Tag: California redistricting

Letters: Vote no on the unfair Proposition 50

[ad_1]

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

Say no to unfairness;
vote down Prop. 50

In 2010, Californians voted to create a nonpartisan Citizens Redistricting Commission to stop decades of gerrymandering. That reform was meant to restore fairness and ensure that all Californians — regardless of political affiliation — had a meaningful voice in representation.

Today, Proposition 50 threatens to undo that progress. If passed, it would allow California’s Democratic supermajority to tighten its control even further, reducing Republican representation in Congress from an already disproportionate 17% to just 8%, despite conservatives about 28% of likely voters.

Gov. Newsom’s support for this measure shows a willingness to suppress representation in pursuit of partisan gain. Such actions contradict the very principles of democracy and reveal a troubling hypocrisy. California deserves fairness — not one-party rule masquerading as reform.

Kurt Libby
Alameda

Private donors should
not fund government

Re: “Donor who gave $130M for military pay is reclusive Mellon fortune heir” (Page A6, Oct. 26).

Allowing private donors to pay government expenses — and especially allowing them to specify which government expenses they pay — is a terrible idea, regardless of its legality. (It’s probably illegal, as noted in the article.) That’s true whether it involves military salaries or a new wing on the White House.

Congress controls how much the government spends and on what. If the people don’t approve of the way Congress appropriates tax dollars, they can complain to their representatives or vote them out of office. Acknowledging that Congress isn’t functioning particularly well right now, if ultra-wealthy individuals fund government and the people don’t approve, what recourse do we have? That’s government by the wealthy, for the wealthy (aka, oligarchy), and the rest of us will be left with even less power than we have now.

There’s a reason that government agencies are allowed to spend only amounts appropriated by Congress.

Phil Sanders
Fremont

Hegseth and Trump
celebrate a slaughter

On Dec. 29, 1890, 300 Lakota Indian men, women and children were massacred by the United States Cavalry at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. A few days later, they were buried in unmarked graves. The soldiers who took part in the massacre were awarded Medals of Honor. The myth was that Wounded Knee was a battle when, in reality, it was a massacre.

There was an attempt by Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, to revoke the medals from the soldiers by ordering a review. However, the current Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, stopped the review, saying that the soldiers should keep their medals. For his action, Hegseth, along with his boss, President Trump, are celebrating the massacre of American Indians.

Billy Trice
Oakland

Congress must save
food programs

Re: “No federal food aid will go out Nov. 1, Trump administration warns” (Oct. 27).

Republicans claim they cannot provide SNAP benefits on Nov. 1 if the government remains shut down. That’s not true. SNAP has a $5 billion-$6 billion contingency fund. Republicans are shamefully using the more than 40 million Americans who rely on SNAP as pawns, creating a hunger crisis to pressure Democrats to submit to Donald Trump’s will.

However, Democrats should not give up their fight to save our health care. Congress only has two weeks left to extend the ACA premium tax credits. Once open enrollment ends, the dramatic increases in health insurance premiums will be locked in — even if Congress acts later.

Meanwhile, this shutdown is really expensive. According to White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, this shutdown could cost the U.S. economy $15 billion a week.

What are we doing? Trump and Congress need to start negotiating on a bipartisan basis in good faith to reopen the government and extend ACA premium tax credits.

Jennifer Huber
El Sobrante

In fact, GOP isn’t
so tough on crime

The Trump administration is now using the National Guard for law enforcement in cities with shrinking crime statistics, in direct conflict with local officials and likely even federal law.

The president also pardoned 1,500 people for assaulting local and federal police officers while storming our nation’s Capitol and threatening to execute elected federal officials. Similarly, Trump commuted most of George Santos’ sentence and the administration granted favorable treatment to Ghislaine Maxwell.

All this while firing many senior officials in the Department of Justice, reducing federal funds for local law enforcement and prosecuting political enemies.

That is under the leadership of a draft-dodger, adjudicated sex offender and convicted fraudster. Don’t forget the never-completed efforts to prosecute him for election fraud and classified document cases.

Yet, the president has faced no resistance or objection from a Republican-controlled Congress. Are they strong on crime? I don’t think so.

Jim Kenna
Brentwood

We should make health
care a human right

Health care access and affordability has been an ongoing ethical issue. Millions of people are having a difficult time affording medical care, insurance and medication, and it is affecting their overall health and quality of life.

A couple of factors that are limiting their access to health care are income and location. I strongly believe that to prevent suffering, health care should be a human right and not a business for profit.

Health care access, affordable medication, health programs and insurance should be prioritized for our well-being, as well as protecting everyone, promoting public health and building strength in our communities.

Mikaela Clarete
Fremont

[ad_2]

Letters To The Editor

Source link

October 28, 2025
Letters: Trump succeeds in Mideast where diplomats have failed

[ad_1]

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

Trump succeeds
where diplomats failed

Re: “Trump must be a disrupter in the Middle East” (Page A7, Oct. 16):

The writer seems to think that Donald Trump isn’t up to the task of dealing with the problems in the Middle East because he went to business school, not the School of Foreign Service. Well, all of those people who went to the right schools don’t seem to have done very well in the Middle East.

On the face of it, things haven’t changed that much, but it’s apparent that significant change is now possible. In league with Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump has quieted the Iran threat for now. Trump then talked Netanyahu into stopping the firing of further missiles into Iran unnecessarily. Then Trump persuaded Netanyahu to publicly apologize to the leader of Qatar.

Any progress could disappear as quickly as another Oct. 7 event takes place, but at least this is a promising step in the right direction.

Daniel Mauthe
Livermore

U.S. should help
the poor, not the 1%

How do we justify pulling support from life-saving measures in order to save billionaires money?

Certain members of Congress support our president in punishing poor people in our country and around the world, because they were not lucky enough to have a father who could give his son a real estate empire.

Donald Trump has taken SNAP (food vouchers) and Medicaid from working families, and also fired people who work for the government. He destroyed foreign aid that supports worthwhile programs like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, which have saved over 70 million lives and billions of dollars of medical care since its inception.

I believe we should help the poor people in the U.S. and the world, not the richest people who could not have made their fortunes without healthy, educated workers who make a living wage.

Bill Nicholson
Martinez

Prop. 50 a childish
ploy for dominance

How do you tell the difference between people acting like mature adults or like overgrown children? Mature adults accept that things don’t always go the way we want them to go and that other people have the right to have things the way they want them, at times, even when it’s not the way we like them.

When President Biden took office, there were Democrats who proclaimed that “the adults were back in charge,” but I see plenty of Democrats acting childishly these days, with Proposition 50 being a prime example. Most Democrats today seem to think that “preserving democracy” equals dominance by Democrats on all levels. (And, yes, many Republicans wrongly seek GOP dominance.) But either would actually be the destruction of democracy. And many seem to think that even the courts should always rule the way they think they should rule. Sorry, people, but that is childishness.

Christopher Andrus
Dublin

Climate change won’t
wait for solutions

Climate change threatens our planet through extreme weather, melting ice and rising sea levels, all stemming from excessive greenhouse gases.

This environmental degradation endangers resources, with rising temperatures leading to droughts that harm crops and water supplies. NASA reports a 1-degree Celsius temperature increase since the late 19th century, causing significant impacts. Climate change also intensifies extreme weather events, displacing communities and causing economic damage.

The direct cause is burning fossil fuels, while deforestation and unsustainable farming practices indirectly contribute. A key solution involves investing in renewable energy, such as solar and wind power. Governments, businesses and individuals must act to promote clean energy policies and reduce carbon footprints.

I urge support for climate-change solutions to protect our planet for future generations.

Aidelen Lara
Hayward

[ad_2]

Letters To The Editor

Source link

October 17, 2025
Editorial: Vote no on Santa Clara County Measure A sales tax increase

[ad_1]

The Medicaid cuts in President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” will squeeze Santa Clara County health care funding. But raising local taxes is not the solution.

Instead, county supervisors should stem their rapidly escalating spending, which has doubled in the past eight years and ranks highest per capita by far of the 10 largest California counties.

And voters should reject Measure A, the five-year sales tax increase on the Nov. 4 special election ballot that has been in the planning stages since long before Trump won reelection.

The measure would add another five-eighths of a cent to each dollar of taxable goods, pushing the total rate to 10% or more in most of the county.

State data indicates that the average person in the county currently pays at least $1,700 a year in sales tax, which is distributed between state and local governments. Measure A would increase that by at least $113 annually.

Raising taxes before imposing long-overdue fiscal discipline puts the cart before the horse. While Measure A would expire in 2031, we expect it would be permanently built into the county budget by then and county officials would be begging for an extension to avoid cuts.

Soaring spending

There’s no question that the county will take a hit from the Trump Medicaid cuts. And there’s no denying the importance of county health services, which treat 40% of county residents and deliver 80% of trauma care. But it’s important to put county spending, the federal funding reductions and Measure A in context.

County spending has increased from $6.4 billion in the 2017-18 fiscal year to $13 billion in 2025-26. The biggest cause of that increase has been health care, which includes public health, mental health and, most significantly, Santa Clara Valley Healthcare’s network of hospitals and clinics.

The county, which already ran Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, rescued O’Connor Hospital in San Jose and Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy from bankruptcy in 2019, and purchased Regional Medical Center in San Jose in 2025. The county now operates a much larger health care system per-capita than any other California county, says County Executive James Williams.

PRO/CON: Measure A would increase Santa Clara County sales tax. Is it worth it?

Suddenly running four hospitals instead of one, the county found losses for its hospitals and clinics increased from about $97 million in 2017-18 to $532 million expected in the current fiscal year. That forecast was before Trump’s budget bill exacerbated the shortfall.

While we supported the 2019 hospital purchases, we never intended that to be a blank check. Clearly a major reorganization to cut costs and find savings through economies of scale has been needed for years. Instead, the county has increased fourfold the subsidies from the general fund — from money that would otherwise go to other county services.

The greatest concern from the federal budget is the cut to Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in California, which serves primarily low-income and disabled residents. Forty-six percent of patients in the county’s health care system are covered by Medi-Cal, which accounts for about half of the revenue.

Santa Clara County officials forecast the cuts in Trump’s bill will cost the county $223 million in the current fiscal year, escalating to $1.3 billion by 2029-30. That’s significant pain.

But what’s important here is that the proposed sales tax increase would only solve a fraction of the problem. Measure A is expected to raise $330 million annually. There is no plan for how the county would address the rest of the shortfall over the next five years.

Regressive tax

While the ballot wording of Measure A says it could be used for a variety of purposes — to “support critical local services such as trauma, emergency room, mental health, and public safety” — Williams says the money would be used solely to shore up the health care system.

Measure A is a “general” tax, meaning that county supervisors have the discretion to spend the money on any legally permissible county services — and that the measure only requires majority approval. Had county supervisors instead sought a “special” tax, restricting the use of the money to a specific purpose, the measure would have required two-thirds approval.

Sales taxes are regressive, meaning they disproportionately impact those who can afford it least. In Santa Clara County, the levy on taxable goods, which excludes prescription medications and most groceries, would increase to at least 9.75%, with higher rates in Los Gatos (9.875%), San Jose (10%), Milpitas (10%) and Campbell (10.5%).

For example, in San Jose, home to about half the county’s residents, the sales tax is currently 9.375%, meaning a consumer pays an additional $9.38 on a $100 purchase. If Measure A passes, the tax would add another 62 cents, making the total sales tax $10 for that same $100 purchase.

For homeowners in the county, that would come on top of property tax levies that are based on assessed value. For example, for a home assessed at $1.5 million, the county collects $2,700 annually as its share of the 1% base tax, plus special levies for county employee pensions ($570) and to pay off voter-approved county bonds for affordable housing ($84) and hospital seismic improvements ($78).

Tax history

The only reason Santa Clara County leaders were able so quickly to place the sales tax measure on the same ballot as Proposition 50, the statewide redistricting measure, is that they had been working on the tax increase for two years, long before Trump’s return to office.

In 2023, at the urging of county officials, Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, pushed through state legislation enabling Santa Clara County supervisors to seek voter approval for the sales tax increase. At the time, Cortese argued the tax was needed to address significant and growing budget challenges.

The legislation limited the increase to five-eighths of a cent. If not for that limit, Williams told us, he would have recommended the board place a larger sales tax increase on the ballot.

Which is exactly the sort of thinking that concerns us. In 2023, according to data from the state Controller’s Office, Santa Clara County spent $5,046 per resident, at least 19% more than any of the nine other California counties with at least 1 million residents, and more than double San Diego, Orange, Alameda and Fresno counties.

Before asking residents for more tax money, county officials should find a way to spend what they have more efficiently.

[ad_2]

Mercury News Editorial

Source link

October 17, 2025
Letters: Left-wing billionaires are pushing Proposition 50

[ad_1]

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

Left-wing billionaires
are funding Prop. 50

Re: “Hedge fund billionaire Steyer gives $12M to back Proposition 50 redistricting vote” (Page B6, Oct. 12).

If you are wondering how to vote on Proposition 50 gerrymandering, look no further than who is funding the “yes” campaign. Billionaires Tom Steyer and George Soros are pouring millions of dollars into it. These are far-left-wing elites.

They are not interested in the people or what is good for the state of California. They are only interested in increasing their stranglehold over voters. They are the power-hungry force behind all the terrible policies that are destroying California.

Gov. Gavin Newsom conjured up this gerrymandering scheme. He has created this costly special election, hoping that turnout will be low and that people won’t care.

We do care. We need to say no. Vote no on Proposition 50.

Jay Todesco
Concord

Citizens can flex
their economic might

Re: “Tech billionaire Marc Benioff says Trump should deploy National Guard to San Francisco” (Oct. 11).

My first reaction to this news was, “Who the hell cares what this guy thinks?” Do only billionaires’ voices matter? If Donald Trump rigs future elections, is peaceful protesting the only power we have? Not by a long shot.

Even as Trump tries to sabotage the power of the vote, we have the power of the purse. It worked on Disney during the Jimmy Kimmel fiasco. It will work on any company that sells to consumers. Www.goodsuniteus.com tracks corporate political donations. When, collectively, people stop shopping and subscribing to the brands that do not share their values, companies notice in a hurry. Trump may not listen to us, but he does listen to his billionaire buddies.

It may be time to start keeping corporate leaders up at night, watching their market shares tank. It may be time to remind billionaires that the money that drives this country comes from us.

Janice Bleyaert
El Sobrante

Cal must do more
to support students

UC Berkeley is regarded as the No. 1 public university. However, the students who make Berkeley great are facing hunger at an unacceptable rate. The 2022 UC Basic Needs Report shows that 47% of UC students have faced food insecurity.

I’m grateful for the opportunities this university has presented to me. However, a reason I and many other students hesitated in committing to Berkeley is due to the city’s basic cost of living. Attending Berkeley for most will be their greatest investment, so it should be on the university to support students contributing to the legacy of such an institution.

Currently, students can only visit Berkeley’s Basic Needs Center once a week, which is not enough for the students who rely on this resource the most. Working to expand on this resource could make a significant difference in the lives of thousands of the great minds we have at Berkeley.

Kennedy Jones
Berkeley

Medical community must
loudly denounce RFK Jr.

After eight months of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doing his best to unravel decades of advances in medicine and the development and use of tested and proven vaccines and medications that have saved millions of lives, saved millions of people from years of suffering, and prevented epidemics of many deadly and debilitating diseases — culminating in Donald Trump’s unhinged and unsubstantiated medical advice to America’s pregnant mothers not to take Tylenol because it causes autism in their children — I have one question: Where the hell has the medical community been?

The medical community in this nation has to stand up loudly to condemn and stop this devastation of what has allowed us all to live longer and healthier lives.

Michael Thomas
Richmond

[ad_2]

Letters To The Editor

Source link

October 14, 2025
Election 2025: Everything Bay Area voters need to know before Nov. 4 election

[ad_1]

Odd-numbered years usually bring an election respite for most Californians.

That’s not the case in 2025.

On Nov. 4, California voters will decide the fate of Proposition 50, the initiative pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that would redraw the state’s congressional districts. Newsom called the initiative a necessary response to partisan redistricting initiated first by Texas Republicans, while Republicans shot back that the plan was “illegal.”

In addition to that, voters in Santa Clara County have two other races to weigh in on; in Alameda County, there’s one extra race.

Here’s what voters should know before Nov. 4:

Prop. 50

On the ballot: Newsom signs Democratic gerrymandering law, sends plan to voters

Which district is mine?: How your congressional district could change under California’s redistricting

Pro or con?: How will California’s redistricting measure impact special elections in Santa Clara, Alameda counties?

Big money: Here’s how much the special election for California’s partisan redistricting measure will cost

Dollars flowing in: Who’s winning the fundraising battle in California’s redistricting race?

So many questions: What is redistricting? Your questions about maps, California’s feud with Texas and more, answered maps

Bay Area measures

Measure A: Santa Clara County will ask voters in November to approve new sales tax to cover cuts from Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill”

Measure B: Parcel tax measure to fund East Bay hospital system goes before voters this fall

Santa Clara County assessor: Four candidates look to replace Larry Stone in November

[ad_2]

Bay Area News Group

Source link

October 13, 2025
Katie Porter Should Have Something to Say to Trump Voters

[ad_1]

Photo: YouTube/@CBSSacramento

There are two big things going on in California politics right now. We are in the opening phase of what could be the most unpredictable gubernatorial election in ages, with a huge and changing field of candidates eager to succeed term-limited Gavin Newsom. Meanwhile, the governor is spearheading a loud and expensive ballot-initiative campaign to shift the state’s congressional map crucially toward Democrats, in an explicit response to Donald Trump’s efforts to grab midterm wins for Republicans via redistricting measures in states his party controls (most notably Texas).

Unsurprisingly, when CBS News reporter Julie Watts decided to interview gubernatorial candidates, she wanted very clear answers on how they felt about the ballot fight. And for the Democratic candidates, she also wanted to know if the intense anti-Trump messaging of the “Yes on 50” campaign would make it hard for them to appeal to Trump voters in 2026. It’s not a particularly rich line of inquiry, but it’s entirely legitimate.

So it got a lot of attention when Watts’s interview with former Democratic representative Katie Porter, who is leading the field in most of the early gubernatorial polling, went way off the rails:

Since this 3min excerpt of 30min segment went viral, we decided to post it ourselves. But I’d encourage you to watch the full segment. https://t.co/wHQcHbybqF @CBSNews @kcalnews @CBSSacramento @KPIXtv pic.twitter.com/A80fBGiFxE

— Julie Watts (@juliewattsTV) October 8, 2025

Porter objected to a question that included the premise that she might need Trump voters to win the governorship. After wrinkling her brow, Porter asked, “How would I need them to win, ma’am?” Watts responded, “You think everybody who did not vote for Trump will vote for you?” Porter affirmed, “In a general election, yes … If it’s me against a Republican, I think that I will win the people who did not vote for Trump.”

Watts then asked, “What if it is you against another Democrat?” And Porter replied, “I do not intend that to be the case.”

At this point, non-Californians may be confused. In a 2010 ballot initiative, Golden State voters abolished party primaries and inaugurated a so-called top-two system in which all candidates compete in an open primary, with the top two candidates — regardless of party — advancing to the general election. So it’s entirely possible that two Democrats (or in an alternative universe, two Republicans) could compete for the ultimate prize. It happened in the U.S. Senate elections of 2016 (in which Kamala Harris defeated Democratic representative Loretta Sanchez) and 2018 (when Dianne Feinstein defeated Democratic state-senate leader Kevin DeLeon). How Republican voters would deal with an all-Democratic general-election choice was of great interest in both races, though many Republicans chose to give the race a pass. In the most recent competitive statewide race, the Senate contest of 2024, Democrat Adam Schiff spent a lot of money attacking Republican Steve Garvey during the primary campaign. The goal was to herd angry Republicans into his column and make him Schiff’s general-election opponent, in the accurate expectation that Schiff would win that contest handily. And who was the third-place Democrat who was pushed out of the general election by the Schiff-Garvey squeeze play? Katie Porter. So she’s very familiar with this sort of scenario.

With that as background, maybe that’s why Porter bristled when Watts asked, “How do you intend this (a Democrat-on-Democrat general election) not to be the case? Are you going to ask them not to run?” After a brief digression in which Porter touted her ability to win in a “purple” House district earlier in her career, she challenged Watts to restate her question, which she did, and then soon thereafter Porter announced, “I’m not doing this anymore; I’m going to call it.”

To put it mildly, this did not go over well. Multiple Democratic rivals soon scolded Porter for losing her cool, as The Hill noted:

Former California State Controller Betty Yee (D), who is also running for governor, said in a post on X that it is clear Porter does not have the temperament to be governor.

“As a candidate, I welcome the hard questions — the next governor must be accessible and transparent,” Yee wrote on X. “No place for temper tantrums. No place for dodging the public’s right to know.”

There were plenty of safe answers Porter could have given to Watts’s hypothetical about needing Trump voters in a Democrat-on-Democrat general election. She could have pointed out that a goodly number of 2024 Trump voters were experiencing buyer’s remorse. She could have suggested that some Trump voters might appreciate the need for a counterbalance in Congress to the president’s power. And, of course, she could have said Republican voters choosing between two Democrats might appreciate her personal qualities, her drive and independence, and her determination to represent everyone. The reality is that nobody really knows what the dynamics will be surrounding a general election that’s 13 months away, so she could have answered with the equivalent of “I’ll cross that bridge when I reach it” and maybe even laughed.

The bottom line is that this was a predictable question Porter should have been able to answer or deflect, instead of giving the impression she’s writing off 40 percent of her state’s electorate and rejecting media questions that don’t simply invite her to repeat her message.

See All

Sign Up for the Intelligencer Newsletter

Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world.

[ad_2]

Ed Kilgore

Source link

October 8, 2025
Letters: Battle over Prop. 50 is a fight that’s worth having

[ad_1]

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

Prop. 50 is a fight
that’s worth having

Re: “Passing redistricting plan will be uphill battle for governor” (Page A16, Aug. 31).

This opinion piece lists the difficulty of getting voters to the polls for an off-year election, but this is one very special election. For one thing, voting for redistricting is almost as critical as voting for a president. It impacts the entire nation, not just Californians.

Donald Trump’s control of Congress inflicts incredible horrors upon the values of rational citizens. It is not just any off-year election, but the difference between another two years of unfettered Trump rule and the hope of lessening his influence to protect our freedoms.

The most rational threat to the passage of redistricting is the moral question of supporting gerrymandering to achieve neutrality in the congressional districts after the Texas redistricting debacle.

Support the redistricting because it is a prime example of the ends justifying the means. Vote “yes” as a big step toward controlling Trump.

Joan Field
Danville

Minority representation
is a lie in this state

Re: “Political ads over map fight heating up” (Page A1, Aug. 29).

Those on the left in California who support Gov. Newsom’s gerrymander proposal in Proposition 50 apparently don’t care about minorities if the minority is Republican voters.

The left will oppose voter ID, claiming it suppresses minority voters, but it will support Proposition 50 even though it actually disenfranchises voters who are Republicans and in the minority. Hypocrisy.

Nick Waranoff
Orinda

Newsom’s theatrics
a sign of desperation

I think Gavin Newsom is acting desperate, seeing his lifelong dream of the presidency being vaporized by President Trump.

Being a Democrat politician in California is easy. Being a lifelong California Democrat politician running for president is much more difficult because the lifelong Democrat politician must now run on their record of accomplishments to lure the small percentage of swing and independent voters who will decide who will become our next president to vote for them. It seems to me that this is why Newsom is acting out with his arm-waving, ranting speeches and Trump-like tweets because he doesn’t have much in the way of accomplishments to sell.

It seems to me Newsom would be better served by keeping his hands in his pockets, keeping his mouth shut and spending the next 12 months actually building a résumé of real California accomplishments to sell to the rest of the country.

Bill Behan
Brentwood

Gender care for youth
needs further study

Re: “Handmade cards from classmates comfort a girl wounded in Minneapolis church shooting, aunt says” (Aug. 30).

I am really concerned about school shootings, especially after the latest one in Minneapolis. I am also concerned about the shooter identifying as trans and receiving gender-affirming care as a minor.

I have no problem with adults receiving gender-affirming care. In fact, I know transgender people, and some are my friends. However, I worry about underage people with developing bodies receiving hormone blockers and other gender-affirming drugs.

I feel we should study the effects of those drugs more before giving them to underage people.

Marianne Haas
Berkeley

Stop Trump’s attacks on
US Indigenous students

It is shameful when Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, threatens to strip the state of New York’s school funding over its ban on mascots that are degrading toward American Indian students. They make the students feel less than human.

I urge McMahon and her boss, President Trump, to stop defending school mascots that are degrading toward American Indian students.

Billy Trice Jr.
Oakland

Time to re-evaluate
Israel’s value as ally

Re: “Israel’s war in Gaza making it a pariah state” (Page A7, Aug. 28).

How much longer can we ignore women in Gaza watching their children starving to death while Israel bleeds our coffers dry?

Israel is not a poor country. It has subsidized education and health care while we have neither and are shouldering a debt of over $37 trillion. Yet, we continue to unquestionably fund its unrelenting slaughter of innocent women and children — a disgraceful crime against humanity. At the same time, we are stripping ourselves of our First Amendment rights at the behest of this rogue nation.

Israel is not a valuable ally; it is an albatross around our neck. We need more honest public discussion.

Forrest Cioppa
Benicia

[ad_2]

Letters To The Editor

Source link

September 2, 2025
Interactive: How California is reshaping its congressional districts

[ad_1]

The Democrats, led by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are hitting back at the Texas Republican lawmakers with a proposed redistricting map of California. The Proposed Congressional Map aims to add five Democratic seats in the upcoming elections.Redistricting, which typically happens every decade as the census updates, has created a new battleground between the Democrats and Republican-led states. President Donald Trump first prompted Republican district representatives in the GOP stronghold of Texas to redraw congressional lines to give the party an advantage in the upcoming elections. What followed was a two-week standoff in which Democratic Texas House representatives fled the state to stall the vote.Texas’ new congressional maps were eventually passed in an 88-52 vote, creating five new Republican-leaning seats.California’s Democratic leaders Thursday moved forward with an effort to change the congressional district maps. California currently has 52 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives; 43 of these seats went to the Democrats, while nine went to the Republicans in the 2024 election.The five California Republicans targeted by the redistricting plan include Reps. Doug LaMalfa in District 1, Kevin Kiley in District 3, David Valadao in District 22, Ken Calvert in District 41 and Darrell Issa in District 48.Each of these five districts is shown in the maps below. See if you can guess how these districts will be redrawn by trying our puzzle game below.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

The Democrats, led by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are hitting back at the Texas Republican lawmakers with a proposed redistricting map of California. The Proposed Congressional Map aims to add five Democratic seats in the upcoming elections.

Redistricting, which typically happens every decade as the census updates, has created a new battleground between the Democrats and Republican-led states.

President Donald Trump first prompted Republican district representatives in the GOP stronghold of Texas to redraw congressional lines to give the party an advantage in the upcoming elections.

What followed was a two-week standoff in which Democratic Texas House representatives fled the state to stall the vote.

Texas’ new congressional maps were eventually passed in an 88-52 vote, creating five new Republican-leaning seats.

California’s Democratic leaders Thursday moved forward with an effort to change the congressional district maps.

California currently has 52 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives; 43 of these seats went to the Democrats, while nine went to the Republicans in the 2024 election.

The five California Republicans targeted by the redistricting plan include Reps. Doug LaMalfa in District 1, Kevin Kiley in District 3, David Valadao in District 22, Ken Calvert in District 41 and Darrell Issa in District 48.

Each of these five districts is shown in the maps below. See if you can guess how these districts will be redrawn by trying our puzzle game below.

[ad_2]

Source link

August 22, 2025