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Tag: California News

  • Filipino engineer and entrepreneur dies at 79

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    Filipino tech entrepreneur Diosdado “Dado” Banatao died at the age of 79.

    Banatao is known for pioneering the technology that made personal computers possible, thus putting Silicon Valley on the map. He also co-founded three technology companies and started a nonprofit to help support Filipinos in STEM fields.

    “Rising from humble beginnings in Cagayan, he went on to co-found transformative technology companies and played a pivotal role in advancing the global semiconductor and graphics industries,” said the National Federation of Filipino American Associations on LinkedIn in honor of Banatao’s passing. “Just as importantly, he invested deeply in people opening doors, mentoring founders and strengthening communities.”

    According to a post on his website by his family, Banatao passed away peacefully on Christmas Day, surrounded by family and friends. His family said he “succumbed to complications from a neurological disorder that hit him late in his life.” He would have been 80 in May.

    His family wrote, “We are mourning his loss, but take comfort from the time spent with him during this Christmas season, and that his fight with this disease is over.”

    Banatao was born to a rice farmer and housekeeper in Iguig, Cagayan, according to ABS-CBN. According to his 2015 documentary, he didn’t have access to electricity growing up and was taught math using bamboo sticks. He said it was typical for his classmates to stop going to school after sixth grade to help their parents work in the fields, but his father told him to continue studying.

    He developed a love for engineering and graduated with a degree in electric engineering from Mapua Institute of Technology, a private research university in Manila. He said in his documentary that there were no design jobs for engineers in the Philippines, so he moved to the U.S. and pursued a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science at Stanford University. He graduated in 1972.

    Soon after college, Banatao worked as a design engineering at Boeing. ABS-CBN reported that he then went on to work for other technology companies, like National Semiconductor and Intersil. While at Commodore International, he designed the first single chip, 16-bit microprocessor-based calculator.

    He is credited with developing the first 10-Mbit ethernet CMOS chip in 1981 while working at Seeq Technology. He also developed the first system logic chipset for IBM’s PC-XT and PC-AT and one of the first graphics accelerators for personal computers. These inventions allowed for faster computer performance, according to Inquirer.net. The Harvard Club of Southern California credited Banatao for bringing GPS technology to consumers.

    “Dado is the man who invented a graphical chipset that took us from black screens with green writing to the dynamic displays we have today,” the club wrote for a description of a lecture he gave in 2017 for the Harvard Business School Association of Orange County.

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    Nollyanne Delacruz

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  • The Bay Area’s week of stormy weather is nearly over. Here’s when the skies should fully clear

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    The end to a wild week of whipsawing weather across Northern California is at hand.

    Sunny skies, calmer winds and cooler temperatures are forecast to return to the Bay Area on Saturday and linger into early next week, offering a respite from a weeklong parade of storms that felled trees, flooded roadways and caused power outages affecting thousands of people.

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    Jakob Rodgers

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  • Rain-Soaked California Still at Risk of Floods and High Surf

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    WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. (AP) — A strong storm system that brought relentless winds, rain and snowfall to California this week was expected to ease Friday, but there was still a risk of high surf along the coast, flash flooding near Los Angeles and avalanches in the Sierra Nevada.

    Waves near the San Francisco Bay Area could reach up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) Friday, parts of Southern California were at risk of flooding, and avalanches could hit the Lake Tahoe area, officials warned. Residents were told to be ready to evacuate the mountain town of Wrightwood about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles because of mudslides.

    Atmospheric rivers carried massive plumes of moisture from the tropics during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. The storms were blamed for at least two deaths earlier in the week.

    The system brought the wettest Christmas season to downtown Los Angeles in 54 years, the National Weather Service said.

    Roads in the 5,000-resident town of Wrightwood were covered in rocks, debris and thick mud on Thursday. With power out, a gas station and coffee shop running on generators were serving as hubs for residents and visitors.

    “It’s really a crazy Christmas,” said Jill Jenkins, who was spending the holiday with her 13-year-old grandson, Hunter Lopiccolo.

    Lopiccolo said the family almost evacuated the previous day, when water washed away a chunk of their backyard. But they decided to stay and still celebrated the holiday. Lopiccolo got a new snowboard and e-bike.

    “We just played card games all night with candles and flashlights,” he said.

    Davey Schneider hiked a mile and a half (1.6 kilometers) through rain and floodwater up to his shins from his Wrightwood residence Wednesday to rescue cats from his grandfather’s house.

    “I wanted to help them out because I wasn’t confident that they were going to live,” Schneider said Thursday. “Fortunately, they all lived. They’re all okay — just a little bit scared.”

    Arlene Corte said roads in town turned into rivers, but her house was not damaged.

    “It could be a whole lot worse,” she said. “We’re here talking.”

    With more rain on the way, more than 150 firefighters were stationed in the area, said San Bernardino County Fire spokesman Shawn Millerick.

    “We’re ready,” he said. “It’s all hands on deck at this point.”

    A falling tree killed a San Diego man Wednesday, news outlets reported. Farther north, a Sacramento sheriff’s deputy died in what appeared to be a weather-related crash.

    Areas along the coast, including Malibu, were under a flood watch until Friday afternoon, and wind and flood advisories were issued for much of the Sacramento Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.

    Southern California typically gets half an inch to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5 centimeters) of rain this time of year, but this week many areas could see between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters), with even more in the mountains, National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford said.

    More wind and heavy snow was expected in the Sierra Nevada, where gusts created “near white-out conditions” and made mountain pass travel treacherous.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom declared emergencies in six counties to allow state assistance.

    The state deployed resources and first responders to several coastal and Southern California counties, and the California National Guard was on standby.

    Associated Press writers Sophie Austin in Oakland, California, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Bank of America commits to $10 million in zero-interest loans for Eaton and Palisades fire relief

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    Bank of America on Tuesday announced $10 million in zero-interest loans to Community Development Financial Institutions for housing, nonprofit facilities and small business recovery following the Eaton and Palisades wildfires.

    The loans will be managed through three West Coast CDFIs involved in the region’s disaster recovery efforts.

    — Clearinghouse CDFI will use its fire-designated funding to finance property acquisition or single-family home development by nonprofits. It will also make funds available to small businesses for rebuilding expenses that outpace insurance proceeds and for resuming operations

    — Genesis LA will provide loans to support homeownership, economic development, and nonprofit facilities in the Altadena and Pasadena areas. It is working with various Altadena groups to acquire vacant lots for redevelopment, with nonprofit developers working with local residents to rebuild multiple homes simultaneously, and local businesses rebuilding their storefronts

    — Pacific Community Ventures’ RESTORE LA Fund will offer no-fee loans to small businesses of $10,000 to $100,000 at a 3% interest rate that can be used to replace damaged property or equipment, support worker retention or payroll expenses, and fund other recovery needs. Businesses also receive pro bono technical assistance and access PCV’s climate resilience lending program.

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    City News Service

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  • San Francisco Outages Leaves 130,000 Without Power

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    A massive outage knocked out power to 130,000 homes and businesses in San Francisco on Saturday, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said.

    The power failure left a large swath of the northern part of the city in the dark, beginning with the Richmond and Presidio neighborhoods and areas around Golden Gate Park in the early afternoon and growing in size.

    PG&E did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the cause of the blackouts. The outage represents roughly one-third of the utility company’s customers in the city.

    Social media posts and local media reported mass closures of restaurants and shops and darkened street lights and Christmas decorations.

    The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said on X there were “significant transit disruptions” happening citywide and urged residents to avoid nonessential travel and treat down traffic signals as four-way stops.

    The city’s transportation agencies said they were bypassing some Muni bus and BART train stations because of the power outages.

    At least some of the blackouts were caused by a fire that broke out inside a PG&E substation at 8th and Mission streets, fire officials posted on X at about 3:15 p.m.

    At about 4 p.m., PG&E posted on X that it had stabilized the power grid and was not expecting additional customer outages. The company said it was unable to confirm if power would be restored by later Saturday.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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    Associated Press

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  • One dead, one wounded in Oakland shooting

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    OAKLAND — One man was killed and another man was wounded early Friday in a shooting in the San Antonio district of East Oakland, authorities said.

    No information was immediately released about either man.

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    Harry Harris

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  • Alameda DA to dismiss case against former San Leandro cop in killing of Steven Taylor

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    OAKLAND — Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson’s office formally asked a judge this week to dismiss the manslaughter case against the former San Leandro police officer accused of fatally shooting Steven Taylor during an April 2020 shoplifting call.

    The request by Jones Dickson’s administration  — which is expected to be argued at a hearing Friday morning — marks yet another twist in the case against Jason Fletcher, who was charged with manslaughter months after the killing but has yet to face trial amid a rotating cast of district attorneys. His case has since become a rallying cry by advocates pushing for greater accountability among law enforcement officers who use deadly force.

    If granted, the dismissal would represent an abrupt end to the first police officer charged in an on-duty killing in Alameda County since BART Officer Johannes Mehserle was tried — and convicted — in the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant more than 15 years ago. Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in July 2010, by a Los Angeles County jury after the case was moved south.

    In a motion filed Tuesday, the district attorney’s office argued that Fletcher’s case “cannot be proved beyond a reasonable doubt,” nor that it’s entirely clear that Fletcher didn’t act out of self defense or the right to defend others inside the San Leandro Walmart where the shooting happened.

    Taylor was fatally shot on April 18, 2020, while allegedly trying to steal an aluminum baseball bat and a tent from the Walmart. Only about 40 seconds passed between the time Fletcher encountered Taylor, 33, and when the fatal shot was fired, according to a lawsuit against the city of San Leandro by the slain man’s family.

    Alameda County prosecutors had previously argued that Fletcher did not try to de-escalate the confrontation before fatally shooting Taylor once in the chest after using a Taser on him multiple times. A judge later called the case “a battle of the experts,” given the vast amount of testimony at an evidentiary hearing from police use-of-force experts.

    Those experts became the subject of a recent bid by Fletcher’s attorneys — largely backed by the work of Jones Dickson’s own team — to dismiss the case on the grounds of “outrageous government conduct.” The officer’s attorneys argued that previous prosecutors in the case — each overseen by former District Attorney Pamela Price — acted unethically while seeking experts to testify on the prosecution’s behalf.

    In ruling from the bench last month, Alameda County Judge Thomas Reardon said he found no evidence that those former prosecutors tainted the case by allegedly hiding evidence from defense attorneys.

    The district attorney’s dismissal motion this week again took direct aim at Price’s administration, claiming that her strategy was nothing more than “a desperate de-evolution into violations of both ethics and the law around these experts.”

    “The effort made to conceal expert opinions from the defense in violation of Supreme Court case law that requires transparency of this type of evidence only created more hurdles to the prosecution of Fletcher,” the motion added.

    The motion appears to have been authored by Darby Williams, a relative newcomer to Jones Dickson’s staff who previously spent time as a prosecutor in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties, as well as a public defender in Los Angeles, according to her LinkedIn account. The site shows her having joined the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office in July.

    The request by Jones Dickson’s team continues a trend by the former Alameda County prosecutor and judge, who has worked to unwind the legacy of Price, who voters recalled last year. That includes dismissing numerous cases filed by Price’s administration, including several against law enforcement officers related to the deaths of inmates at Santa Rita Jail.

    Price has since announced a campaign to once again seek election as the county’s district attorney, roughly a year after voters removed her from office by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. So far, Price and Jones Dickson are the only people known to be vying for the post.

    The wave of dismissals had led to fears by Taylor’s family that Fletcher’s case could be next.

    Reached Wednesday morning, Taylor’s grandmother, Addie Kitchen, slammed the decision.

    “I’m shocked,” said Kitchen, noting how the request to end the case came not from Fletcher’s attorneys, but from Jones Dickson’s office. “How do you think it feels? Five and a half years — the biggest slap in the face by the district attorney.”

    Check back for updates to this developing story.

    Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.

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    Jakob Rodgers

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  • Share the Spirit: Hijas del Campo uplifts farmworkers in east Contra Costa County

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    BRENTWOOD – Mayra Jimenez Almaras was 8 when she came to the U.S. from Mexico with her parents and two siblings. At 11, she was working long hours under the scorching sun in the Brentwood fields, picking green beans and packing corn.

    Those days are now behind her as the 21-year-old prepares to graduate from Saint Mary’s College of California in December with a bachelor’s degree in finance.

    As a way to give back to the organization that helped her family, Jimenez Almaras works as a community health worker with Hijas del Campo, which, translated from Spanish, means “daughters of the field.”

    The Contra Costa County-based nonprofit aims to help migrants, seasonal farmworkers, and their families to improve their lives, working conditions, health, and safety. Their work focuses on food security, health care, housing, education, workers’ rights and legal aid.

    Jimenez Almaras was in high school when she first met Marivel Mendoza and Dorina Moraida, co-founders of Hijas del Campo. At the time, they were handing out back-to-school supplies and educational resources.

    “A door opened for me, providing different types of resources, not just education-wise but, in general, so much mentorship and leadership,” said Jimenez Almaras.

    Through the nonprofit, Jimenez Almaras not only received support for her college application but also a laptop.

    That same laptop not only helped Jimenez Almaras, but also her mom, who later used it to complete a community health worker certification program through Hijas del Campo.

    Now, Jimenez Almaras’s mother no longer works in the fields, but instead in an elderly care home.

    Her two siblings have also moved on. Her older brother teaches at an area school, while her younger brother is pursuing a degree at a community college.

    Jimenez Almaras said that while the world sees farmworkers as a vital source of food for their plates, many fail to recognize that farmworkers themselves face food and financial insecurities, as well as chronic diseases.

    She urged local leaders to respect and advocate for the community that provides sustenance.

    “Have that respect, treat everyone equally, and at the end of the day, just be thankful that we’re there every single day, not only thriving for our own families, but thriving for yours as well,” said Jimenez Almaras. “Look out for the people that feed you and don’t bite those hands.”

    Hijas del Campo co-founders Dorina Salgado-Moraida, left, and Marivel Mendoza are photographed in Brentwood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. Hijas del Campo is Contra Costa County-based nonprofit organization that aims to help migrant and seasonal farmworkers, along with their families, to improve their daily lives, working conditions, health and safety. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
    Hijas del Campo co-founders Dorina Salgado-Moraida, left, and Marivel Mendoza are photographed in Brentwood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. Hijas del Campo is Contra Costa County-based nonprofit organization that aims to help migrant and seasonal farmworkers, along with their families, to improve their daily lives, working conditions, health and safety. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) 

    Hijas del Campo was founded by a group of women who met in early 2020 after seeing how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted farmworkers.

    Mendoza and Moraida are both first-generation Mexican-American women whose parents toiled in the fields when they first moved to the U.S.

    “My dad didn’t work in the fields too long, but he would always talk to us about how hard that work was and how important it was for us to honor the people who pick our food because it’s a backbreaking job,” said Moraida, the nonprofit’s program director.

    Volunteer Milka Ambrosio sorts and unloads a recent shipment of donated items while at Hijas del Campo in Brentwood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
    Volunteer Milka Ambrosio sorts and unloads a recent shipment of donated items while at Hijas del Campo in Brentwood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) 

     

    The organization just celebrated its fifth anniversary. Over the years, it has worked with 500 core families — nearly 2,000 people — through outreach activities, giving farmworkers bags of essential, seasonal items, said Mendoza, executive director of Hijas del Campo.

    For example, during the summer, packed bags include intravenous fluids to treat dehydration, masks to reduce the risk of valley fever, and sunscreen to protect workers from the sun. During the winter, there are hand warmers, socks, gloves, and scarves, among other items.

    “When we say we take care of farmworkers in our county, it doesn’t matter where they’re from,” said Mendoza. “We’re going to make sure that we have some kind of touch point with them and connect them to resources where they live, if it’s possible.”

    Volunteers work on sorting donated clothes at Hijas del Campo in Brentwood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
    Volunteers work on sorting donated clothes at Hijas del Campo in Brentwood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) 

    The nonprofit has also partnered with Contra Costa Health Services, the California Department of Public Health, and San Joaquin County to inform providers about the rise in valley fever and how to recognize its symptoms among agricultural workers.

    Amid federal political uncertainty, Mendoza and Moraida said the organization is also educating farmworkers on their rights and partnering with immigration law groups, such as the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area.

    Beyond health, education has become a cornerstone of their work. The organization partners with Lenovo, which donates about 20-30 laptops annually to students from farmworker families, and organizes a “Lunch and Learn” program, bringing in professionals who are either immigrants or first-generation college students to share their stories and inspire students.

    In 2023, Hijas del Campo began building four tiny homes to provide transitional housing for farmworkers living in unsafe or substandard conditions. Each of the homes offers wraparound services, including financial literacy, mental health support, and healthcare access.

    Part of the rent paid to the nonprofit is deposited into a savings account and returned after two years, in hopes that the residents will be independent enough to move out and find their own housing.

    “The hope is that in two years, they’ll feel more stable and confident. Having a secure place to live changes a person,” said Moraida.

    Share the Spirit 2025 logo
    ABOUT SHARE THE SPIRIT
    Share the Spirit is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by the East Bay Times/Bay Area News Group. Since 1989, Share the Spirit has been producing series of stories during the holiday season that highlight the wishes of those in need and invite readers to help fulfill them.

    HOW TO HELP
    Donations to Hijas del Campo will enable the nonprofit to buy and distribute 500 food bags to 378 low-income farmworker families in Contra Costa County for two months, prioritizing access for people who face barriers to traditional food assistance. Goal: $10,000

    HOW TO GIVE
    Donate at sharethespiriteastbay.org/donate or by mail using this form. Donations are tax deductible.

    ONLINE EXTRA
    Read other Share the Spirit stories, view photos and video at sharethespiriteastbay.org.

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    Hema Sivanandam

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  • Higher Fees for Foreigners Visiting US National Parks Stokes Tourism Concerns

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    BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A $100-per-person charge for foreigners entering Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and other popular national parks is stoking apprehension among some tourist-oriented businesses that it could discourage travelers, but supporters say the change will generate money for cash-strapped parks.

    The new fee was announced Tuesday by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and takes effects Jan. 1. Foreign tourists also will see a sharp price increase for an annual parks pass, to $250 per vehicle. U.S. residents will continue to be charged $80 for an annual pass.

    The change in policy puts the U.S. in line with other countries that charge foreigners more to see popular attractions.

    At the Whistling Swan Motel just outside Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, owner Mark Howser estimates that about 15% of his customers are foreigners. They come from Canada, China, India, Spain, France, Germany and elsewhere, said Howser, who also runs a bakery and general store.

    Those visitors already pay up to $35 per vehicle to enter the park. Adding the $100-per-person charge for foreigners, Howser said, “is a sure-fire way of discouraging people from visiting Glacier.”

    “It’s going to hurt local businesses that cater to foreign travelers, like myself,” he said. “You’re discouraging them from seeing something in the country by attaching a fee to that experience.”

    A Yellowstone tour operator, Bryan Batchelder with Let’s Go Adventure Tours and Transportation, said the charge represents “a pretty big hike” for the roughly 30% of his clientele that are foreigners. That percentage has been going up in recent years after Batchelder switched to a new booking service.

    Next summer, he said, will reveal how the new charge plays out among foreign visitors. “They’ll probably still come to the country, but will they visit national parks?” Batchelder asked.

    The charge also will apply at Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Yosemite and Zion national parks.

    Interior officials described the new fee structure as “America-first pricing” that will ensure international visitors contribute to maintaining parks.

    For Yellowstone park alone, the $100 charge could generate $55 million annually to help fix deteriorating trails and aging bridges, said Brian Yablonski with the Property and Environment Research Center, a free market research group based in Bozeman, Montana.

    If the charges for foreigners were extended to park sites nationwide, Yablonski said it could generate more than $1 billion from an estimated 14 million international visitors annually.

    “Americans are already paying more than international visitors because they are paying taxes,” Yablonski said. “For international visitors, this is kind of a no-brainer, common sense approach.”

    Many other countries charge international visitors an extra fee to visit public sites, said Melissa Weddell, director of the University of Montana’s Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research. Foreign visitors to Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, for example, pay $200 per adult, while Ecuadorian nationals pay only $30, according to tourist websites for the islands.

    A coalition of current and former employees park service denounced the new charge.

    “In a year where national park staff have already been cut by nearly 25%, we worry this will be yet another burden for already overworked employees,″ said Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.

    “National parks should be available and accessible to all, or America’s best idea will become America’s greatest shakedown,″ she said.

    Gerry Seavo James, deputy campaign director for Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All campaign, said Trump and his administration have worked for nearly a year to undermine the park service, slashing its budget and firing thousands of staff.

    “Gouging foreign tourists at the entrance gate won’t provide the financial support these crown jewels of our public lands need,” he said. “Without that support, we run the risk of our true common grounds becoming nothing more than playgrounds for the super-rich.”

    Interior Department spokesperson Elizabeth Peace said the agency previously did not collect data on international visitors but will start doing so in January.

    Republican lawmakers in July introduced a bill in Congress that would codify the surcharge for foreign visitors to national parks. It’s sponsored by West Virginia Rep. Riley Moore and Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, who served as interior secretary during Trump’s firs term.

    “President Trump and Secretary Burgum are putting Americans first by asking foreign visitors to pay their fair share while holding entrance fees steady for the American people,” Zinke and Moore said in a statement Wednesday.

    Daly reported from Washington, D.C.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Nov. 2025

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  • Trump administration to investigate UC Berkeley over Turning Point USA event

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    The U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into the University of California at Berkeley Tuesday over violence that erupted earlier this month at protests outside an event organized by conservative group Turning Point USA.

    The department said it will investigate whether UC Berkeley violated the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act, a federal law that requires colleges and universities that receive federal financial aid to record and report campus crime data.

    The announcement comes as UC Berkeley also faces a Department of Justice investigation into the university’s handling of the event and protests, which resulted in at least four arrests and left one person injured after being struck in the head by a thrown object. Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that promotes conservative values on high school and college campuses, was co-founded by Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot in September during a tour stop at a university in Utah.

    “Just two months after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was brutally assassinated on a college campus, UC Berkeley allowed a protest of a Turning Point USA event on its grounds to turn unruly and violent, jeopardizing the safety of its students and staff,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement Tuesday.

    She said the department is reviewing UC Berkeley’s procedures to ensure that it maintains campus safety and security.

    “This is not about students’ First Amendment rights to protest peacefully. This is about ensuring accurate and transparent reporting of crime statistics to the campus community and guaranteeing that every student can safely participate in educational programs and activities,” McMahon said. “The department will vigorously investigate this matter to ensure that a recipient of federal funding is not allowing its students to be at risk.”

    In a statement Tuesday, UC Berkeley said the university has “an unwavering commitment” to abide by the laws and will cooperate with the investigations, as well as continue to host speakers and events representing a variety of viewpoints “in a safe and respectful manner.”

    The university said the campus provided public reports about two violent crimes that happened that evening — a fistfight over an attempted robbery and the person hit by a thrown object.

    “The campus administration went to great lengths to support the First Amendment rights of all by deploying a large number of police officers from multiple jurisdictions and a large number of contracted private security personnel,” the university said Tuesday. “The campus also closed adjoining buildings and cordoned off part of the campus in order to prevent criminal activity, keep the peace, and ensure the event was not disrupted by protests.”

    The Education Department’s office of Federal Student Aid will lead the investigation. It gave UC Berkeley 30 days to provide copies of the school’s annual security report, all incidents of crime from 2022-2024, all arrests made by law enforcement and referrals for disciplinary action against students or employees disclosed in the annual security report, daily crime logs from 2022-2025 and several other reports.

    In 2020, UC Berkeley was fined $2.35 million for failing to comply with the Clery Act after a six-year federal review revealed thousands of crime incidents were misclassified — the majority of which were related to liquor, drug and weapons violations. UC Berkeley said the campus had referred students for disciplinary proceedings but wrongly classified the violations — many involving minors in possession of alcohol in residence halls — as a campus policy violation rather than a law violation, as required under the Clery Act.

    The Department of Education’s investigation — started in July 2014 — also found a range of issues including failure to comply with sexual violence policies and procedures, failure to maintain accurate and complete daily crime logs, failure to disclose accurate hate crime statistics and failure to issue emergency notifications. UC Berkeley entered into a settlement agreement with the Education Department in 2020 and acknowledged that the campus had made “many administrative errors in the past,” but said it has taken aggressive steps toward improvement.

    Notably, the Education Department’s finding that the campus failed to issue emergency notifications surrounded a campus visit by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos in February 2017, which sparked violent protests and caused $100,000 in damages to the campus, the school said.

    The Education Department’s investigation said the university failed to notify students of any violence until an hour after protests began to escalate — a delay the department said could have compromised community members’ safety. In a response to the department, UC Berkeley said the finding was based on an incorrect timeline of events and that it had alerted the community immediately after learning the protest had become violent.

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    Molly Gibbs

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  • Federal Judge Says Immigration Officers in Colorado Can Only Arrest Those at Risk of Fleeing

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    DENVER (AP) — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that immigration officers in Colorado can only arrest people without a warrant if they think those people are likely to flee.

    U.S. District Senior Judge R. Brooke Jackson issued the order in a legal challenge brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and other lawyers.

    They’re representing four people, including asylum-seekers, who were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement without warrants this year as part of President Donald Trump’s increased immigration enforcement. The lawsuit accuses immigration officers of indiscriminately arresting Latinos to meet enforcement goals without evaluating what’s required to legally detain them.

    Jackson said each of those who sued had longstanding ties to their communities and no reasonable officer could have concluded they were likely to flee before getting a warrant to arrest them.

    Before arresting anyone without a warrant, immigration officers must have probable cause to believe both that someone is in the country illegally and that they are likely to flee before an arrest warrant can be obtained, under federal law, he said. Jackson also said immigration officers needed to document the reasons for why they are arresting someone.

    Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, called it an “activist ruling” and said the department follows the law.

    “Allegations that DHS law enforcement engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE,” she said in a statement.

    Another judge had also issued a restraining order barring federal agents from stopping people based solely on their race, language, job or location in the Los Angeles area after finding that they were conducting indiscriminate stops. The Supreme Court lifted that order in September.

    McLaughlin suggested the government would appeal the Colorado ruling.

    “The Supreme Court recently vindicated us on this question elsewhere, and we look forward to further vindication in this case as well,” she said.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Nov. 2025

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  • Actor Joaquin Phoenix lends support to convicted Berkeley activist Zoe Rosenberg in Petaluma Poultry case

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    The latest twist came Monday in the high-profile case of animal welfare activist Zoe Rosenberg, who awaits sentencing for her role in taking four chickens from a Perdue Farms processing facility in Petaluma: a celebrity endorsement.

    Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix, one of Hollywood’s most esteemed actors, released a statement through the group Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, urging the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office to prosecute Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry facility for “years of documented cruelty,” rather than focusing its attention on activists such as Rosenberg.

    RELATED: Berkeley animal activist Zoe Rosenberg found guilty in ‘chicken rescue’ case tied to Petaluma Poultry

    “Criminalizing people for rescuing suffering animals is a moral failure,” Phoenix wrote. “Compassion is not a crime. When individuals step in to save a life because the system has looked the other way, they should be supported — not prosecuted. We have to decide who we are as a society: one that protects the vulnerable, or one that punishes those who try.”

    In addition to circulating the statement to media outlets, DxE posted it on Facebook and Instagram. By 3 p.m. Monday, the post had been shared more than 1,800 times, and had attracted nearly 2,000 comments, most of them supportive of Phoenix’s message.

    Carla Rodriguez, the Sonoma County district attorney, said her office had not heard directly from the actor, and she had not spoken to him.

    Zoe Rosenberg talks to supporters outside the Sonoma County Hall of Justice after being found guilty of felony conspiracy. Photo taken in Santa Rosa Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (Beth Schlanker / The Press Democrat) 

    Rosenberg, a 23-year-old Cal student billed by Berkeley-based DxE as an “animal cruelty investigator,” was convicted Oct. 29 by a Sonoma County jury on charges of felony conspiracy and three misdemeanors. She is set to be sentenced Dec. 3 and could face up to 4½ years for her actions at the Petaluma Poultry processing plant during a 2023 incursion there by activists.

    If it seems odd to see a movie star insinuate himself into the legal affairs of Sonoma County, it fits Phoenix’s lifelong support of animal welfare. He has been vegan since the age of 3.

    When he won the Best Actor award for his dark portrayal of the title character in the movie “Joker,” he took the opportunity to speak out on animal agriculture.

    “We go into the natural world, and we plunder it for its resources,” Phoenix told the audience in Hollywood while accepting his Oscar at the 92nd Academy Awards ceremony. “We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow, and when she gives birth, we steal her baby even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf, and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.”

    The next day, Phoenix backed up his words with action. In partnership with the activist group LA Animal Save, he helped remove a cow and newborn calf from a slaughterhouse in Pico Rivera, with permission from the owner, and relocated the animals to the Farm Sanctuary property in Acton. Both locations are in Los Angeles County.

    Phoenix won other awards for “Joker” in 2020, and he took up the cause of animal liberation at each step. Before the British Academy Film Awards, known as the BAFTAs, he helped drape a 400-square-foot banner from London’s famed Tower Bridge, declaring “Factory farming destroys our planet. Go vegan.”

    Direct Action Everywhere insists producers such as Petaluma Poultry run factory farms that are too large to ensure animal welfare. Local dairy and poultry businesses vehemently disagree, a debate that came to a head in 2024 when DxE members championed Measure J, which sought to sharply limit the size of those operations in Sonoma County. The measure suffered a resounding defeat at the polls.

    A month before the BAFTA demonstration, Phoenix thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which at the time hosted the Golden Globe Awards, for adopting vegan standards at its 2020 ceremony.

    “But we have to do more than that,” he urged the Golden Globes audience that night. “Together we can hopefully be unified and actually make some changes. It’s great to vote. But sometimes we have to take that responsibility on ourselves.”

    A DxE spokesperson said Phoenix’s statement on behalf of Rosenberg was coordinated by his social impact advisor, Michelle Cho.

    Petaluma Poultry was locally owned until 2011, when it was acquired by Perdue Farms, the Maryland-based agribusiness giant. The company still buys its chickens from local farms. DxE has claimed for years that conditions at the Petaluma facility are cruel to the birds and unhealthy for consumers.

    Perdue Farms denies such claims and has petitioned the courts to prevent DxE demonstrators from protesting at the homes of Petaluma Poultry executives.

    Direct Action Everywhere activists protest at the Santa Rosa home of Jason Arnold, Petaluma Poultry director of operations, on March 22. (Direct Action Everywhere)
    Direct Action Everywhere activists protest at the Santa Rosa home of Jason Arnold, Petaluma Poultry director of operations, on March 22. (Direct Action Everywhere) Direct Action Everywhere

    “Petaluma Poultry is very committed to proper animal care,” local spokesperson Rob Muelrath said on behalf of the company. “Our birds have room to move around, access to the outdoors, and things to keep them engaged. They’re raised on a healthy diet without antibiotics.”

    Muelrath added that the facility is regularly visited by U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors, and by Global Animal Partnership, a nonprofit that rates welfare standards at farms, ranches and other businesses related to meat production.

    The Sonoma County Superior Court judge in Rosenberg’s trial, Kenneth Gnoss, prohibited her attorneys from introducing documentation DxE had collected at the processing plant in Petaluma.

    Her attorneys argued she acted out of moral duty to save animals she believed were suffering. She said after the verdict, she had no regrets about her actions.

    Her legal team is planning to appeal.

    “The jury found Zoe Rosenberg guilty on all counts,” Muelrath wrote to The Press Democrat. “The break-in was a well-planned, deliberate breach of private property with the intent to steal — a criminal act that was deliberate, strategic, and bordering on corporate espionage or agro-terrorism.”

    Phoenix’s filmography also includes starring roles in “Walk the Line,” “Her,” “The Master” and, most recently, “Eddington.”

    You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.

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  • Potential Presidential Candidates Are Less Coy About 2028 Plans: ‘Of Course I’m Thinking About It’

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    NEW YORK (AP) — There was a time when presidential hopefuls played coy about their ambitions, crisscrossing the country under the guise of helping other candidates and deflecting when pushed on their obvious plans.

    Not so for some Democrats considering running in 2028. With no clear party leader and Democratic voters raring for a fight, some could-be candidates are being far more transparent about their intentions, doing away with pretensions as they try to gain maximum visibility at a time when authenticity is in high demand.

    “Of course I’m thinking about it. I haven’t ruled it out,” New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker recently told Fox News during a trip to early-voting New Hampshire, even as he stressed that his focus is on 2026, when he will be up for reelection.

    To be sure, many Democrats remain circumspect.

    Of the dozen potential 2028 candidates The Associated Press requested interviews with to discuss the changing dynamic, none was immediately available. Some Democrats deflect questions and say their attention is elsewhere even as they campaign for others in early-voting states.

    On the Republican side, an entirely different dynamic is brewing under the surface. Potential candidates are keeping low profiles amid expectations that President Donald Trump will play kingmaker in choosing his would-be successor.

    Presidential campaign strategists say the Democrats’ less guarded approach makes sense given the wide-open 2028 field and sheer number of candidates competing for attention. Among the others who have said they are considering a run: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who also was a White House chief of staff, and Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.

    “Old rules just don’t apply to anything anymore,” said Jess O’Connell, a Democratic strategist who advised Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign. She said the change was a good thing for the party.

    “You’ve got to be out there every single day fighting and sharing your vision,” she said. “And I think the more runway they have to talk to people in this moment and to communicate about meeting the needs of the future,” then the better.

    Alex Conant, a veteran of the presidential campaigns of Republicans Marco Rubio, a former Florida senator who is now Trump’s secretary of state, and Tim Pawlenty, a former Minnesota governor, said the dynamics of the emerging Democratic primary, with no clear front-runner, have changed the calculus for candidates.

    “I think the Democratic primary is going to be the longest primary of our life. It’s hard to recall a field that is this wide open. And the Democratic base is so hungry for someone to take on Trump and win back the White House,” he said. “The more crowded it is, the more important it is to start early.”

    Candidates, he noted, are also “immediately more relevant if you might be the next president,” adding to the incentive to say the quiet part out loud.

    Voters these days are also turned off by the kind of politician-speak that was once the norm.

    “One of the takeaways from Trump is that people want authenticity,” Conant said. “Voters are rejecting candidates who sound like politicians, so the rhetorical tricks that politicians have used for decades to avoid answering questions now just irritates voters.”

    Not everyone has embraced the approach.

    Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker played coy on stage during a recent interview with journalist Kara Swisher, repeatedly dodging her questions about his expected timeline.

    “Blah, blah,” she responded as he tried to pivot to talking about the strength of the Democratic bench.

    Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has been equally circumspect, refusing to acknowledge any White House ambitions or even commit to running again for governor, even as the shadow of 2028 follows him everywhere he goes. But during an appearance on “The Breakfast Club” podcast last month, as he reflected on the arson attack on his official residence, he sounded like someone who is eager to remain in the arena.

    “I love public service,” he said. “You can’t walk away now, with everything that’s on the line. … This is not a time to quit.”

    His perceived national ambitions have become a frequent attack line for his potential GOP rival for governor, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity.

    “We need somebody that is more interested in Pennsylvania and not on Pennsylvania Avenue,” Garrity said recently on a conservative radio show in Philadelphia.


    There are risks for candidates

    That is one of the risks for candidates, said Mike DuHaime, a longtime GOP strategist who advised the presidential campaigns of Chris Christie, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and George W. Bush.

    In 2013, he noted, Christie’s opponent in the New Jersey governor’s race often tried to use his national buzz as a campaign issue against him.

    Candidates, DuHaime said, also need to strike a balance and make that they are not distracting from midterm races by funneling money or attention away from candidates who need them.

    “I think it makes sense not to be so coy because people kind of get it, but they still should be careful about putting themselves in front of the country cause it could backfire,” he said. They “have to be careful that they still look a little bit like team players.”

    In other cases, candidates have genuinely not made up their minds, and may be lured by party leaders in early-voting states eager to draw rising stars to their events, DuHaime said.

    “It’s very intriguing and exciting for candidates and would-be candidates to be asked,” he said, with some deciding, “Let’s go experience it, the national circus. Let’s be part of that.”

    Along with potential legal considerations, O’Connell, the Democratic strategist, also noted that many of those expected to run have day jobs they need to balance. While picking fights with Trump certainly puts them in the spotlight, it could have ramifications for constituents if the Republican president retaliates, meaning that candidates will need to choose their moments wisely.

    “You have to fulfill your obligations to the states that you’re in,” she said. “It’s not so much that you’re playing a game, it’s that I think that there are some practical considerations.”

    “I think we’re going to see people struggling with that,” she added.

    She also urged candidates to embrace what she called a “Beyonce-Taylor Swift strategy,” referring to the pop stars’ boosting the economies of the cities where they performed on tour.

    “What I would advise anyone who wants to be president in 2028,” she said, “is to roll up your sleeves and help.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Dozens of Firefighters Battle Blaze on Container Ship Docked at LA Port

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    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dozens of firefighters were battling a blaze on a container ship docked at a Los Angeles port on Friday night, according to officials.

    All of the 23 crew members were accounted for and there were no injuries from the electrical fire, which appears to have started below deck, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The ship’s cargo includes hazardous materials.

    By about 7 p.m., the fire had spread to several levels of the ship, according to the fire department, and later an explosion took place mid-deck. It was not immediately clear how the fire started.

    More than 100 firefighters were fighting the fire at the Port of Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. The port is known as the busiest in North America.

    “LAFD Hazardous Materials companies are monitoring air quality as fire suppression continues,” she said.

    The 1,102-foot-long (336-meter-long) vessel, the One Henry Hudson, is operated by One Ocean Express, a shipping company headquartered in Singapore. Before Los Angeles, the ship had most recently been in Japan, stopping in Kobe, Nagoya and Tokyo. One Ocean Express did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press requesting comment.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Trump Administration Sues California Over Giving In-State Tuition to Immigrants in US Illegally

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    SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Trump administration has sued California for providing in-state college tuition, scholarships, and state-funded financial aid to students who do not have legal status to be in the United States.

    The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, alleges the practice harms U.S. citizens and encourages illegal immigration. Among the defendants are the state, top state officials, and the state’s two public university systems, the University of California and California State.

    President Donald Trump’s administration has filed similar lawsuits against policies in other states, including Illinois, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Kentucky and Texas. Half the country now has similar laws to California’s.

    In June, after the administration sued, Texas ended its decades-old law. And Florida last year scrapped its law that allowed in-state tuition for high school graduates who weren’t in the country legally.

    Supporters of the state tuition breaks argue that they don’t violate federal law if they provide the same rates to U.S. citizens in the same circumstances — meaning they are residents of the state and graduates of one of its high schools. The California Dream Act also allows such students to apply for state-funded financial aid.

    Many of the students were brought to the U.S. by their parents when they were children, and supporters of the laws say they are as much a part of their communities as U.S. citizens.

    It is the latest action by Trump’s administration since he issued executive orders in February directing federal agencies to stop public benefits from going to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally and to challenge state and local policies seen as favoring those immigrants over some citizens. The lawsuit argues that the Republican president’s orders enforce federal immigration laws.

    “California is illegally discriminating against American students and families by offering exclusive tuition benefits for non-citizens,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “This marks our third lawsuit against California in one week — we will continue bringing litigation against California until the state ceases its flagrant disregard for federal law.”

    The University of California defended its decades-old in-state tuition policy.

    “While we will, of course, comply with the law as determined by the courts, we believe our policies and practices are consistent with current legal standards,” it said in a statement.

    The lawsuit comes weeks after the California Supreme Court let stand a lower-court ruling that the University of California’s policy barring students without legal status in the U.S. from campus jobs is discriminatory and must be reconsidered.

    University system officials had warned that the decision would put them in a precarious position as they negotiate with the Trump administration after the withdrawal of federal research funds.

    The UC is dealing with federal grant suspensions and a White House demand that it pay a $1 billion fine over allegations including antisemitism and the illegal consideration of race in admitting students to its Los Angeles campus.

    The California State University system is the nation’s largest and among its most diverse, with more than 460,000 students. More than a quarter of undergraduates are first-generation college students, according to the university system.

    The University of California serves about 300,000 students.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Investigation into removal of superintendent reveals misuse of public funds, Santa Clara County Office of Ed says

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    At a contentious meeting Wednesday night, the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s board delivered the results of a lengthy investigation into an alleged misuse of public funds by the county’s former superintendent of schools — but conflicting claims by county office of education leaders made it clear that many questions still swirl around the findings.

    They come more than a year after former Superintendent Mary Ann Dewan was unexpectedly removed from her position in a 4-2 vote; the action was classified as “without cause.” The board declined to expand on the reasoning for Dewan’s mysterious removal for months, but says now the decision stemmed from her handling of several complaints regarding the county’s Head Start program, which helps low-income children under the age of five access critical resources.

    The report did not cite specific examples of wrongdoing, or include the names of the two law firms that conducted the independent review. But it contained 14 findings, including that under Dewan’s leadership, the Santa Clara County Office of Education misused public funds and violated several board policies, that the county superintendent’s segregated account was used to redirect grant funding for unrelated purposes and that public dollars were used for legal expenses and investigations of the board of education.

    A federal audit released earlier this year said the county office of education misused more than $135,370 in federal Head Start funds under Dewan, an error the board called a failed cover-up and an intentional effort to undermine the board’s authority — but which Dewan said was a communication error.

    The county office of education said Wednesday that the board and staff were not aware of any charges being filed by law enforcement or the district attorney’s office.

    The report’s summarized findings presented Wednesday were written by board counsel and the board’s governance committee — comprised of board president Maimona Afzal Berta, vice president Victoria Chon and trustee Jessica Speiser as well as current county superintendent David Toston — the board’s legal counsel said Wednesday and the findings stemmed from multiple investigations and reports conducted in the last two years.

    The report’s findings also said several office of education contracts were awarded in a manner that suggested personal favoritism and that “ethical safeguards” were ignored, with several county office of education employees allegedly using “public resources” to show support for their superior.

    In a statement Wednesday, Dewan condemned the board’s findings, calling them “meritless, malicious and baseless attacks unsupported by any evidence.”

    “I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing and fulfilled all of my duties with integrity and within the statutory framework of my role,” Dewan said. “This pattern of public attacks, mischaracterizations and personal targeting is harmful to the institution and discourages talented educators from serving our students.”

    Dewan also pointed out that whether appointed by the board — in the case of Santa Clara County — or elected by the community, a county superintendent has independent authority under the law to enter into agreements and contracts. She also said that employees, like all individuals, have First Amendment rights and the board’s effort to frame employee free speech as misconduct is troubling.

    At Wednesday’s meeting, a handful of community members and head start staff expressed their gratitude to the board for investigating the misuse of funds and Dewan’s “unethical” requests.

    “The findings are astonishing but not surprising given that I and Head Start staff have been saying this for the last two years,” said Mercedes Hill, a Head Start office specialist within the county office of education.

    But Riju Krishna, the president of the Association of County Educators — a group of local teachers unions — pointed out that the amount of improperly misused funding alleged in the investigation’s findings “cannot possibly be the work of one single superintendent” in a system that requires multiple checks and balances, and called on the current county superintendent Toston to implement significant policy reform.

    “What is your plan…to rebuild the school oversight, repair the damage and ensure that this never happens again?” Krishna asked. “How will you repair this harm?”

    The board of education presented several suggested policy changes in response to the investigation’s findings Wednesday in an effort to prevent the misuse of funds from reoccurring.

    But Tara Sreekrishnan, who said she was speaking as an individual member of the board and not on behalf of the board itself, expressed concerns about the proposed board policy changes, which she said centralizes authority in the board president, restricts speech, reduces transparency and moves the county office of education toward “punitive, politically motivated governance.”

    She also expressed deep concerns about the investigation’s findings.

    “The findings raise broad and serious concerns but they are presented without evidence or specific examples, which makes it difficult for the public trustees or any oversight agency to fully evaluate them,” Sreekrishnan said in a statement Wednesday.

    The report’s findings come amid several other investigations into the county office of education and board over the last year, which have pointed to an alleged history of tension between the county office of education leadership and board members and found that the board failed to follow its own management policies.

    Several other former county office of education leaders came to the defense of Dewan Wednesday, including former board president Claudia Rossi and former trustee Kathleen King.

    “Countless public dollars have been poured into this two-year witch hunt and still not a shred of evidence of wrongdoing has been produced,” Rossi said in a statement Wednesday.

    But current board member Don Rocha cautioned the community that in his more than 30 years of public service, he’s never seen an agency as unconcerned with serving community interests as the Santa Clara County Office of Education was under Dewan.

    “The evidence speaks for itself unless you choose to look the other way,” Rocha said.

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  • AG Rob Bonta spent nearly $500K on lawyers while trying to be ‘helpful’ amid East Bay corruption probe, adviser says

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    SACRAMENTO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta spent $468,000 of his campaign cash on lawyers while reportedly being interviewed by federal authorities investigating Oakland’s former mayor and others in a sprawling federal bribery and corruption inquiry.

    The longtime East Bay politician’s senior adviser, Dan Newman, told this news organization Wednesday that Bonta’s legal bills were for the sole purpose of “providing information that could be helpful to the investigation of those implicated” in the ongoing criminal probe.

    Bonta — who lives in Alameda and has worked his way from city councilman to the state’s top prosecutor — was never a target of the investigation, Newman said.

    “The AG’s involvement is over,” Newman added. “But this is an ongoing legal proceeding that we don’t want to hinder — with no relation to or involvement of the AG — so unable to provide further information.” He said the work required of those attorneys ended in 2024, the adviser said.

    Newman initially told the KCRA this week that the attorney general used the campaign funds “to help his law enforcement partners pursue justice” in the East Bay corruption probe. The Sacramento station was the first to report Bonta’s legal spending.

    Newman later changed that stance, claiming in a subsequent interview with KCRA that Bonta spent the money on attorneys for himself while being questioned by federal investigators. The adviser stressed Bonta was never a target of the investigation, and the funds were needed “because of the nature of the charges against the people implicated,” the station reported.

    The size of Bonta’s legal bills appear historically large, and they reflect the fact that Bonta retained one of the premier law firms in Silicon Valley — Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati — which routinely charges four figures an hour for its work, said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political science professor. That also highlights the stakes Bonta faces as a politically ambitious state attorney general, particularly one who has taken a leading stand against the current White House administration by filing dozens of lawsuits against it, the professor said.

    “His problems are the appearance of impropriety when he is the poster child against Donald Trump and the administration,” McCuan said. “So if he has an image problem that is created by this expenditure, then that is a problem for him.”

    McCuan added that California campaign finance law is considered “murky” when it comes to when candidates can use campaign cash for legal help.

    In general, campaign funding can only be used “if the litigation is directly related to activities of the committee that are consistent with its primary objectives,” said Shery Yang, a spokesperson for the Fair Political Practices Commission, in an email. While she said she couldn’t speak specifically to this case, instances where that money can be used include defending against claims that a candidate violated election laws, or ensuring compliance with state campaign disclosure reports.

    The five payments to Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati were made two days before Bonta announced he would not run for governor and seek reelection as attorney general in February, the records show.

    It all casts a fresh spotlight on Bonta’s ties to many of the main players charged in the ongoing bribery and pay-to-play probe that has roiled the East Bay’s political scene, including former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Andy Duong, who helps run a recycling company contracted by the city of Oakland.

    In charges unsealed in January, federal prosecutors accused former Thao of accepting bribes from Andy Duong and his father, David, in the form of political favors and a $95,000 no-show job for Thao’s romantic partner, Andre Jones. In return, prosecutors claimed Thao promised to secure lucrative city contracts for a fledgling housing company co-founded by David Duong, as well as for Duongs recycling business, California Waste Solutions.

    Thao, Jones and David and Andy Duong have all pleaded not guilty and could face trial by next year.

    Bonta has known Andy Duong for years, even becoming a frequent presence on his Instagram page before federal agents raided the businessman’s house in June 2024.

    In an August 2021 social media post, Bonta was seen standing alongside Andy Duong and the famed Filipino boxer and retired politician Manny Pacquiao, each of them giving a “thumbs up” to the camera. In another, Bonta appeared to be sitting in a limousine, smiling at the camera with one arm around Andy Duong and another around his wife, California Assemblymember Mia Bonta.

    “Cannot wait to see what else the future has to offer to you,” wrote Andy Duong, calling the state’s top prosecutor a “brother” while recounting his rise from “Vice Mayor to State Assembly and now CA Attorney General.” The post included no less than nine other photos of the two together over the years, often at campaign events or, in one instance, together at a Golden State Warriors game.

    Rob Bonta has since sought to distance himself from the Duongs. Shortly after the FBI and other federal authorities raided the family’s Oakland hills houses on June 20, 2024, Bonta said he planned to give back $155,000 in political contributions that he had previously received from the Duong family.

    The political fortunes of Thao and Mia Bonta also nearly collided several years ago. Before running for mayor, Thao briefly considered campaigning for the state assembly seat once held by Rob Bonta before he became the state’s attorney general. Instead, Thao opted to run for the mayor of Oakland, while Mia Bonta ran and filled her husband’s post in Sacramento.

    Bonta ties to people investigated in the corruption probe extend to an unnamed co-conspirator widely believed to be longtime Oakland political operative Mario Juarez. Bonta and Juarez enjoyed “close financial and political ties,” such as when Bonta helped secure a $3.4 million grant in 2017 from the California Energy Commission for a company that Juarez co-owned, according to a filing late last year by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.

    “They have publicly endorsed each other and have used the same office for their business dealings,” said the filing, adding that Juarez and the Bontas’ “extensive intertwined political and business dealings are widely known.”

    Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.

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  • Tom Steyer Is Running for California Governor as a Populist Billionaire

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    Billionaire businessman and activist Tom Steyer, who once self-financed an unsuccessful White House campaign and spent his own money advocating for President Donald Trump’s impeachment, has launched his bid for California governor as a Democrat.

    The 68-year-old’s tremendous wealth immediately makes him a notable contender in a free-for-all that includes more than a half-dozen Democrats and two Republicans competing in an all-party June primary, with the top two vote-getters advancing to a November general election to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom.

    Steyer announced his candidacy with a pledge to improve economic conditions and by framing his political record as friendly to consumers, working-class voters and the environment.

    “Californians deserve a life they can afford,” he said in a video released Wednesday morning. “But the Californians who make this state run are being run over by the cost of living.”

    The approach puts Steyer on a collision course with other candidates like progressive Congresswoman Katie Porter, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

    At one time, Porter was viewed as a top contender but the contest is now seen as wide open. Steyer’s wealth could give him an advantage in reaching voters through television and digital advertising in an expansive state with nearly 40 million people and multiple media markets.

    Steyer nodded to his wealth Wednesday, noting his business enterprises made “billions of dollars.” But he also sounded populist tones.

    “The richest people in America think that they earned everything themselves,” he said, before dismissing that notion with an expletive for bovine excrement. “That’s so ridiculous.”

    Steyer said he would “make corporations pay their fair share again,” and his campaign cited his previous work on ballot initiatives with similar aims. Steyer was a leading advocate for a 2012 ballot initiative that made it harder for corporations to avoid certain taxes. The new revenue was steered to energy improvements in the state’s public schools.

    In other referendum work, Steyer helped lead the 2016 campaign that yielded a $2 per-pack tax hike on tobacco products. The money was steered to state health care programs, including tobacco-prevention efforts. And Steyer was a top opponent of a 2010 ballot initiative that would have rolled back California’s clean air and climate law, which has been viewed as a national standard on climate policy.

    Steyer spent millions of his own money touring the country and pushing for Trump’s impeachment during the Republican president’s first term. He then ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, spending more than $200 million of his fortune and receiving no pledged delegates. After distant finishes in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, Steyer doubled-down with an expensive push in South Carolina, only to finish a distant third behind eventual nominee and President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Steyer then ended his presidential bid, and he financially supported Biden’s reelection in 2024 before the Democrat bowed out in favor of then-Vice President Kamala Harris, another Californian.

    Steyer’s latest campaign comes amid some Democrats questioning Porter’s candidacy after her combative exchanges with a TV journalist spread online in October. He has long been mentioned, along with Harris, as a potential heavyweight candidate who could join the field.

    Harris, who is on a national tour promoting her 2024 campaign memoir, has said consistently that she has no plans to run — suggesting instead that any future campaign would be for the presidency.

    “I will be voting,” she told The Associated Press on Oct. 17 when asked about entering the governor’s race. Asked whether she was satisfied with the field as Porter faced her most intense criticism, Harris said only that she wanted Democrats to have “the best and the brightest running and winning” and that she was “not actively involved.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Man Charged With Murder in Shooting of Oakland Football Coach and ‘Last Chance U’ Star John Beam

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    OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A 27-year-old man was charged Monday with murder in the shooting death of celebrated former football coach John Beam, who died Friday after being shot on the junior college campus in Oakland where he worked.

    Cedric Irving also faces enhancement charges alleging he personally fired a gun that caused great bodily injury and that the victim was particularly vulnerable, possibly due to age, according to the charging complaint.

    The mandatory minimum for first degree murder is 25 years to life. Conviction on a charge that he personally discharged the firearm resulting in death also carries a sentence of 25 years to life.

    Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson is set to speak Monday afternoon on the charges. Irving, who is being held without bail, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. The Alameda County Public Defender’s Office said it has not been appointed to represent Irving and declined comment.

    Beam was a giant in the local community, a father figure who forged deep relationships with his players while fielding a team that regularly competed for championships. The Netflix docuseries “Last Chance U” focused on Beam and the Laney Eagles in its 2020 season. He’d most recently been serving as the school’s athletic director after retiring from coaching last year.

    Officers arrived at Laney College before noon Thursday to find Beam, 66, wounded at the athletics field house. He was treated at a hospital, but died the following day from his injuries.

    Irving was arrested at a commuter rail station just after 3 a.m. Friday. He was carrying the firearm used to shoot Beam, and he admitted to carrying out the shooting, according to the probable cause document.

    Oakland Assistant Chief James Beere said the suspect went on campus for a “specific reason” but did not elaborate. “This was a very targeted incident,” he said at a Friday news conference.

    Beere did not say how the two men knew each other but said the Irving was known to hang around the Laney campus. Irving’s brother told the San Francisco Chronicle that Irving had lost his job as a security guard after an altercation and was facing eviction at home.

    Beam joined Laney College in 2004 as a running backs coach and became head coach in 2012, winning two league titles. According to his biography on the college’s website, at least 20 of his players went on to the NFL.

    His shooting came a day after a student was shot at Oakland’s Skyline High School. The student is in stable condition. Beam had previously worked at Skyline High School, and the suspect in that shooting had played football there after Beam had already left for another job.

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    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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    Associated Press

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  • Bay Area residents win more than half a million dollars in Powerball

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    Two Bay Area residents won more than half a million dollars each playing the Powerball Lottery on Saturday night, officials said.

    The two winning tickets, which selected five correct numbers, were each worth $609,497, according to the California Lottery.

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    Caelyn Pender

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