voters created when they approved Proposition 36 in November 2024. Without that law, every one of those 15 thefts could have been charged only as a misdemeanor.

“I want to thank the voters of San Luis Obispo County and California,” Dow said. “Two years ago, you said enough is enough. Our county approved Proposition 36 with 66 percent of the vote, and the state approved it with more than 68 percent. This sentence is the direct result of that vote. You gave prosecutors the tools to hold repeat thieves accountable, and in this case those tools protected your neighbors.”

On October 13, 2026, Johnston pleaded no contest before San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Jesse J. Marino to:

15 counts of theft with two or more prior theft convictions (Penal Code section 666.1), the felony created by Proposition 36
9 counts of identity theft (Penal Code section 530.5(a))
3 counts of identity theft with a prior identity-theft conviction (Penal Code section 530.5(c)(2))
3 counts of grand theft (Penal Code section 487(a))
1 count of second-degree vehicle burglary (Penal Code section 459)

She also admitted that she committed these felonies while out on bail in a pending Monterey County case (Penal Code section 12022.1), and she admitted a prior “strike” conviction for first-degree residential burglary. She also admitted an aggravating circumstance: she had previously served a prison term (California Rules of Court, rule 4.421(b)(3)). She was remanded to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. A restitution hearing is set for February 2, 2027.

A Season of Harm for Local Families

From mid-October through early December 2025, Johnston opened unlocked cars and broke into locked ones in high-traffic places, including the Atascadero High School parking lot, shopping-center parking lots, and apartment complexes. She took purses, wallets, phones, cash, and bank cards. Within hours, she used the stolen cards at gas stations, convenience stores, fast-food restaurants, and grocery stores. Victims learned of the thefts when alerts from their banks reached their phones.

The harm reached well past the dollar amounts. One mother’s car was entered in December. The losses included her prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses, her children’s sunglasses, her bank and health savings account cards, and her family’s medical insurance cards. Her bank froze her account for a 90-day fraud investigation. In a statement filed with the court, she wrote:

“This theft shattered my sense of security and trust. I have spent countless hours reviewing financial records, filing police reports, and communicating with banks and other institutions in an effort to repair the damage caused by someone else’s deliberate actions… Accountability is essential, both for my own healing and to help prevent similar harm to others.”

Another victim told the Probation Department that the defendant “terrorized the community.” At least one victim was a juvenile whose wallet was taken from his locked vehicle while he was in class at Atascadero High School.

“Behind every count in this case is a neighbor who did nothing wrong,” Dow said. “These were parents picking up their kids, shoppers running holiday errands, and a young man whose wallet was stolen from his locked car. They lost money and property. They also lost their sense of safety, along with many hours spent canceling cards, filing fraud claims, and protecting their identities. This prosecution was for them.”

The Community Spoke Up, and Law Enforcement Answered

During the 2025 Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season, District Attorney Dow began hearing from community members and local social media groups. They described repeated car break-ins and fraudulent card charges across North County, and a suspect who had already been arrested yet remained free and kept committing new crimes. Residents on a community Facebook page helped identify the suspect. Surveillance video and an eyewitness placed her at the crimes.

Working with the Atascadero Police Department, the Paso Robles Police Department, and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office gathered seven separate police investigations into one felony prosecution built on the new tools of Proposition 36. On December 10, 2025, officers served a search warrant and arrest warrant at Johnston’s Paso Robles home. There they recovered property belonging to the December victim, which was returned to her. Johnston has been in custody since that day. At her first court appearance, she was held without bail.

Deputy District Attorney Hunter Starr then asked the court to combine the separate cases into one prosecution. He showed that the crimes shared the same pattern. In case after case, Johnston claimed she had “found” the cards, used them by accident, or was pressured by someone else. Surveillance footage contradicted those claims. The court granted consolidation in December 2025 and again in April 2026.

“This case is what collaboration looks like,” Dow said. “Victims reported. Neighbors shared what they saw. Officers in three agencies did careful, connected police work. Our prosecutors brought it together into one case that showed the whole picture. When the community and the criminal and victim justice system work together, repeat offenders can be stopped.”

Proof That Proposition 36 Works

Johnston’s record of theft is long. Between 2014 and 2016, she was convicted in Sacramento and Placer Counties of petty theft, attempted vehicle theft, multiple identity-theft felonies, receiving stolen vehicles, vehicle burglary, and a first-degree residential burglary in which family heirloom jewelry was stolen. She was sentenced to a combined 8 years and 4 months in state prison and was paroled in December 2017.

Under Proposition 47 (2014), theft of property worth $950 or less was generally a misdemeanor, no matter how many times the offender had stolen before (Legislative Analyst’s Office). A misdemeanor petty theft or shoplifting conviction carries no more than six months in county jail. Proposition 36 took effect December 18, 2024 (California Attorney General). It created Penal Code section 666.1, which allows a felony charge for petty theft or shoplifting when the offender has two or more prior theft-related convictions (Penal Code 666.1). Those prior convictions count no matter how old they are (California Attorney General). The law also requires a judge to review a person’s risk to public safety before releasing anyone arrested under it (Penal Code 666.1).

***There is a Chart on the Article at the end.

After years of deadly failures to warn residents about approaching wildfires, Los Angeles County officials have swung from radio silence to sounding every alarm.

As the Bryson Fire tore through the Malibu hills Thursday, emergency alerts flooded phones, evacuation warnings sent residents scrambling and cars jammed narrow canyon roads.

Some fire survivors welcomed the aggressive response. Others wondered whether officials had gone from too little warning to too much.

The blaze erupted around 4:41 p.m. Thursday near Encinal Canyon Road on Malibu’s western edge. By Friday, it had scorched 146 acres, with more than 414 emergency personnel battling the flames and containment at just 17%.

Two evacuation zones were under mandatory orders, while 12 others faced warnings.

The flurry of alerts marked a dramatic turnaround from previous wildfire disasters, when residents were left scrambling for information as flames closed in on their homes.

In 2018, the Woolsey Fire tore through the same mountains, destroying more than 1,600 structures and killing three people.

Some residents learned the fire was coming from frantic calls from neighbors. Others didn’t realize the danger until they saw or smelled smoke.

A county review later exposed serious problems with the emergency response, finding that officials lacked a clear, coordinated evacuation strategy and failed to use all available warning systems.

Seven years later, when the Palisades and Eaton fires erupted in January 2025, another review found emergency alerts were again delayed and confusing.

That same week, the county’s warning system suffered a spectacular blunder when an evacuation warning intended for Calabasas and Agoura Hills was mistakenly blasted to nearly 10 million phones countywide.

Now, with another wildfire threatening the region, officials appear determined not to be caught flat-footed again. But the flood of alerts has raised a new question of how much warning is too much.

For Meg Gallagher, who nearly lost her home in the Woolsey Fire, the difference couldn’t be more striking.

When flames raced toward her property in Cornell, a rural community in the hills above Malibu, no one called. No one knocked.

Her first warning came when her son’s school called to announce it was closing because of smoke. By 7 a.m., she was frantically loading her car when firefighters driving along Mulholland Highway spotted her.

“They were shocked that I was still here,” Gallagher told The Post.

The fire partially destroyed her home and damaged several neighboring properties.

“An F for the Woolsey Fire, and I think a lot of people in this area would feel the same way,” she told The Post.

This week, Gallagher gave officials a much better grade.

“I would give them a B+ this time around, because ample notice, days in advance, notice of that day, so people really had time to prepare,” she said.

Gallagher used the extra time to charge her generator, replace flashlight batteries and prop open her electric gate in case the power went out.

With four dogs and chickens to evacuate, every extra hour mattered.

But not everyone believes the county has found the right balance.

Gina Marcione, owner of The Blue Table restaurant in Agoura Hills, lost her home at Malibou Lake during the Woolsey Fire.

Back then, she relied on frantic calls from neighbors, text chains and social media posts to figure out what was happening.

“There was no text or warnings,” Marcione told The Post. “There was really no PulsePoint back then or like a fire alert app that we all have now.”

She fled around 2 a.m. and spent the night at her restaurant, alongside birds and chickens her neighbors had rescued from the flames.

Today, she can track nearby fires on her phone, a technological leap she welcomes.

“I’m happy that we do have the PulsePoint and all these other apps,” she said.

But Marcione worries that repeated alerts could send too many residents fleeing at once, overwhelming narrow canyon roads already squeezed by construction.

“They need to get their communication a little bit better aligned,” she said.

Images posted on social media Thursday night showed bumper-to-bumper traffic out of the canyons as residents headed toward safety.

Yet just miles away, other residents weren’t going anywhere.

When The Post knocked on doors near the fire, a woman living directly across from the blaze shrugged off the danger, despite the warnings.

“We’re used to it,” she told The Post.

At Agoura High School, the county’s designated evacuation center, not a single evacuee was present when The Post stopped by.

Workers reported that some residents had come and gone, apparently waiting to see whether conditions would get worse.

That wait-and-see attitude was exactly what emergency officials warned against Friday.

“If someone comes to your home and says there’s an evacuation order, that means you need to leave now because there is an immediate threat to your life,” LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a morning news conference.

LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone warned that Santa Ana winds, low humidity and bone-dry brush would keep fire danger elevated through Saturday night.

New York has put itself in striking distance overtaking California as the top state for television and film production.

While the Empire State has always had a solid presence in the entertainment industry with Rockefeller Center and auteur filmmakers like Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese, Hollywood has always held the title for “Entertainment Capital of the World.” Circumstances, however, might make it so New York takes that title, per The Hollywood Reporter (THR):

While California kept its crown at No. 1 with $1.76 billion in movie and TV production spend, New York is drawing major titles at a much more rapid pace, according to industry tracker ProdPro’s closely-watched quarterly snapshot released on Thursday. The state surged 87 percent in production spend in the quarter to $1.61 billion compared with California’s 17 percent uptick.

New York has been changing the game with large investments in soundstage infrastructure, crewmember unions, and access to lucrative East Coast locations like the Tri-State area. The upcoming Miami Vice: 85, for instance, did most of its principal photography in New York as well as Wayne, New Jersey.

“New York also has what all states covet, and what California has been losing: scripted TV shows that run for seasons and seasons, often in the same soundstages,” added THR. “And inventory for soundstages has grown 43 percent in the state since 2020 with a boom in purpose-built facilities, per real estate services giant CBRE, which added in a June report that the state is ‘better positioned for recovery than some competitor markets’ after studio belt-tightening on overall content spending.”

Alex LoVerde, co-founder and CEO at ProdPro, said that New York investment into its entertainment infrastructure is moving at a faster pace than California’s attempted reforms.

“California’s production spending is starting to rise again, but New York’s rebound has accelerated this year, putting it within reach of the country’s largest production hub,” said LoVerde. “As we compiled the third-quarter figures, we thought New York might actually come out ahead. California held its lead by just $147 million. Whether New York can overtake it is a key question we’ll be watching in Q4 and 2027.”

A recent report also suggested that Hollywood studios now spend only 42 percent of production budgets in the United States – down from 74 percent 25 years ago. The report from a coalition of Hollywood unions, including IATSE, the DGA, and SAG-AFTRA, said that Hollywood has dramatically decreased its spending in the United States in the past 25 years. For film production budgets, the spending has dropped from 74 percent to 42 percent; for television, the spending in the U.S. has dropped from 94 percent to 64 percent.

“The study looked into movies and TV episodes that take a significant amount of funds to make, such as films with budgets of $5 million or more, in 2025 dollars, and TV episodes costing at least $1 million, for about 40 minutes or shorter, and at least $1.7 million for episodes longer than 40 minutes,” reported the New York Post.

“In the past 25 years, the amount major studios spent on production rose from $3 billion to $7 billion. TV spending increased even more during that time, from $933 million to $8.4 billion,” it added.

San Francisco’s open-air fentanyl and methamphetamine markets have long featured a large share of street dealers who are Honduran men without legal status

By Richie Greenberg, October 17, 2026 9:23 am

Late last year, in October 2025 – President Trump prepared more than 100 Customs and Border Protection and other federal agents for an immigration enforcement surge into the San Francisco Bay Area. The operation targeted removable non-citizens. The Department of Homeland Security described the focus as “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.”

Trump had tied the effort to sanctuary limits, noting that federal agents could remove people local law prevents the city to hand over.

On the evening of October 22 Mayor Daniel Lurie spoke with Trump by telephone. Tech executives including Marc Benioff and Jensen Huang also intervened.

The next day Trump canceled the planned Saturday surge, saying Lurie had “asked, very nicely” for a chance – and he was making progress. Trump added that he believed Lurie’s plea was a mistake because federal officers could act faster and remove criminals the law does not permit the city to remove.

San Francisco’s open-air fentanyl and methamphetamine markets, concentrated in the Tenderloin and SOMA, have long featured a large share of street dealers who are Honduran men without legal status. A Harvard Law Review analysis found that nearly all low-level dealers prosecuted in 2024 fit this profile.

Subsequent local reporting confirm the pattern, including deportees who returned and resumed selling. These individuals are deportable under federal immigration law.

A federal operation in the high-activity corridors, if Trump had gone through with it, would have targeted federal agent/dealer encounters, undertaken status checks, and removals without relying on SFPD cooperation or detainers. The people conducting much of the visible dealing are precisely the population such a surge was designed to reach.

California’s SB 54 and San Francisco’s sanctuary ordinances restrict local officers from using resources for immigration enforcement and honoring most detainers or routinely sharing immigration status information.

These rules are lawful under the California and San Francisco anti-commandeering doctrine. But they do not strip the federal government of authority to enforce immigration statutes on its own, by its own.

Immigration is a clear federal power. Local non-cooperation slows handoffs but it does not nullify federal agents’ ability to arrest and remove people present illegally who have criminal records or prior deportation orders.

In practice the policies mean many dealers arrested locally cycle through city and state courts with low likelihood of swift deportation while open-air markets continue.

The SF vs Federal distinction matters: sanctuary laws are not nullification, rather they create obvious friction when offenders are removable.

Nearly a year later, the results are observable.

Open-air dealing has not disappeared. City council members have described “whack-a-mole” enforcement that moves activity a block over rather than ending it. Overdose deaths remain elevated.

Existing local and federal partnerships have produced arrests and seizures, yet the street-level dealing by deportable. non-citizens persists.

Mayor Lurie has maintained popularity by framing the averted surge as a local “victory” and instead celebrates the city’s economic and tourism recovery we are seeing in some neighborhoods .

Yet the daily toll of drug use and addiction together with continued disorder in the Tenderloin and SOMA tell a different story.

We should care – because this episode links a documented presidential choice to ongoing street conditions. Lurie objecting the fed’s surge traded the removal of known dealers for continued reliance on tools actually limited by sanctuary rules.

We know drug markets adapt and of course dedicated drug dealing investigations remain necessary. An immigration surge would not automatically dismantle dealer networks nor demand. Still, the October 2025 pause demanded by Lurie bought the city time.

Yet one year later the dealer population persists and overdoes deaths show the problem continues.

A renewed federal operation concentrated on the Tenderloin and SOMA neighborhoods would test whether removing that specific dealer network works more effectively than local efforts alone have tried. The legal authority exists. It’s the feds. The chance was there and was declined. One year later, it’s time to act.

Thieves swiped voters’ mail-in ballots from a post office in the Bay Area, sparking fears of election fraud after another theft of ballots last week.

The San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder’s Office said in a Thursday press release that it was notified that the election forms were recently stolen from a US Postal Service Office in Daly City, including mail-in ballots from San Mateo County voters.

The county, located just south of San Francisco, and the US Postal Service are actively investigating the theft. It’s unclear how many ballots were stolen, the county said.

The county’s election division encouraged voters to monitor the status of their mail-in ballots through the California Secretary of State’s website. If voters feels their ballot was affected, they can request a replacement ballot online.

“The Registration & Elections Division maintains established ballot security procedures to ensure that only one ballot per voter is counted,” the county said.

“Each Vote by Mail ballot is associated with an individual voter, and ballot processing safeguards prevent duplicate ballots from being counted for the same voter.”

The incident comes about a week after a postal truck in Sacramento County was hit by a thief.

Video of the broad-daylight mail heist showed a man pulling up in a gray SUV and popping open the truck’s rear compartment before making off with trays of mail.

US Postal Inspector Jonathan Lanning confirmed that ballots may have been caught up in the heist.

Multiple Southern California lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, said they received suspicious letters this week.

Federal authorities are investigating letters with “suspicious substances” that have been mailed to congressional and election offices nationwide and are urging recipients to treat the mailings as “potentially hazardous.”

Rep. Linda Sánchez, who represents communities in Orange and Los Angeles counties, said a “suspicious package” was received at her district office in Whittier on Friday, Oct. 16. She said it matched the description of other packages received by other congressional offices around the country.

“We immediately notified the U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI and local authorities, who are working together now to remove the package,” Sánchez said. “My staff and I are safe, and there does not appear to be any broader threat to our community at this time. We are working closely with law enforcement and will share updates when appropriate. Our office will also resume regular hours of operation as soon as possible.”

Earlier this week, Padilla said the Postal Service intercepted a suspicious package before it reached his office. He said the incidents have been a “stark reminder of the very real dangers facing those who serve the public and who help administer our elections in the face of increasingly hostile political rhetoric.”

“We must remain vigilant as we head further into the midterm elections and invest in a strong, well-funded Postal Service that has the resources to protect its workers, safeguard the mail, and reliably serve the American people,” Padilla said.

Reps. Gil Cisneros, D-Covina, and Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, also said they had received similar mailings.

Friedman said the envelope received by her office contained “a suspicious substance.”

“Out of an abundance of caution, and under guidance from law enforcement, we evacuated,” she said in a statement Friday afternoon. “We will continue our work serving constituents and will be back in the office when responders tell us it is safe to return.”

“I am grateful to Burbank and Glendale first responders for keeping everyone safe. Threats against lawmakers and the people who work for them have no place in this country,” she added.

Cisneros, on social media, shared a photo of a white envelope, saying it appeared similar to the ones sent to other offices that contained the unknown powdery substance.

“To follow precautions, our office contacted Covina PD, FBI, and the United States Capitol Police,” Cisneros said. “Our staff is safe. Out of an abundance of caution, our Covina district office is closed and will resume normal office hours as soon as we are cleared.”

An FBI statement said the bureau and the Postal Inspection Service were “investigating a series of suspicious mailings sent to various addresses nationwide, including Secretary of State offices and their related election offices.”

“Some of the letters contained an unknown substance and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners to respond to each incident,” the statement said. “We are also working with our partners to identify the individual or individuals responsible for the letters.”

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles, too, received one of the suspicious mailings to her district office, a spokesperson confirmed Friday evening. As did Rep. Dave Min, D-Irvine.

Other lawmakers across the country who received suspicious mailings this week included Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Delaware; Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Illinois, to name just a few.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, an independent who represents a district in the northern part of California, also said he received such mail.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Scientists have found microplastics in virtually every part of the human body. Yet many questions remain about what exactly these infinitesimal flecks of synthetic polymers do to human health, and how they might cause disease.

A new paper looking at the chemical reactions between water and disintegrating plastic offers a potential hypothesis for how microplastics might make us sick.

Plastics were long thought to be chemically inert, meaning they don’t react easily with other compounds. It’s the reason they are often used for packaging, and why they so stubbornly resist biodegradation.

But a Columbia University research team has found that when water molecules come into contact with plastic surfaces, a key chemical reaction does in fact take place. The meeting of water and plastic creates a third class of molecules called reactive oxygen species.

ROS are a type of free radical, a broad term for one class of unstable, high-energy molecules. ROS are known to damage cells and promote inflammation. They “tend to damage nearby materials and molecules,” said Wei Min, a professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering at Columbia and co-author of the study. “For example, if ROS is bumping into DNA, most likely [it will] cause mutation.”

In the first stage of the experiment, the team added water to microscopic bits of six different types of common plastics: polyethylene; polypropylene; polystyrene; polyvinyl chloride, or PVC; poly(methyl methacrylate), or PMMA; and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used in disposable water bottles. Then they measured how much ROS each encounter created. Polyethylene and polypropylene exposure led to more ROS formation. PMMA, which is commonly known as acrylic, generated less.

They then exposed mouse red blood cells to each type of plastic. When the cells encountered the microplastics, they changed shape and ruptured. The more ROS a plastic type generated, the more damage they observed in the cells.

The study’s authors emphasized that their research doesn’t prove that these chemical reactions are responsible for disease or damage in the human body. But they do think it’s a clue to why this man-made material seems to become more harmful the smaller it gets.

When a piece of plastic breaks down into microscopically small components, its total surface area goes up exponentially. Given that these damaging ROS molecules are formed when water meets a plastic’s surface, and the fact that water is present in every cell of the human body, this particular chemical reaction could be a real problem.

The paper was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

In 2024, the Columbia team showed that the amount of microplastics in commercially-available bottled drinking water was 10 to 100 times greater than previously believed. Ninety percent of those particles were small enough to qualify as nanoplastics, which are small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier and be absorbed into human cells.

“Regular people get exposed to those kind of things regularly in their daily life,” said Beizhan Yan, a Columbia environmental chemist and a co-author of the study.

Everyday actions generate billions of these nanoparticles, Yan noted, from washing a load of laundry to reheating a dish in the microwave.

The most recent paper is also relevant to understanding environmental plastic pollution, said Matthew Campen, professor of pharmaceutical research at the University of New Mexico. Like the paper’s authors, he cautioned against making premature conclusions about human health. When the researchers added a surfactant chemical called Triton X100, it eliminated ROS production. That could indicate that the presence of other compounds in the body might dampen free radical creation.

“It’s a foundational study about the chemistry of plastics interacting with the most common chemical, water, and it’s important because it really does show that these things are capable of generating hydroxyl radicals,” Campen said.

It comes amid mounting concern about the long-term health impacts of these ubiquitous particles. In April, the federal government announced a $144-million effort to study the effects of microplastics in human bodies and drinking water.

“We know enough that people should be taking actions to reduce their exposures” to plastic, said Tracey Woodruff, a Stanford professor of epidemiology and population health. “If we wait to reduce exposures, we could also be causing more harm.”

I was invited to give a talk to an Economic Round Table group that has been meeting for many decades. I was told the members and guests come from a wide range of professional disciplines, and the group has hosted many distinguished speakers over the decades.

I replied:

Thank you for the invitation. Wow. First, may I ask why your group is interested in having me speak to the Economic Roundtable? I’m no economist. But I do appreciate how economies work, and how governments ignore the basics.

I asked for some guidelines on talking points, was told “I think our members would be interested in your perspective on a number of issues, including:”

The current direction of government and public policy and its implications for the economy and business
The relationship between government spending, taxes, regulation, and economic growth
California’s economic and political environment and what you see ahead
Some of the issues and developments that you think are being overlooked or misunderstood

These are all in my wheelhouse, so I prepared, and did a deeper dive into many of our own researched articles, and into the state budget, Legislative Analyst’s Office recommendations and analyses, state GPD, and US economy. I explained that California’s high-tax, high-regulation, high-spending progressive model has produced real, measurable problems, and spent some time on the relationship between government spending, taxes, regulation, and economic growth.

“California’s current direction of government and public policy is a Socialist disaster waiting to happen – when we finally run out of other people’s money.

California has a long-standing Democrat trifecta – governor and both houses of the legislature – and with a supermajority in place for many years,” I said.

And then I offered details and analysis, including that California’s GDP – Gross Domestic Product – is good. However, the top five industries contributing to the state’s GDP was telling:

Professional and business services
Information
Real Estate, rental and leasing
Government
Manufacturing

…according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Manufacturing, which should be number one, is 5th, behind government.

I explained how California has shifted from a manufacturing base to a service based state, with service based businesses paying lower wages and offering fewer benefits to workers.

And I covered how California’s Revenue structure is Highly progressive and volatile, heavily dependent on personal income taxes and capital gains from high earners and tech/AI stocks, and said strong recent performance from AI has boosted collections, but this is sensitive to market corrections, as well as tech and AI companies moving out of the state – Palantir, HP, Oracle and McAfee are just a few.

I shared that Gavin Newsom, who took office January 2019, inherited Jerry Brown’s final $203 billion budget (2018-19).

From roughly $200 billion at the start of Newsom’s tenure, he has grown the state budget to $350+ billion by 2026-27. Newsom took the $200B Brown left and expanded it to $350 Billion with actual population decline.

It is important to note that the Legislative Analyst’s Office warns, “deficits have persisted even as the state’s economy and revenues have grown, underscoring that the problem is structural rather than cyclical.”

A very interesting comparison was comparing California, Florida and Texas, and the per-resident share of the state-controlled budget:

California: $350 Billion budget; 39.5 million residents; $9,000 per resident.

Florida: $113.9 Billion budget; 23.4 million residents; $4,850 per resident.

Texas: Texas Legislature approved a biennial (two-year) all-funds budget of approximately $338.2 billion for fiscal years 2026–27; Annualized budget $169 billion; 31.7 million residents; $5,285 per resident.

However, Texas General revenue-related spending is lower (roughly $150 billion for the biennium in recent figures), which would put the pure state-tax-funded portion closer to $2,300–$2,400 per resident per year.

I discussed California’s distinctly worse unemployment rate than the U.S. average at 5.1% – the highest of any state – a severe housing and cost-of-living problem, a fragile and volatile budget, and ongoing net domestic outflows of people and business headquarters.

California’s labor and household picture is weaker. Unemployment was 5.1% in August and has stayed above 5% for more than two years. UCLA describes an ongoing “employment recession,” with total employment expected to edge down in 2026 and recovery not starting until early 2027, with predicted unemployment averaging about 5.2% this year, then 4.9% in 2027.

A California household survey showed fewer people employed and a smaller labor force over the same period tech hiring has been contracting. Housing construction remains constrained by mortgage rates, material costs, regulations, state and local fees, environmental regulations, and labor.

I covered California’s self-inflicted oil/gas crisis, the closure of refineries, and California’s solar and wind mandates, which have dramatically added to the state’s highest-in-the-nation gas prices, and energy bills.

These are serious issues not being addressed by Gov. Newsom and the state Legislature.

When it came time for questions, I was ambushed by several obvious leftists, who did not want to discuss or debate what I presented, but instead took umbrage with me using “Socialist” and “Communist” to describe many of the state’s legislative policies, as I warned that this is where we are headed if voters do not elect fiscally responsible lawmakers.

One fellow asked me to explain communism to him. The same guy tried to argue that Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts led to economic disaster, and that trickle down economics don’t work. He said billionaires should be taxed at 90% because no one benefits but billionaires benefit from their wealth.

I explained that billionaires are employers, whose employees buy homes, buy cars, enroll their children in private schools and college, can afford to put braces on their kids teeth, take vacations, invest in 401(k) retirement accounts… all trickle down economics.

I also reminded him that Gov. Newsom’s administration threatened takeover of California’s oil and gas industry.

As I reported nearly one year ago, Economist Art Laffer and Chapman Economics Professor James Doti correctly said, Gov. “Newsom doesn’t appear to see is the deleterious long-term effects of a highly progressive tax system. Case in point: The ‘one-percenters’ who pay 50% of the tax are voting with their feet by leaving California in droves.”

They explained that the ten states with the lowest income taxes including Florida and Texas, gained a cumulative net inflow from all Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) classes of $391 billion from California just during the 2018 to 2021 period. We need updated numbers!

Another fellow said he thought he was listening to Sean Hannity, and gave a disjointed speech about how Ronald Reagan closed down all of the mental institutions. I corrected him, explaining that it was then-President John F. Kennedy who in his final executive order before being assignated, directed the closures of mental institutions across the country, in favor of more localized smaller facilities and group homes, closer to families. However, Congress failed to fund these, creating a crisis that fell to states to solve.

Before we ended, I told the group that if there was a Republican Supermajority in the Legislature, my reporting would likely not be that different from today’s, in that a political party supermajority is imbalance, and not healthy for any state.

I never mind debating issues, as long as I know it is a debate. I was invited to be a speaker, and then participate in a Q&A period after. I shared this with the woman who invited me so that future guest speakers are not ambushed, and suggested better Q&A moderation would help. I also suggested that this is likely also attributable to the brave new world of Zoom meetings. I suspect that if this was an in-person forum, the questions might have been more politely asked, and Q&A speeches would be averted. She agreed, was quite gracious, and expressed her frustration with the rude Zoom members/guests.

I hope my economic news and analyses were appreciated.

Forty-one current and former workers at Union Pacific’s Roseville railyard, including 11 who have died, were named in six lawsuits filed Wednesday alleging the railroad failed to protect employees from toxic substances that caused cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other serious illnesses.

Thirty of the workers are living with illnesses they attributed to workplace exposure, some of which did not develop until after decades of work at the J.R. Davis Yard, said Carisa German-Oden, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs. The families of 11 deceased workers alleged that exposure to asbestos, diesel exhaust, benzene and other hazardous substances contributed to their deaths.

The J.R. Davis Yard is “the largest rail yard west of the Rockies,” according to Union Pacific. It is one of the busiest rail terminals on the West Coast and a major hub for Northern California rail traffic.

The workers named in the lawsuits were diagnosed with a range of illnesses, including COPD, kidney disease, pulmonary fibrosis, multiple myeloma, leukemia and cancers of the throat and blood. Some began working for Union Pacific as early as the 1950s, in jobs that included track maintenance, signal maintenance, conducting and engineering. About six continued to work for the railroad, German-Oden said.

The plaintiffs requested jury trials to determine damages, according to the complaints filed in San Francisco Superior Court.

The plaintiffs, represented by the law firms Poolson Oden and Grant & Eisenhofer, alleged that Union Pacific failed to provide adequate protective equipment or warn employees about hazardous exposures. The railroad had known about some of the dangers since the 1930s, German-Oden said.

“They’ve known for a long time,” German-Oden said. “What has been clear is that even with that knowledge, they have not you know they did not develop warnings. They didn’t give proper PPE. There was nothing really given to the employees.”

Toxic exposure is not unique to the Roseville railyard, German-Oden said. However, the J.R. Davis Yard had been studied more extensively than other rail facilities over the previous three decades.

In a 2004 assessment, the California Air Resources Board estimated that locomotives operating at the railyard in 2000 emitted between 22.1 to 25 tons of diesel particulate matter annually within the yard and surrounding areas. The agency used computer modeling to estimate cancer risks for nearby residents, but not for railyard workers.

For residents in an area northwest of the locomotive service tracks, the estimated additional cancer risk exceeded 500 cases per million people over 70 years of exposure.

Railroad workers generally must seek compensation for job-related injuries through the federal courts under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act rather than through state workers’ compensation. To recover damages, they must establish that negligence by the railroad contributed to their injuries, said Danny Poolson, another attorney involved in the case.

“These guys and gals go to a dangerous job every day, work crazy hours, miss tons of family events to provide for them... They put themselves in harm’s way every day, and that protection is not there for them,” Poolson said.

The Roseville lawsuits followed similar litigation filed in September by more than 125 railroad workers against Norfolk Southern Railway Co. in Philadelphia, according to a spokesperson for the law firms representing the plaintiffs.

Poolson said the immediate goal was to secure compensation for workers and their families. The attorneys also hoped the litigation would lead to changes in workplace safety practices that German-Oden alleged remained dangerous.

A Costa Mesa woman who illegally registered her dog to vote and twice cast ballots in the pup’s name is footing the bill for anti-voter fraud billboards emblazoned with the pooch’s image in order to resolve her criminal case.

A photo Laura Lee Yourex once posted on social media of her dog, Maya, wearing an “I voted” sticker while posing next to a ballot will feature prominently in the electronic billboards, along with the admonishment “Don’t be a dog,” a reminder that “Voter fraud is a crime. If you can’t legally vote don’t vote” and a warning that “the Orange County District Attorney’s Office will prosecute.”

Yourex, as part of a plea agreement, agreed to pay $1,500 to fund four of the anti-voter fraud billboards along the 55 and 22 freeways in Orange County through Election Day on Nov. 3, according to an OC District Attorney’s Office statement.

Lourex admitted to registering Maya to vote and cast mail-in ballots for the 2021 gubernatorial recall election of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the 2022 primary election.

The first ballot was counted; the second was rejected.

The criminal investigation began after prosecutors learned from the Orange County Registrar of Voters office that a resident had self-reported having registered her dog to vote and cast mail-in ballots addressed to the pup.

Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page previously indicated his office was alerted to the fraud by former Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates, who at one time worked for the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department.

During their investigation, the District Attorney’s Office found the social media photos of the dog with the “I voted” sticker, including one instance in which Yourex wrote in a caption that Maya had continued to receive a ballot even after the dog passed away.

Yourex initially faced five felony counts. Had she been convicted of those charges, she would have faced up to six years behind bars.

She ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of knowing registration of a nonexistent person to vote. Her attorney, in a previous statement, indicated that Yourex “sincerely regrets her unwise attempt to expose flaws in our state voting system intending to improve it by demonstrating that even a dog can be registered to vote.”

Once Yourex completed the terms of her plea agreement, including footing the bill for the billboards, her case was dismissed this week, prosecutors said.

She could not be reached for comment.

Experts say voter fraud is rare, and that the fact that Yourex was investigated and charged proves that checks and balances in the system work.

Federal law requires new voters to prove identification and residency, while state law requires new voters to sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury. So if a voter is able to get around state law with a false claim in an affidavit — which appears to have happened when the vote was cast by “Maya” in the state recall election — it would be flagged in a federal election — which appeared to happen when the vote by “Maya” in the 2022 primary election was rejected.

After the charges against Yourex came to light, two members of the OC Board of Supervisors — Don Wagner and Janet Nguyen — unsuccessfully urged that county officials immediately investigate and remove any non-humans from the county voter rolls.

Gavin Newsom’s Vanity is Costing California Taxpayers $2.6 Million Annually

Gavin Newsom has doubled his communications staff since 2020

By Katy Grimes, October 16, 2026 8:37 am

Last month, the Globe reported on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “state funded news” – Assembly Bill 2222 offers tax incentives to local news outlets that hire qualifying journalists in California. It is state funded news, meant to report favorably on the governor.

We noted that a free press is supposed to be independent of the government it covers.

As egregious is the governor’s official communications team, which has doubled in size since 2020 – “even as he rarely takes questions from the media in Sacramento and his agencies shun interview requests.”

A CalMatters investigation published this week found that the governor’s office now has 24 taxpayer-funded employees on its official communications/press team, collectively paid at least $2.6 million a year.

That is up from 12 communications staff members in January 2020, a year into his first term.

Newsom’s comms team includes spokespeople, writers, researchers, a full-time, $200,000+-per-year photographer. The team is focused on “visual messaging, public perception and narrative development.”

The four-person Gen Z digital content group produce social media posts and memes, and includes Brandon Richards (He/Him) in the “rapid-response” unit.

“The only other governor with a comparable communications staff was Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, an international media sensation whose office credentialed 400 reporters in his first term and held weekly press briefings, said former spokesperson Margita Thompson,” Calmatters reports. “Today during one of Newsom’s rare Sacramento press conferences, between 10 and 20 reporters regularly attend. The office stopped issuing its own press credentials years ago.”

My last Governor’s press credential was during the pandemic.

Gov. Jerry Brown ran one of the smallest and leanest press/communications operations in modern California history, especially compared with Schwarzenegger and Gavin Newsom.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s communications operation peaked at about 17 staffers across separate press and communications offices. Brown’s initial setup was just three: Press Secretary Gil Duran plus two deputies, supplemented by up to three interns and a fellow. Brown’s press office “had eight staffers at its height—including interns” and borrowed photographers from other agencies when needed. It remained far leaner than the broader governor’s office under predecessors.

Notably, Schwarzenegger was one of the most accessible governors, frequently opening up his conference room to reporters, seated in a circle around the room, as the governor took rapid-fire questions until they were all answered.

Much of the expansion and the shift toward Newsom’s around-the-clock content operation (social posts, livestreams, podcasts, Substack) occurred in the second term, commensurately with his presidential ambitions.

Organizational charts from late 2023 already showed a sizable communications section, consistent with steady expansion.

It is notable that the expansion of Newsom’s communication staff coincides with his reduced availability to the Sacramento press corps, favoring more social media public messaging.

The broader governor’s office itself has also grown substantially under Newsom.

Newsom’s communication staff includes:

Spokespeople, writers, and researchers: Several staff who handle traditional media inquiries, explain state policy, and respond to reporters (national and state). Senior Adviser for Communications Bob Salladay (salary cited around $242,000) has said most staff time still goes to these traditional duties.
Digital/content team: A four-person group of Gen Z staff focused on social media, memes, fan edits, and high-volume content for official accounts (X, TikTok, etc.).
Visual/media production:
    Full-time photographer (Charles Ommanney, previously reported around $200,000–$212,000; LinkedIn description emphasizes “visual messaging, public perception and narrative development”).
    Camera operators who livestream events.
    Staff who scout locations for events.
Rapid response: Two full-time staff dedicated to fact-checking claims about Newsom/policies on social platforms and requesting corrections from outlets (office claims 453 corrections requested since 2024).
Other support roles: Includes aides, assistants, and related media operations staff that round out the 24.

The team operates as an around-the-clock content operation with some overlap into political travel and work (e.g., one senior spokesperson moved to part-time state role while doing unpaid political work).

Names and titles from the official Governor’s Office organizational chart (updated July 21, 2026) lists only 19 of the 24 comms staffers:

Izzy Gardon – Senior Advisor to the Governor
Tara Gallegos – Acting Communications Director
Diana Crofts-Pelayo – Chief Deputy Director of Communications
Brandon Richards – Chief Deputy Director of Communications (Rapid Response)
Anthony Martinez – Deputy Director of Communications
Marissa Saldivar – Assistant Deputy Director of Communications
Lindsay Bribiescas – Senior Writer
Maddie Johnson – Assistant Deputy Director of Rapid Response
Corbin Farias – Communications Assistant
Brenda Chavarin – Press Aide
Declan McDaniels – Press Aide
Charles Ommanney – Photographer
Camille Zapata – Digital Communications Director
Elizabeth Tang – Deputy Director of Digital
Alex Brase – Deputy Director of Digital
Cristopher Ruiz Martinez – Deputy Director of Digital

Media Operations:

Brad Alexander – Director of Media Operations
Phillip Killion – Deputy Director of Media Production

Senior Advisor for Communications:

Bob Salladay

Where is hair and makeup?

As Calmatters notes, Newsom’s office tells conservative writers they are not “real journalists.”

“The social media posts range from routine policy announcements to AI-generated memes boosting Newsom and sexualized taunts at Republicans. The account frequently engages in fights with the right, scorning them for their alignment with Trump, who is widely unpopular in California.”

The responses to this disgusting X post were appropriate:

Rob Schmitt from Newsmax: “You know you guys are gonna have to explain for all these blatantly homophobic jokes during the primary right?”

Podcaster Gunther Eagleman: “LOL! You just lost voters with this post! Please keep posting stupid shit like this.”

Buzz Patterson: “Gavin Newsom used to be mayor of the gayest city in America. Now, his team is hurling homophobic slurs.”

Bx: “Why does Grindr have your phone number though?”

Republican strategist Rob Stutzman, a Schwarzenegger spokesperson, said Newsom has blurred ethical lines by using his office “to basically run a political account” in ways that mirror how the president treats his political opponents and the press.

And taxpayers are funding all of Newsom’s vanity.

Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia issued a legal demand Friday for the organizers of the 2028 Summer Olympics to disclose more information about the organization’s finances — including bank statements, detailed plans for venue construction and the size of contracts with outside vendors.

Mejia’s subpoena, issued under his City Charter authority, came two and a half weeks after officials at LA28, the Olympic organizing committee, rejected his previous request to disclose the information.

Mejia demanded the information, much of which was also requested by The Times, as required in the 2021 contract that defines the working relationship between LA28 and the host city of the 2028 games.

LA28 officials had no immediate comment.

Leaders of the Olympics organizing group have said previously that while they had not disclosed all of the information in their annual reports — as required by the so-called Games Agreement — they had provided the information to other city officials, including Mayor Karen Bass and the city administrative officer and chief legislative analyst.

“LA28’s refusal to comply with my Office’s request after years of withholding information that they are contractually obligated to provide to the City of L.A. is unacceptable,” Mejia said in a statement. “My responsibility is to protect taxpayer dollars, and I will use my full authority under the City Charter to assess the City’s financial exposure of hosting the 2028 Games.”

The information that Mejia wants is supposed to be contained in annual reports that LA28 issues to its officially designated city “liaisons” — the mayor, city attorney, and top administrative and legislative officers.

The Times found in its own review that LA28 had given vague and sometimes incomplete information. Among the missing details: progress on roughly two dozen venues around Greater Los Angeles and details about contracts of more than $1 million for services such as security and pre-production work for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Mejia’s office said in a press release Friday that it needed those details and more “to ascertain the financial status of the 2028 Olympic Games.” The statement added: “As the City’s accountant, auditor, and paymaster, the Controller has a responsibility to protect City of L.A. taxpayers from the impact of the LA28 Olympic Games.”

Under the city’s agreement with LA28, Los Angeles will be obligated to cover any losses, should the Olympics fail to break even or make money. The city would cover the first $270 million of losses, the state of California the next $270 million and the city any losses of more than $540 million.

Because of that potential financial liability, Mejia’s office said that “Angelenos deserve full transparency from LA28 related to all spending and revenue incurred in the process of planning and executing the 2028 Olympic Games.”

LA28 officials have reported that they have collected revenues — particularly from corporate sponsorships and ticket sales — that exceed projections. They have said the games remain on track to turn a profit, with excess funds promised to youth sports programs in Southern California.

The City Council has received and accepted multiple annual reports from LA28, raising a few questions but no major objections. The council did not intercede, for example, two years ago when LA28 stopped its previous practice of naming contractors that it had paid more than $1 million.

But the city’s chief administrative officer and chief legislative analyst in September asked for more details, calling information about the contracts “limited.” The two top City Hall bureaucrats said LA28 previously objected to disclosing the contract details, saying the disclosure could be “financially detrimental and a risk to its future competitive contracts partnership and sponsorship activities.”

Section 217 of the City Charter grants the controller and other city officers the power to order individuals to produce documents and to attend hearings, with subpoenas issued via the City Clerk’s office.

Other city officials mostly have remained quiet in the dispute about LA28’s financial reporting. But Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement prior to the controller’s subpoena that she backs the release of more financial information.

City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto’s office said in a statement to The Times Friday that she “supports the Controller’s efforts to obtain the financial information necessary to understand the full scope of LA28’s finances and the City’s potential fiscal exposure.”

As high winds continue to sweep through the area, Southern California Edison initiated public safety power shutoffs in Los Angeles County for over 52,000 customers and was considering shutoffs for another 59,000 as of 12:20 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16.

The utility company also did public safety power shutoffs on Thursday. The shutoffs are initiated to help prevent equipment from causing wildfires and are typically driven by low humidity and high wind conditions, according to Southern California Edison.

Central and western Malibu were affected by the shutoffs, the city said. A 146-acre fire broke out in Malibu on Thursday, reaching 17% containment, the percentage of the fire’s perimeter not expected to grow, by Friday morning.

There were no public safety power shutoffs or considerations of shutoffs by Southern California Edison reported in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties on Friday afternoon.

Also see: Red flag warning issued for Los Angeles County until Saturday evening – increased fire danger

In the Los Angeles Department of Water Power’s service area, two outages were reported, one in the Granada Hills area that was affecting about 900 customers and another in the Sylmar area, where around 300 LADWP customers were without electricity.

“The system is actually holding up well despite the high winds,” said LADWP spokeswoman Mia Rose-Wong, who explained that the utility does not participate in public safety power shut-offs. “If a circuit relays or locks-out, we would send someone to patrol the electric line to ensure it is safe to reenergize the circuit.”

The LADWP also works closely with the Los Angeles Fire Department to proactively de-energize any lines at firefighters’ request, she said.

Two people were arrested and about 4 tons of copper wire, equivalent to roughly 3,000 feet of stolen telecommunications wire with an estimated value of $102,000, were recovered during an operation in downtown Los Angeles, state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Frday.

The operation was conducted by the California Department of Justice, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Los Angeles Police Department as part of a statewide effort to combat copper wire theft and infrastructure vandalism, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

The identities of the two people arrested and the charges they may face were not immediately available. Authorities said the arrests were made on Thursday but did not specify a location.

“Copper theft has a steep price, and we are ensuring that the criminals behind it are the ones who pay it, not our communities,” Bonta said. “We will not tolerate bad actors who steal resources that plunge California neighborhoods into darkness or cut off vital emergency services. We are working with law enforcement, business leaders, and elected officials to stop this epidemic.”

Officials said copper wire theft has increased across California, disrupting telecommunications and utility services, damaging infrastructure and affecting businesses and agricultural operations.

The thefts can also cause power outages, interrupt 911 emergency communications and disrupt streetlights, traffic signals and public transportation systems, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Authorities said the damage can also affect healthcare facilities, schools and water and sewer systems.

“Copper wire theft is not simply a property crime. It is a serious public safety concern that can disrupt essential services, damage critical infrastructure, and place our communities at risk,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

“This operation demonstrates our Department’s commitment to proactively identifying, investigating, and holding accountable those responsible for these crimes. Through strategic enforcement efforts and collaboration with our law enforcement and community partners, we are sending a clear message that these criminal activities will not be tolerated.”

Officials urged residents to report suspected copper wire theft to local law enforcement, saying prompt reports can help prevent widespread communications outages and costly infrastructure damage.

A taxpayer-funded $3 billion-plus program to provide food assistance recipients with fresh fruit and vegetables is back online after a $20 million cash infusion from California’s taxpayers.

The latest allocation supplements roughly $3.2 billion worth of taxpayer spending on the CalFresh program, which is California’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

According to an announcement from Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-Milpitas, the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable Electronic Benefit Transfer Program is back up after running out of money in June. The program gives CalFresh recipients up to an extra $60 every month to buy healthy, fresh fruit and vegetables.

"Our renewed investment in the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Program will provide critical relief for low-income families,” Lee told The Center Square on Friday. “This program is a proven solution in making fresh fruits and vegetables more affordable and reducing food insecurity. As the federal government slashes our anti-hunger programs, we are stepping up to ensure people have access to affordable and nutritious food. The CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Program is a national model for reducing hunger, delivering real dollars back into the pockets of over half a million people."

The beleaguered program has suffered on-and-off funding for much of its three-year lifespan, according to previous reporting by The Center Square. The program launched in 2023, allowing recipients of CalFresh to earn $1 back on their electronic benefit transfer card for every $1 they spent on fresh produce at participating grocery stores.

As budget cuts took effect to the federally-funded SNAP program, California politicians ramped up efforts to use more of California taxpayers’ money to supplement CalFresh benefits. The program got $36 million of taxpayers’ money in November 2025, but was suspended in June after that money ran out.

In fiscal year 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported, federal taxpayer-funded SNAP program paid for food benefits for an average of 42.1 million people a month, up from 41.7 million people in fiscal year 2024. That cost American taxpayers $101.7 billion and averaged out to $187.94 per month to each SNAP recipient. The Center Square previously reported that in fiscal year 2024, federal SNAP funding cost $99.8 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the federal food stamp program.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture did not respond to The Center Square before publication time on Friday. Multiple politicians who are members of California’s Select Committee on CalFresh Enrollment and Nutrition did not respond to The Center Square or declined interviews. Organizations that advocate for taxpayer funding for CalFresh also did not respond to The Center Square.

A new law taking effect next year would require the state’s biggest cities to bring some life into downtowns to the tune of roughly $1.48 million to taxpayers.

The law - Assembly Bill 2074 - introduced by Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, requires big cities to designate transit hub districts in high-density downtown areas to serve taxpayers who live, work and take transportation downtown.

The new law also requires the California Housing Finance Agency to look at the prospect of a housing construction loan and financing program. The law requires the submission of a report to the Legislature by March 1, 2028.

The California Housing Finance Agency would have to include an analysis of existing construction loan programs, recommendation for how a taxpayer-funded construction loan program would function and an analysis of taxpayer-funded state resources needed to establish a loan fund to build housing in California’s downtowns, according to the bill analysis. The study itself would cost California’s taxpayers $250,000 to conduct and $236,000 a year for a staff member at the California Department of Housing and Community Development. Costs also include about $1 million for the California Labor Commissioner’s Office to oversee construction of housing projects in big cities’ downtown neighborhoods.

The bill was introduced in the Legislature earlier this year to find ways to create more high-density housing in California’s downtowns. The law also requires more housing to be built near popular public transportation routes, according to a legislative analysis of the bill.

"California's downtowns are at a crossroads,” Haney wrote in author comments included in the bill analysis. “In the wake of the pandemic, many of our city centers are struggling with high vacancy rates, declining foot traffic, and reduced economic activity. At the same time, we continue to face a severe housing shortage, especially in the very places where housing makes the most sense: near jobs, transit, and existing infrastructure.”

Haney did not respond to The Center Square on Friday.

Supporters of the new law, like California Yes in My Backyard, said businesses in California’s downtowns have struggled in recent years after decades of workers living in suburbs and only coming downtown to work. By bringing more people back into downtown hubs to live, big cities will see economic revitalization.

“For decades, we have really focused on housing developments in more suburban areas because it’s easier, it was cheaper and it was backed by the federal government,” Muhammad Alameldin, director of growth for California Yes in My Backyard, told The Center Square on Friday. “We don’t have as much available land and suitable commutes for people unless they want to drive two hours to a job center. Our downtowns are our job centers.”

According to a study published by the Institute of Governmental Studies at University of California, Berkeley, the COVID-19 pandemic emptied many already-struggling downtowns across the country as workers and taxpayers were forced to work remotely, resulting in many boarded-up offices buildings and commercial spaces. That also includes California’s major metropolitan areas, including San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles.

“This is the kind of policy that big cities need right now,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said in an announcement from Haney’s office. “It makes it easier to build more affordable housing while directly supporting good-paying jobs. In San Diego, we’ve done the work to get housing built faster, and we’re seeing the results. This bill takes the next step by turning underused spaces into homes near jobs and transit.”

Gloria, as well as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty did not respond to The Center Square on Friday. The office of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie declined to comment for this story. Several state politicians who are members of the Select Committee on Downtown Recovery also did not respond to The Center Square before publication time on Friday.

n one of the most significant expansions of federal financial aid in decades, President Donald Trump signed the Workforce Pell Grant program into law last year.

Now, students across the nation can receive Pell Grants not only to pay for traditional undergraduate degrees, but also short-term workforce training programs like apprenticeships, career and technical education and certificate programs.

But which programs in California qualify for these need-based grants? The federal government has left it to the states to identify high-demand industries and grant Workforce Pell eligibility accordingly. Programs must meet time and length requirements, completion percentages and employment metrics, per the U.S. Department of Education.

Taking the first major step in this process, the California Student Aid Commission is set to open an application portal Oct. 21 through which higher education institutions and career technical education providers can apply for state authorization to participate in the Workforce Pell program.

Per state law, the commission — in consultation with the California Workforce Development Board and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency — is tasked with determining if an institution’s short-term program meets the state and federal program requirements. The grant is designed for programs running between eight and 15 weeks that help learners quickly gain specialized skills for in-demand careers.

Once a program is deemed eligible by the state commission, institutions must submit their information to the U.S. Department of Education for final approval. After the federal department notifies institutions of their eligibility, the campus financial aid offices will be able to disburse Workforce Pell Grants to students.

“California is building more pathways to good-paying careers — and making sure opportunity isn’t limited by where you come from or whether you have a four-year degree,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement. “Through Workforce Pell, we’re expanding financial aid opportunities and helping Californians move faster into in-demand jobs, build new skills, and get ahead in our growing economy.”

Police were called to the congressional office of Rep. Kevin Kiley in Rocklin after staff members found a powdery substance while opening mail, a day after reports of similar incidents at congressional and election offices nationwide.

The suspicious mail was reported about noon Friday. Officers arrived and worked with office staff to secure the area and ensure the safety of those present, the Rocklin Police Department said news release.

The Roseville Fire Hazmat Task Force and the FBI responded to assess the substance. Police said the FBI collected the powdery substance and took over the investigation.

Kiley said the Rocklin office remained closed until it was deemed safe.

“No one should have to worry for their safety simply because they go to work for the American people,” Kiley said in a statement.

The Police Department didn’t release any further details about the investigation.

Federal authorities were investigating letters with “suspicious substances” that were mailed to congressional and campaign offices nationwide, which was first disclosed in a message from the Senate sergeant at arms obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. The notice, sent to Senate offices, said that law enforcement officials were working to intercept any additional letters, but “it is possible that some letters may reach their destinations.”

The investigation into the suspicious mail was being conducted by the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Capitol Police. Authorities were urging recipients to treat the mailings as “potentially hazardous.”

Hackers have stolen the data — including names, addresses and disability records — of millions of current and former California public school students who took the state’s mandated standardized tests that annually assess their academic proficiency, education officials announced Friday.

The compromised information affects many more than the state’s current 5.7 million public-school students as the breach dates back to 2023 enrollments. Students who left California but did not confirm their transfer to another school also were affected, dating back to 2006.

The data breach involved Educational Testing Service or ETS, which provides extensive services to California.

While the first public notice was Friday, school district leaders received word on Oct. 2.

State education officials “are urgently working with a team of state agencies to investigate and determine scope and impact of the incident, including what information may have been affected,” according to a letter from state Deputy Supt. Mary Nicely.

ETS, a nonprofit assessment organization, helps manage and provide testing-related services for students enrolled in California public schools, including the required Smarter Balanced tests administered in spring. In this role, ETS maintains student demographic, test participation and assessment data.

The exposed information also includes student grade level, date of birth and the school and district students attend. The hackers also obtained access to unique student identifier numbers as well as information about gender, race or ethnicity, primary language, country of origin and English learner status. Also exposed was information about student disabilities and student eligibility status for federal programs, such as those available to help students from low-income families.

The stolen data did not include Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, financial account information, credit or debit card information or account passwords. Nor was parent or guardian personal information exposed, officials said.

ETS discovered the hack on Sept. 25. A subsequent investigation found that “an unauthorized party used a compromised login credential to access the site and copy files containing California student information at various times between May 22 and September 18, 2026,” according to information posted by the California Department of Education. No evidence yet that information made public

Officials said they have not yet uncovered any evidence that the information has been made public. But it’s also true that hackers will often keep information confidential pending the outcome of a ransom demand.

The official release did not say whether such a demand has been made.

One cybersecurity expert expressed concern that such a vast breach could have occurred based on one compromised username and password.

“A stolen login credential should not become a months-long passport to millions of students’ personal records,” said Anton Dahbura, executive director of the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute. “If that is what happened here, the critical question is why authentication safeguards, access restrictions, and monitoring systems failed to detect and stop the unauthorized activity.”

He added: “Incidents like this expose a fundamental weakness in how we manage student data: School systems may outsource the storage and processing of sensitive information, but they cannot outsource the consequences of a breach. When millions of student records are concentrated with a single vendor, one security failure can become a statewide problem with consequences that follow children for years.”

A spokesperson for ETS defended the organization’s practices.

“ETS maintains a comprehensive information security program that is regularly assessed by third parties,” said Christine Betaneli. “We continuously invest in safeguarding the systems and data we maintain.”

Betaneli said no other “ETS customers” were affected.

“We have implemented additional safeguards, including enhanced monitoring, strengthened access controls and further third-party review of our security practices,” Betaneli added. Monitoring for damage

Affected former students, including those who are now adults, are eligible for 24 months of free identity-protection services and identity-restoration help if there is identity theft.

Officials said that parents and guardians may want to consider requesting a free credit freeze for their children who are under 16 to help prevent unauthorized accounts from being opened in the names of their children.

“Be cautious of unexpected emails, phone calls, or text messages” related to the incident, including claims that the caller is from ETS or the state or a credit monitoring company, officials also warned.

“Do not provide Social Security numbers, passwords, financial information, or other sensitive personal information in response to unsolicited requests.”

Additional information and updates can be found at the CDE Educational Testing Service Incident webpage. Other notable education hacks

In May, a massive cyberattack sparked chaos across California colleges after hackers breached the company behind Canvas, one of the nation’s most widely used education technology platforms, where reading assignments are posted, tests are taken and students chat with teachers.

The breach caused the company, Instructure, to temporarily take Canvas offline and interrupted classes, assignments and finals preparations for hundreds of thousands of students and professors as hackers threatened to release their personal data.

A hacking group named ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the attack. Instructure eventually announced it reached a deal with “the unauthorized actor involved” to return the compromised data, but didn’t say who that actor was or whether payment was involved. It said it obtained proof that copies of the data were destroyed, but acknowledged there was no way to know for sure.

The most widely noted hack of a local school district was the cyberattack on Los Angeles Unified over Labor Day weekend in 2022.

District officials took the unprecedented step of shutting down all district computer systems to limit the damage. School opened on schedule on Tuesday, but students, families and staff had to reset more than 600,000 passwords. Many said a full week of instruction was lost, and technicians found “digital tripwires” left behind to further infect systems. The worst damage was in the facilities division, where about half the servers were encrypted — meaning that district staff could not access their own systems and records.

The district confirmed a ransom demand but refused to pay.

The district at first played down the harm from compromised information. Supt. Alberto Carvalho said there was “no evidence of widespread impact” and called those affected “outliers.”

But a Times review of the leaked files found a 2005 student psychological assessment, despite district denials that such records had leaked. It also found employee discipline records, a worker’s criminal-history report, contractor payroll data, tax forms and passports. And a later district filing to the state acknowledged that more than 500 people who worked for district contractors likely had Social Security numbers and other confidential information exposed. The district also later reported that about 2,000 student assessment records had been posted, including those of 60 current students.