By Sophie Austin | Associated Press/Report for America SACRAMENTO — Arizona doctors could give their patients abortions in California under a proposal announced Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom to circumvent a ban on nearly all abortions in that state. It would apply only to doctors licensed in good standing in Arizona and their patients, and last only through the end of November. Arizona’s 1864 law banning nearly all abortions except if the mother’s life is in jeopardy takes effect June 8. “Arizona Republicans continue to put women in danger—embracing a draconian law passed when Arizona was a t ..read more

OAKLEY — A policy to guide council members in their personal social media postings passed its first hurdle Tuesday. Though Oakley City Attorney Derek Cole cautioned the city cannot control a councilmembers’ speech on personal social media and has “limited ability” to enforce such a policy, council members still wanted to have a policy in place to give to new members at the start of their terms. Cole explained that private social media accounts belong to the council members and are protected by the First Amendment. As such, the city cannot impose rules that forbid council members from engaging ..read more

An occupation of Siemens Hall at Cal Poly Humboldt that started Monday is ongoing. Every entrance to the building was barricaded Tuesday morning after activists successfully kept out a line of police in riot gear from evacuating students the previous evening. Three were arrested at the scene, according to the university, where hundreds of protesters eventually gathered. Cal Poly Humboldt estimated dozens of students are still in the building. Activists Tuesday said the building was chosen because administrators work out of it. The occupation calls on the University to divest from companies tha ..read more

OAKLAND — International Boulevard in Oakland is home to a vibrant mix of cultures from downtown Oakland to the San Leandro border. Colorful, cultural street murals cover restaurant facades and the street is peppered with food carts and vendors selling everything from fruit cups to T-shirts. But navigating the vital, busy thoroughfare can be a heart pumping challenge for pedestrians and drivers alike. The city of Oakland and Alameda County transportation officials are now pouring several million dollars into making the street safer, more transit friendly and easier to navigate. And they are not ..read more

A plan to kill all the mule deer on Catalina Island using aerial sharpshooters from helicopters was strongly opposed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, April 23. The controversial program as proposed by the Catalina Island Conservancy aims to eradicate up to 2,000 deer on the island that the conservancy says are destroying the island’s native plants and animals and damaging the entire ecosystem. “Eradicating Catalina Island’s entire population of more than 1,770 mule deer through aerial shooting from helicopters is inhumane and drastic, and potentially dangerous to the ..read more

On Feb. 7, 2021, Sammy Berman Chapman, 16, was silently killed in his Santa Monica home. The culprit: a fentanyl-laced pill the teen had purchased on social media. Now his parents Sam Chapman and Laura Berman are fighting to pass SB 1444 in the California state legislature, known as the Let Parents Choose Protection Act of 2024 — or Sammy’s Law. The bill would require all major social media platforms to allow integration with third-party monitoring software, which can notify parents when dangers—such as drug and firearm sales, bullying or suicidal thoughts—appear on their children’s accounts ..read more

So it’s a tie — again. At least for now. With the recount in the stunning Congressional District 16 race almost complete, the latest results show Assemblymember Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian with the same exact number of votes. On April 15, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties started recounting the more than 182,000 votes cast in the March primary race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo. Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo locked in first place early on, but after nearly a month of vote-counting, Low and Simitian ended in a tie for second place. With no ..read more

In another twist that could shake up the results of the recount in the Congressional District 16 race even more, 16 ballots are being challenged in San Mateo County that were excluded from the original tally due to what has been described as a “simple oversight.” The recount of the 182,135 votes cast in the March primary began on April 15 in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, where the congressional district is located. In the race to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo came in first by more than 8,000 votes ahead of Low and Simitian, who are deadlocked f ..read more

Susanne Rust | Los Angeles Times (TNS) If it’s true that you are what you eat, then most beef-eating Americans consist of a smattering of poultry feathers, urine, feces, wood chips and chicken saliva, among other food items. As epidemiologists scramble to figure out how dairy cows throughout the Midwest became infected with a strain of highly pathogenic avian flu— a disease that has decimated hundreds of millions of wild and farmed birds, as well as tens of thousands of mammals across the planet — they’re looking at a standard “recycling” practice employed by thousands of farmers across t ..read more

What are we trying to teach the young-uns? Is it more important to keep one’s word, despite changes of heart? Or is it more important to allow compassion to sway us? That may be the essence of the battle over Assembly Bill 3053, which would change county fair rules to allow kids to enter animals in competitions without necessarily sentencing the beasts to death (and their parents to drawn-out legal battles) if the kids change their minds. Inspired by the sad saga of Cedar, the goat slaughtered over a child’s vehement objections after the Shasta District Fair sale in 2022, this bill faces stron ..read more