The robbery of an illegal gambling house in Sacramento should not have been the type of crime that elicits the most serious ramifications from the courts, but in the case of repeat offenders John Edward Blount and Eddie Lee White, the act has become their undoing.
Illegal Gambling Dine Robbery Ends up with Centuries of Prison Sentences
In a judgment rendered by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Sweet, White will have to serve 40 years and eight months behind bars, with Blount to spend 301 years (to life) away.
The violent home invasion targeted a south Sacramento residence on the 3700 block of 42nd Avenue that was operating as an illegal gambling den. According to prosecutors, the incident unfolded around 1:20 am on January 22, 2018, when at least four individuals stormed into the garage of the property.
Judge Sweet is following the law rather than misinterpreting it, as both men have previous convictions and have broken the Three Strikes law that is applied indiscriminately in the state.
Blount faced particularly severe sentencing exposure due to prior convictions that qualified as “strikes” under California law, significantly enhancing his punishment. White also had a criminal history that contributed to the length of his sentence. Judge Sweet cited the violence of the robbery, the defendants’ records, and multiple sentencing enhancements when imposing the lengthy terms.
The pair was sentenced on Tuesday, February 10, after Blount and White were found guilty of six and three counts of robbery and attempted robbery, respectively, back in November.
A jury on November 21, 2025, convicted both men, with Blount additionally found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office press release.
Three Strikes and You Go Away for Good
The original crime dates back to January 2018, but it has taken until now to resolve. Interestingly, when the robbery was underway, a woman responsible for the CCTV at the venue did phone in 911, reporting the crime, and thus giving away the whereabouts of the illegal gambling den as well.
During the break-in, prosecutors said the men were armed, and multiple victims were held at gunpoint, forced to the ground, physically assaulted, and even had furniture thrown at them. Investigators later recovered a firearm believed to have been used in the robbery and found two suspects carrying many of the victims’ belongings, while other assailants fled as deputies arrived.
The case spanned nearly eight years, from the 2018 attack to last fall’s trial, concluding this week with the heavy sentences handed down by the court.
CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader’s assassination, died Tuesday. He was 84.
What You Need To Know
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson has died at the age of 84
Jackson was a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King and became a leader of the Civil Rights Movement for decades after King was assassinated in 1968
A two-time presidential candidate, Jackson led a lifetime of political crusades, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care
He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders and channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, using his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition to pressure executives to make America a more open and equitable society
His family confirmed he died Tuesday
As a young organizer in Chicago, Jackson was called to meet with King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, shortly before King was killed, and he publicly positioned himself thereafter as King’s successor.
Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.
And when he declared, “I am Somebody,” in a poem he often repeated, he sought to reach people of all colors. “I may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young; but I am Somebody; I may be on welfare, but I am Somebody,” Jackson intoned.
It was a message he took literally and personally, having risen from obscurity in the segregated South to become America’s best-known civil rights activist since King.
Santita Jackson confirmed that her father died at home in Chicago, surrounded by family.
“Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement posted online. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family.”
Fellow civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton said his mentor “was not simply a civil rights leader; he was a movement unto himself.”
“He taught me that protest must have purpose, that faith must have feet, and that justice is not seasonal, it is daily work,” Sharpton wrote in a statement, adding that Jackson taught “trying is as important as triumph. That you do not wait for the dream to come true; you work to make it real.”
Despite profound health challenges in his final years including a rare neurological disorder that affected his ability to move and speak, Jackson continued protesting against racial injustice into the era of Black Lives Matter. In 2024, he appeared at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and at a City Council meeting to show support for a resolution backing a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
“Even if we win,” he told marchers in Minneapolis before the officer whose knee kept George Floyd from breathing was convicted of murder, “it’s relief, not victory. They’re still killing our people. Stop the violence, save the children. Keep hope alive.”
U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson and NAACP President Derrick Johnson march across the Edmund Pettus bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
Calls to action, delivered in a memorable voice
Jackson’s voice, infused with the stirring cadences and powerful insistence of the Black church, demanded attention. On the campaign trail and elsewhere, he used rhyming and slogans such as: “Hope not dope” and “If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it,” to deliver his messages.
Jackson had his share of critics, both within and outside of the Black community. Some considered him a grandstander, too eager to seek out the spotlight. Looking back on his life and legacy, Jackson told The Associated Press in 2011 that he felt blessed to be able to continue the service of other leaders before him and to lay a foundation for those to come.
“A part of our life’s work was to tear down walls and build bridges, and in a half century of work, we’ve basically torn down walls,” Jackson said. “Sometimes when you tear down walls, you’re scarred by falling debris, but your mission is to open up holes so others behind you can run through.”
In his final months, as he received 24-hour care, he lost his ability to speak, communicating with family and visitors by holding their hands and squeezing.
“I get very emotional knowing that these speeches belong to the ages now,” his son, Jesse Jackson Jr., told the AP in October.
A student athlete drawn to the Civil Rights Movement
Jesse Louis Jackson was born on Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, the son of high school student Helen Burns and Noah Louis Robinson, a married man who lived next door. Jackson was later adopted by Charles Henry Jackson, who married his mother.
Jackson was a star quarterback on the football team at Sterling High School in Greenville, and accepted a football scholarship from the University of Illinois. But after he reportedly was told Black people couldn’t play quarterback, he transferred to North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, where he became the first-string quarterback, an honor student in sociology and economics, and student body president.
Arriving on the historically Black campus in 1960 just months after students there launched sit-ins at a whites-only diner, Jackson immersed himself in the blossoming Civil Rights Movement.
By 1965, he joined the voting rights march King led from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. King dispatched him to Chicago to launch Operation Breadbasket, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference effort to pressure companies to hire Black workers.
Jackson called his time with King “a phenomenal four years of work.”
Jackson was with King on April 4, 1968, when the civil rights leader was slain. Jackson’s account of the assassination was that King died in his arms.
With his flair for the dramatic, Jackson wore a turtleneck he said was soaked with King’s blood for two days, including at a King memorial service held by the Chicago City Council, where he said: “I come here with a heavy heart because on my chest is the stain of blood from Dr. King’s head.”
However, several King aides, including speechwriter Alfred Duckett, questioned whether Jackson could have gotten King’s blood on his clothing. There are no images of Jackson in pictures taken shortly after the assassination.
In 1971, Jackson broke with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to form Operation PUSH, originally named People United to Save Humanity. The organization based on Chicago’s South Side declared a sweeping mission, from diversifying workforces to registering voters in communities of color nationwide. Using lawsuits and threats of boycotts, Jackson pressured top corporations to spend millions and publicly commit to diversifying their workforces.
The constant campaigns often left his wife, Jacqueline Lavinia Brown, the college sweetheart he married in 1963, taking the lead in raising their five children: Santita Jackson, Yusef DuBois Jackson, Jacqueline Lavinia Jackson Jr., and two future members of Congress, U.S. Rep. Jonathan Luther Jackson and Jesse L. Jackson Jr., who resigned in 2012 but is seeking reelection in the 2026 midterms.
The elder Jackson, who was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1968 and earned his Master of Divinity in 2000, also acknowledged fathering a child, Ashley Jackson, with one of his employees at Rainbow/PUSH, Karen L. Stanford. He said he understood what it means to be born out of wedlock and supported her emotionally and financially.
Presidential aspirations fall short but help ‘keep hope alive’
Despite once telling a Black audience he would not run for president “because white people are incapable of appreciating me,” Jackson ran twice and did better than any Black politician had before President Barack Obama, winning 13 primaries and caucuses for the Democratic nomination in 1988, four years after his first failed attempt.
Democratic presidential primary candidate Jesse Jackson speaks to a group of his supporters at a rally held at a Baptist Church in Dayton, Ohio, April 14, 1984. (AP Photo/Rob Burns, File)
His successes left supporters chanting another Jackson slogan, “Keep Hope Alive.”
“I was able to run for the presidency twice and redefine what was possible; it raised the lid for women and other people of color,” he told the AP. “Part of my job was to sow seeds of the possibilities.”
U.S. Rep. John Lewis said during a 1988 C-SPAN interview that Jackson’s two runs for the Democratic nomination “opened some doors that some minority person will be able to walk through and become president.”
Jackson also pushed for cultural change, joining calls by NAACP members and other movement leaders in the late 1980s to identify Black people in the United States as African Americans.
“To be called African Americans has cultural integrity — it puts us in our proper historical context,” Jackson said at the time. “Every ethnic group in this country has a reference to some base, some historical cultural base. African Americans have hit that level of cultural maturity.”
Jackson’s words sometimes got him in trouble.
In 1984, he apologized for what he thought were private comments to a reporter, calling New York City “Hymietown,” a derogatory reference to its large Jewish population. And in 2008, he made headlines when he complained that Obama was “talking down to Black people” in comments captured by a microphone he didn’t know was on during a break in a television taping.
Still, when Jackson joined the jubilant crowd in Chicago’s Grant Park to greet Obama that election night, he had tears streaming down his face.
“I wish for a moment that Dr. King or (slain civil rights leader) Medgar Evers … could’ve just been there for 30 seconds to see the fruits of their labor,” he told the AP years later. “I became overwhelmed. It was the joy and the journey.”
Exerting influence on events at home and abroad
Jackson also had influence abroad, meeting world leaders and scoring diplomatic victories, including the release of Navy Lt. Robert Goodman from Syria in 1984, as well as the 1990 release of more than 700 foreign women and children held after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. In 1999, he won the freedom of three Americans imprisoned by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.
“Citizens have the right to do something or do nothing,” Jackson said, before heading to Syria. “We choose to do something.”
In 2021, Jackson joined the parents of Ahmaud Arbery inside the Georgia courtroom where three white men were convicted of killing the young Black jogger. In 2022, he hand-delivered a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, calling for federal charges against former Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke in the 2014 killing of Black teenager Laquan McDonald.
Jackson, who stepped down as president of Rainbow/PUSH in July 2023, disclosed in 2017 that he had sought treatment for Parkinson’s, but he continued to make public appearances even as the disease made it more difficult for listeners to understand him. Earlier this year doctors confirmed a diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy, a life-threatening neurological disorder. He was admitted to a hospital in November for nearly two weeks.
During the coronavirus pandemic, he and his wife survived being hospitalized with COVID-19. Jackson was vaccinated early, urging Black people in particular to get protected, given their higher risks for bad outcomes.
“It’s America’s unfinished business — we’re free, but not equal,” Jackson told the AP. “There’s a reality check that has been brought by the coronavirus, that exposes the weakness and the opportunity.”
The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education is set to consider authorizing thousands of preliminary layoff notices today as the nation’s second-largest school system moves to address a projected structural deficit of $877 million in the 2026-2027 school year.
The proposal would allow the district to issue March 15 notices to around 2,600 contract management employees and certificated administrators and begin a reduction in force affecting 657 central office and centrally funded classified positions, according to the board report. It also includes reductions in hours for 52 positions and reduced pay for 22 others.
The proposal does not include any classroom teaching positions, a Los Angeles Unified spokesperson said Monday.
The spokesperson added that the total number of employees who will ultimately receive preliminary March 15 or reduction-in-force notices has not yet been determined. The roughly 2,600 management and administrative notices are separate from the 657 identified classified closures, the district said.
Labor groups have already urged the board to delay action. In a Feb. 6 letter to the Board of Education, United Teachers Los Angeles, SEIU Local 99 and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles called on members not to vote on reduction-in-force notices before updated state revenue forecasts are incorporated into the budget.
The unions argued that December and January state tax collections have “far exceeded projections in the Governor’s draft budget” and said the board should schedule a stand-alone meeting in early March to consider potential layoffs after a clearer picture of Proposition 98 funding — the state’s constitutional formula that guarantees minimum funding for K-12 schools — emerges.
“RIFs throw employees, our families, and our students into a cruel period of uncertainty, stress, and panic,” the letter states.
The district said it does not view the proposed notices as connected to ongoing contract negotiations with labor groups.
Max Arias, executive director of SEIU Local 99, which represents classified employees such as teacher assistants, bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria workers, said in a statement Monday that the proposed reductions would harm essential school workers.
“Classified education workers are the backbone of this district,” Arias said. “You cannot talk about student achievement while cutting the very adults students rely on every day. If LAUSD truly prioritizes students, it must prioritize the workers who serve them.”
Arias also challenged the district’s financial framing, noting that classified employees made up 39% of the workforce but account for roughly 12% of the district’s budget. He said the district is holding nearly $5 billion in reserves and argued that it should prioritize investment in its workforce over cuts.
District officials say the action is necessary to comply with state Education Code deadlines and to address what they describe as a structural budget imbalance driven by enrollment declines and the expiration of one-time COVID-19 relief funds. In its First Interim Financial Report released in December, LAUSD projected a $877 million deficit — about 14% of its unrestricted general fund expenditures — for the 2026–27 school year, followed by a $443 million deficit the year after.
“It is worth noting that these are dangerously high deficit levels for a public education institution, and more importantly, signal a significant structural imbalance, not a temporary dip,” the board report states.
The report also warns that failing to authorize the notices now could require significantly deeper reductions next year, potentially affecting nearly 5,000 positions with an estimated value of $450 million if fiscal conditions do not improve.
While 657 classified positions have been identified for closure, the district spokesperson said the final number of layoffs has not yet been determined and is expected to be lower due to retirements and other personnel moves.
To comply with state law, however, the district must issue preliminary reduction-in-force notices to more employees than the number of positions ultimately eliminated because of seniority and “bumping” rules.
Under the proposed timeline, final layoff notices would not be issued until later this spring, after required hearings for classified staff and prior to the June 30 deadline outlined in the board report.
Becoming an astronaut is challenging, yet one woman defied the odds to become the first African American woman in space.
What You Need To Know
Jemison wanted to study science from an early age
She first studied medicine before starting a career at NASA
She went to space in Sept. 1992
After NASA, she accomplished many more things
Early life accomplishments
Born in the 1950s, Mae C. Jemison refused to let anything stop her from becoming one of the most accomplished African American women in history.
She was born in Decatur, Ala. but grew up in Chicago, and from a very early age, she knew she wanted to study science.
She worked hard and graduated from high school at just 16, then headed across the country to attend Stanford University.
As one of the few African Americans in her class, she faced discrimination from both students and teachers, yet she earned two degrees in four years—chemical engineering and African American studies.
Jemison didn’t begin her career in space; she first attended Cornell Medical School, where she earned her medical degree and practiced general medicine.
Her talents also didn’t stop in science. Jemison is fluent in Japanese, Russian and Swahili. She used this and her medical studies to her advantage and joined the Peace Corps in 1983 to help people in Africa for two years.
Jemison with the rest of the Endeavour Crew in 1992. (AP Photo/Chris O’ Meara)
On to space
After serving in the Peace Corps, Jemison opened a private medical practice, but before long she set her sights on a long-held dream: going to space.
Jemison applied for the astronaut program at NASA in 1985. Unfortunately, NASA stopped accepting applications after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986.
In 1987, Jemison reapplied and was chosen as one of 15 out of 2,000 applicants. Nichelle Nichols—Uhura from the original Star Trek—recruited her, and as a longtime fan, Jemison later guest-starred in an episode of the series.
In Sept. 1992, she joined six other astronauts on the Endeavor for eight days, making her the first African American woman in space. On her mission, she made 127 orbits around the Earth.
Mae C. Jemison on board the Endeavour in 1992. (Photo by NASA)
After NASA
Jemison left NASA the year after she went to space and accomplished many more things.
She started her own consulting company, became a professor at Cornell, launched the Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries, created an international space camp for teens and much more.
She currently leads 100 Year Starship through DARPA, United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which works to ensure humans will travel to another star in the next 100 years.
With all her accomplishments, it’s no surprise Jemison was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the National Medical Association Hall of Fame and the Texas Science Hall of Fame.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
The frustration around the Irvington BART station is understandable, but what rings hollow is the sudden outrage from Aisha Wahab, who has been absent from the regional transportation conversation until launching a campaign for Congress.
For years, BART’s structural funding problems, service cuts and capital delays were well known, yet there was no public leadership on these issues from her. Now, in the middle of a high-profile race, state official business is being repackaged as campaign messaging. Calling out BART after the fact, without having done the hard work of coalition-building, regional coordination or advancing long-term transit funding solutions, looks less like leadership and more like political grandstanding. Using official letters and legislative stature to generate headlines may score short-term attention, but it does not move projects forward.
Residents deserve serious, sustained advocacy on transportation, not last-minute positioning designed to boost a political profile. California deserves better.
Katelyn Rubadue Vacaville
The illegality is coming from ICE agents
I encourage anyone who hasn’t listened to the Feb. 3 congressional hearing on ICE and Border Patrol tactics to please do so. Three American citizens, Marimar Martinez, Aliya Rahman and Daniel Rascon, testified before this joint session and spoke about abuses ICE and Border Patrol used on them. It was chilling.
Martinez and Rascon were immediately castigated as being “domestic terrorists.” Sound familiar? Yes, the same lies spread by this administration.
Martinez was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent and had “7 holes” in her body. The agent who shot her texted his buddies, “I fired five rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.” The other two “holes” in her body were from ricocheted bullets.
If anyone thinks it is the lack of cooperation from state and local police that is causing this abuse, they are sorely mistaken. It’s the agents themselves.
Lisa Rigge Pleasanton
Redirecting FBI agents is cause for concern
All Americans should be concerned about the Trump administration’s cuts and change of focus in the FBI. An area of major concern is the rapidly growing increase in cybercrime.
Donald Trump has changed much of the FBI’s traditional focus to immigration. Over 20% of the FBI workforce has been taken away from priorities such as cybercrime, terrorism and drug trafficking. This has left blind spots in our digital defenses while cybercrime is on the rise, reaching a record $16 billion loss and growing annually.
Last year, Trump dropped one-third of pending enforcement actions against tech companies. In the largest field offices, up to 40% of agents assigned to cybercrime, financial fraud and public corruption have been reassigned to immigration. This action seems to be misguided and dangerous.
Kit Miller Walnut Creek
Strengthen vet rule for rodeos, charreadas
California boasts the nation’s most comprehensive rodeo law, Penal Code 596.7, the result of 1999 legislation carried by state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland. The law was amended in 2007 to include the Mexican charreadas.
Current law requires either an on-site or on-call veterinarian at every rodeo and/or charreada, and bans the use of electric prods in the holding chutes; it also requires that animal injury reports be submitted to the State Veterinary Medical Board.
Current law needs amending to require on-site veterinarians — dropping the woefully inadequate “on-call” veterinarian option. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, racetracks, horse shows and endurance rides all require on-site vets — so should all rodeos and charreadas.
The charreada’s brutal “steer tailing” event has been outlawed in two California counties (Alameda and Contra Costa). Steers’ tails are routinely stripped to the bone (“degloved”), broken, even torn off. A state-wide ban is in order. Feb. 20 is the deadline in the state Legislature for introduction of new bills. Let your reps hear from you.
For decades, California lawmakers requested state audits, Californians have paid for those audits, and the State Auditor provided detailed recommendations on how to fix waste, fraud, and oversight failures across state government.
CLICK TO EXPLORE: California Lawmaker Audit Accountability Tracker
When they did act, former majority party leaders quietly killed dozens of audit-backed bills in committee. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed at least a dozen more.
A CBS News California investigation found lawmakers failed to enact roughly three out of every four state audit recommendations directed at the Legislature, leaving more than 300 outstanding statutory fixes unresolved.
Now, lawmakers from both parties — and both state houses — say it’s time to address the backlog.
The new Legislative Audit Chair, Democrat Assemblymember John Harabedian, called the findings a “wake-up call” and said the Legislature has an opportunity to tackle long-standing issues with a new class of members this session and a new state leadership next year.
“I think that there is a great opportunity with a new class in the Legislature, a new governor, to really tackle these things head-on,” Harabedian said.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones agreed the numbers are concerning.
“Three out of four is ridiculous that that’s not being addressed,” Jones said.
Both lawmakers emphasized that the audit process itself is nonpartisan.
“It’s nonpartisan. It’s not even bipartisan — it’s nonpartisan,” Jones said. “When the auditor takes that issue up, they come at this with no bias.”
Agencies implement roughly three out of every four recommendations. By comparison, lawmakers fail to enact three out of every four recommendations directed to them.
For lawmakers, there is:
No required annual summary of unfinished legislative recommendations
No formal explanation requirement when lawmakers fail to act
No centralized tracking once bills die or are vetoed
Why fixes stalled
A deeper dive into legislative records revealed multiple reasons proposed audit-backed reforms failed.
More than 60 bills were drafted or introduced based on audit findings, but later died. Some stalled due to internal political disagreements. Others faced resistance from state agencies.
Some were quietly held in committee or on the suspense file without a public vote, often an indication that Democratic supermajority leadership did not support the bill.
At least another dozen audit-related bills passed the legislature only to be vetoed by Gov. Newsom.
In several veto messages, the governor argued that additional oversight was unnecessary or that the proposed changes were too costly.
A shift in “tone”
For years, former State Auditor Elaine Howle voluntarily issued annual reports summarizing outstanding recommendations directed specifically to the legislature.
Those reports:
Listed every unresolved legislative recommendation
Identified which policy committee was responsible
Documented whether related bills were introduced, stalled, passed, or vetoed
They functioned as a centralized accountability framework, essentially a legislative checklist of unfinished business.
CBS News California identified at least adozen audit-recommended bills that Governor Newsom vetoed during his first term, while Howle was auditor. Based on publicly available records, it does not appear he has vetoed any audit-related bills since appointing Parks.
At his first Joint Legislative Audit Committee hearing, where the lawmakers decide which audit requests to approve, Parks signaled a shift in tone.
The auditor’s office told CBS News California the decision to discontinue producing the special legislative reports detailing outstanding recommendations and audit-related vetoes was made to “optimize the use of auditor resources.”
In a statement, spokesperson Dana Simas said redirecting efforts toward core audit work would improve timeliness for statutory and legislatively approved audits. She added that recommendations remain publicly accessible on the auditor’s website, “which we upgraded in January 2024 to offer a significantly improved user experience that now offers detailed search capabilities of recommendations by issue or policy area, agency, and the year the audit was published.”
However, the updated site does not provide a dedicated search for “Recommendations to the Legislature.”
Using public safety as an example, the site’s current search function returns just four public safety audit reports, with only two visible legislative recommendations, overlooking dozens of additional outstanding legislative recommendations in other public safety audits issued over the past five years.
To identify those recommendations, users must manually search the archive, reviewing hundreds of individual audit reports to identify the dozens of outstanding legislative recommendations issued since 2021 alone.
In practice, lawmakers relying solely on the current search tools would not see the full scope of unfinished legislative recommendations.
Lawmakers say that gap matters.
The legislature trusts the auditor’s findings so much that they passed a law requiring state agencies to either implement audit recommendations or publicly explain why they have not.
That public accountability has proven effective. Agencies implement more than 80% of audit recommendations. No comparable framework exists for the legislature.
Using public records, we scraped and consolidated legislative recommendations across audit reports to create the Audit Accountability Tracker — a database focused specifically on recommendations directed at elected lawmakers.
The database compiles a decade of legislative audit recommendations and tracks:
Which bills were introduced
Which stalled
Which passed
Which were vetoed
Which remain unresolved
Nearly half of the California Legislature is new this session. Many outstanding recommendations were issued before current members took office.
“When these reports come back to the legislature, it’s our job to take that information and legislate intelligently,” said Jones, who acknowledged they need to educate new lawmakers on the importance of state audits.
Harabedian says he intends to work across committees and across party lines to address the backlog.
“I’m hoping by the end of this year we tackle some of it, by the next year we tackle more, and we just keep going,” he said. “We owe it to the people to do that.”
CLICK TO EXPLORE: California Lawmaker Audit Accountability Tracker
For years, the warnings were written and the solutions were identified. Now, lawmakers say they’re ready to move forward.
CBS News California will continue tracking whether those promises become law.
Attorneys continued presentation of evidence to a judge in Solano County Superior Court Friday, part of arguments over whether a Martinez man charged in connection with two murders, committed months apart, in 2022 can be tried on both allegations at once, or whether the two shooting deaths should be tried separately.
The hearing on the allegations against Richard Raymond Klein, 54, and the motion to sever the two murder charges will resume on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. in the Fairfield courtroom of Judge John B. Ellis.
The 6-foot-7 Klein, clad in a striped jail jumpsuit, his head shaved, listened intently and chatted with his attorney on Friday as the prosecution played several recordings of phone conversations he had had with associates since being arrested and held in Solano County Jail.
In each of the recordings, Deputy District Attorney Barry Shapiro argued, Klein can be heard encouraging friends to contact certain witnesses. “The clips are all attempts by the defendant to prevent witnesses from testifying,” Shapiro argued.
Defense Attorney Dustin Gordon is challenging to sever the cases, arguing that witnesses and issues in each shooting incident are not cross-admissible and that there are issues of the identity of the actual shooters in the matters.
As previously reported, Klein, a previously convicted felon, was indicted for the killings by a Solano County grand jury in June 2023. The Solano County District Attorney’s Office then combined the murder charges into one case, with alleged special circumstances. Court records indicate that the case is no longer a capital case.
The indictment, which essentially replaced the preliminary hearing process, includes the two murder counts and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, committing murder while released on his own recognizance, and a special circumstance for committing multiple murders.
The indictment reflects allegations in the two previously filed criminal complaints that Klein allegedly committed murder on April 21, 2022, at a gathering on Manzanita Avenue in Fairfield, then allegedly again, on Dec 15, 2022, while out of custody on the initial murder charge, allegedly committed a second fatal shooting in Suisun City.
In the Fairfield case, Klein is charged with an enhancement for personally discharging a firearm, leading to the death of Anthony Fuimaono, 56.
Klein was initially scheduled for a preliminary hearing in the Fuimaono shooting on Oct. 28, 2022, and was held to answer as charged. Some two weeks later, and held without bail in Solano County Jail in Fairfield, he was formally arraigned. However, during the proceeding, Gordon asked the court to release his client and reduce bail, arguing two constitutional amendments, including the Eighth (excessive bail).
The prosecution objected, citing a risk to public safety, the risk to the safety of the victim’s family, the seriousness of the charge, Klein’s criminal history, his prior prison time, and that Klein was previously a validated member of the Nazi Low Riders, a White supremacist prison and criminal street gang with origins in the California Youth Authority. However, the court released Klein on a pretrial services contract.
Then, while Klein was out of custody, the Suisun City Police Department on Dec. 15, 2022, responded to a shots-fired call in the Potrero Circle area. When officers arrived, they found a man on the ground in front of 1244 Potrero Circle, suffering from a gunshot wound. Despite life-saving measures by officers and paramedics, Matthew Muller, 37, died.
After the second shooting, investigators were able to identify Klein as the suspect and locate him. He had fled across the Southern California border. He was taken into custody in Rosarito, Mexico, by U.S. Marshals and Mexican authorities some days after and returned to the United States. He was arrested Jan. 13, 2023, at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
If convicted at trial for the killings, Klein — who was convicted of a felony in 2006 in Contra Costa County — faces 50 years to life for the murders and likely more time for using firearms and being a previously convicted felon, among other enhancements.
A glove containing DNA found about two miles from the house of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother appears to match those worn by a masked person outside her front door in Tucson the night she vanished, the FBI said Sunday.
What You Need To Know
The FBI says a glove containing DNA was found about two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s Arizona home and appears to match those worn by a masked person outside her front door the night she vanished
The glove, found in a field near the side of the road, was sent off for DNA testing
The discovery was revealed days after investigators had released surveillance videos of the masked person outside Guthrie’s front door in Tucson
Guthrie is the mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie and was last seen at her home on Jan. 31
The glove, discovered in a field beside a road, was sent for DNA testing. The FBI said in a statement that it received preliminary results Saturday and was awaiting official confirmation. The development comes as law enforcement gathers more potential evidence as the search for Guthrie’s mother heads into its third week. Authorities had previously said they had not identified a suspect.
On Sunday night, Savannah Guthrie posted an Instagram video in which she issued an appeal to whoever abducted her mother or anyone who knows where she is being kept. “It is never too late to do the right thing,” Guthrie said. “And we are here. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being, that it’s never too late.”
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her Arizona home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day. Authorities say her blood was found on the front porch. Purported ransom notes were sent to news outlets, but two deadlines for paying have passed.
The discovery was revealed days after investigators had released surveillance videos of the masked person outside Guthrie’s front door. A porch camera recorded video of a person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, jacket and gloves.
On Thursday, the FBI called the person a suspect. It described him as a man about 5 feet, 9 inches tall with a medium build. The agency said he was carrying a 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.
Late Friday night, law enforcement agents sealed off a road about two miles from Guthrie’s home as part of their investigation. A series of sheriff’s and FBI vehicles, including forensics vehicles, passed through the roadblock.
The investigators also tagged and towed a Range Rover SUV from a nearby restaurant parking lot late Friday. The sheriff’s department later said the activity was part of the Guthrie investigation but no arrests were made.
On Tuesday, sheriff deputies detained a person for questioning during a traffic stop south of Tucson. Authorities didn’t say what led them to stop the man but confirmed he was released. The same day, deputies and FBI agents conducted a court-authorized search in Rio Rico, about an hour’s drive south of the city.
In this image provided by NBCUniversal, Savannah Guthrie, right, her mom Nancy speak, Wednesday, April 17, 2019, in New York. (Nathan Congleton/NBCUniversal via AP)
Authorities have expressed concern about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs vital daily medicine. She is said to have a pacemaker and have dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.
Earlier in the investigation, authorities had said they had collected DNA from Nancy Guthrie’s property which doesn’t belong to Guthrie or those in close contact with her. Investigators were working to identify who it belongs to.
The FBI also has said approximately 16 gloves were found in various spots near the house, most of which were searchers’ gloves that had been discarded.
Copyright 2026 The Mercury News. All rights reserved. The use of any content on this website for the purpose of training artificial intelligence systems, algorithms, machine learning models, text and data mining, or similar use is strictly prohibited without explicit written consent.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A year ago, Landen Roupp entered camp in competition for the fifth spot in the Giants’ rotation with Hayden Birdsong and Landen Roupp — a spot he ended up winning. His spot in the rotation has long been secure, but Roupp isn’t changing anything ahead of his third major league season.
“I’m just thinking of it the same way, trying to fight for my spot,” Roupp said. “Even if I do have the spot, I’m going to attack it like I don’t.”
Roupp and left-hander Matt Gage threw their first live bullpens of camp on Saturday afternoon after right-handers Logan Webb and Hayden Birdsong did so on Friday afternoon.
The 27-year-old Roupp, pitching to Logan Porter, threw 25 pitches and faced six hitters, though his second time facing Patrick Bailey ended early due to pitch count. He struck out Jesus Rodriguez swinging but allowed a home run to non-roster invitee Eric Haase.
Gage, pitching to Diego Cartaya, faced four batters and threw 20 pitches, striking out Porter swinging but allowing a base hit to Bailey.
Roupp emphasized his cutter during his live bullpen season. He threw the pitch last year but changed his grip at the suggestion of new assistant pitching coach Christian Wonders.
“I threw it a lot today, just trying to feel it out and see how it played,” Roupp said. “Got some good swings on it.”
With a solidified spot in the Opening Day rotation, Roupp is headed for a significant workload spike after throwing a career-high 109 2/3 innings last year (three of those innings were during a rehab assignment).
Roupp landed on the 15-day injured list last year with right elbow inflammation, but he believes the Giants made the move out of caution. He also missed the last month of the season after awkwardly twisting his knee at Petco Park in late August, but that injury was of the fluke variety.
To prepare for the uptick in innings, Roupp said he spent the offseason trying to get stronger and increase his base.
“He’s got an edge to him, but also, nothing’s an extreme — which would be nice if I could copy that,” said manager Tony Vitello. “He’s kind of in the middle every day. He’s always in a good mood. He likes to have fun, but he’s not a goofball. He’s intense, but he’s not foaming at the mouth or doing anything crazy. It probably leads into who he is being consistent. In order to be consistent, you have to be consistent.”
Bailey’s tweaks right-handed batting stance
Bailey told reporters on Friday morning that he intends to continue switch-hitting despite posting better numbers as a left-handed hitter the last two seasons, and the 26-year-old has made a noticeable tweak to his right-handed batting stance.
This spring, the two-time Gold Glove Award winner is not only standing taller, but he’s brought his hands out and has his bat head facing directly upward opposed to at an angle near his head. The difference between last year and this year can be seen here.
Over the last two seasons, Bailey hit .197 with a .513 OPS as a right-handed hitter. As a left-handed hitter, by contrast, Bailey has a .239 batting average and .654 OPS. Bailey’s inside-the-park walk-off homer was as a left-handed hitter, but his walk-off grand slam was as a right-handed hitter.
On Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, Southern California Catholics, and Christians of multitude denominations, will wait in line to get a smudge of ashes on their foreheads, and be reminded that they are sinners, yes, who can redeem themselves if they, as Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez said in a recent homily, become “people who heal, make peace, and bear witness to his love.”
But for the millions of faithful in the archdiocese and at parishes and houses of worship from Orange County to Riverside all the way to Gomez’s downtown L.A. cathedral, the first day of Lent finds many in crisis: those undocumented in fear of or already in detention; those working to support them and their families; and Catholics who continue to support the Trump administration’s policies on immigration, abortion and same-sex marriage.
Still some Christians will enter this liturgical season grappling with deeply-held beliefs they say run counter to the government’s massive effort under the Trump administration to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
While that effort, federal officials say, has resulted in mass arrests of the most violent of criminal undocumented immigrants, it has also resulted in fear and anger over the actions of a federal dragnet that immigrants, their advocates and many religious leaders say has tipped too far into violence and cruelty.
Lent arrives as federal agents continue their actions, and many in local Southern California cities push back.
Gomez exhorted Catholics to “help America recover her soul,” during his homily at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Feb. 4, during a Holy Hour of Prayer for Peace in response to the shooting death by immigration agents of nurse Alex Pretti in Minnesota.
Archbishop Jose Gomez calls for a holy hour of Peace to renew the nation, emphasizing prayer as a vital step to healing a world wounded by division and violence on Wednesday, February 4, 2026. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Isaac Cuevas, director of immigration and public affairs for the archdiocese, heard Goméz call for upholding the rights and dignity of everyone in the United States and not “based on the color of our skin, or the language we speak, or for not having the proper documents.” He also voiced his support for the Dignity Act (HR 4333) in limbo in Congress.
When the Trump administration ramped up its immigration enforcement in Los Angeles last June, Cuevas said there was no question what the church’s response would be.
“We understood clearly that our role was to accompany, to inform, and to support. That has taken shape through ‘Know Your Rights/Risk’ efforts, connecting families with trusted legal support, organizing prayer opportunities, and preparing clergy and parish leaders to respond pastorally if situations arise.”
“The Church’s engagement in public life really begins with our mission, not politics,” Cuevas said. “Our role is to uphold the dignity of every human person and to accompany those who are vulnerable. At times that includes speaking into public policy, especially when laws or enforcement practices impact families, human dignity, or the common good.”
Unlike its Episcopal kin, whose social justice arm, Sacred Resistance, has been in the forefront of anti-ICE vigils and protests, Catholic leaders’ primary work remains pastoral, Cuevas said.
“We walk with people, provide resources, and help form consciences rooted in Catholic social teaching,” he said.
In these days where many in the community feel vulnerable that teaching goes beyond dogma into concrete action, such as standing with neighbors who are afraid, and responding with faith, not fear, Cuevas added.
In his Lenten message this year, Bishop of the Diocese of San Bernardino Alberto Rojas, invited people to pray “with your strength and sincerity” for people who are suffering.
He said the treatment of immigrants happening now is a “violation of human dignity.”
“While we as a Church do not condone unlawful entry into the country, the brutal way authorities are enforcing the law is unacceptable and does not recognize immigrants as human beings, much less as the children of God that they are.”
A season of fear
Fresh off marching with students who walked out of school recently in protest of the raids, Father Francisco Gómez, pastor of Our Lady of Soledad Parish in Coachella, is expecting a busy Ash Wednesday this year. But it’s the immigration raids themselves that have caused so much fear and anxiety among his parishioners that he thinks it’s likely his parish will not see numbers like last year — 10,000 strong who came to be marked with ash on their foreheads.
“It’s precisely because of the fear,” he says, as he reflects on the beginning of Lenten season in which many are anxious about immigration actions that have roiled communities.
Instead, his church has created little packets so people can observe Lent at home. There’s a little guide with prayers and readings, and a tiny bag with ashes inside.
Gómez has faith they’ll get to those people who are too afraid to physically go to church in person to receive the ash. Perhaps someone’s neighbor will deliver a packet. A family, a friend. Those packets will get to people who need them, he said.
Ash Wednesday packets that Our Lady of Soledad in Coachella has prepared for parishioners who cannot make the Ash Wednesday Mass in person. (Courtesy, The Rev. Francisco Gómez)
Gómez enters the season highly attuned to the symbols of Lent, precisely because of the immigration raids that have stirred his community and the nation. He’s also thinking about the impact on a democracy, one where he never thought he’d see such violence amid mass immigration operations.
“The primary symbol of Lent is the desert,” Gómez said, noting the nexus between the ancient tradition of 40 years in the wilderness to get to the promised land and the 40 days Jesus is said to have spent in the desert. “The journey of those 40 years is a journey of being in a place of slavery to being in a place of freedom.”
His message is that those being persecuted can also see themselves in a Christ who suffered, from a public who condemned him to his journey to crucifixion.
“Yet, there is a resurrection. There will be a resurrection,” he said.
Over the past year, Gómez said has seen the struggle play out in his community. And as a season of fasting, abstinence, prayer and almsgiving descends, he’s sensitive to the impacts.
“The cracks that I see are people hovering on the edge of despair,” he said, reflecting on the stress of potential arrest or deportation. “People who are considering suicide. Domestic violence. Students not going to school. Those are the cracks that I see.
“On the other side, I see solidarity. Neighbors who get groceries, helping others, creating spaces where people can talk out their fears.”
Prayer is ‘not passive’
Pasadena’s Clergy Community Coalition, made up of 200 church and community leaders, have regularly shown up at rallies and protests organized by No Kings, Indivisible and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON).
Sacred Resistance, the social justice arm of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, is supporting 60 families impacted by the ICE raids, and members accompany people to immigration proceedings, show up in court and detention centers, and organize public, peaceful actions to confront dehumanizing immigration policies, said Rev. Canon Jaime Edwards-Acton.
It’s a fight for the long haul, he added.
“We are a people of faith and conscience, standing together against injustice. Rooted in our call to resist evil and protect the vulnerable, we support immigrants, refugees, and marginalized communities through advocacy, accompaniment, and action.”
Diocese of San Bernardino Bishop Alberto Rojas places ashes on the forehead of a church member Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, during a Mass in the chapel at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Cemetery in Colton. For Christians, Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent that leads to Easter. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
For Catholics, Cuevas said there are both simple and meaningful ways to respond, especially during Lent, with its three pillars of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
“Prayer is central, but it is not passive,” he said. “We are encouraging people to stay informed, support reputable organizations providing legal and humanitarian assistance, accompany families when appropriate, and advocate in ways that are grounded in charity and truth. Even small acts of solidarity, like helping a family access resources or simply showing up with compassion, can make a real difference.”
Cuevas said his work brings him face to face with Catholics impacted by immigration enforcement who are looking to the church as a place of refuge and trust.
“There is deep gratitude for the church’s presence, but also an honest desire for continued accompaniment and clarity,” he said. “People want to know they are not alone, and that their church will continue to walk with them in both word and action.”
Catholic groups that have long championed migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers include CLINIC, or Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and Catholic Charities of Los Angeles. LA Voice, a multi-faith group that organizes people “to reflect the dignity of all people,” and it often works with the archdiocese, as well as more than 500 congregations in 18 counties and 28 cities.
A church’s role in American life
Gómez, of Coachella, said he’s been pleased to see the Catholic Church’s stance on the immigration actions sweeping the region and the nation. But he noted that there is much work to do.
That includes continuing to reach out across divides in a polarized nation.
“The church is not against immigration enforcement but it will always be against violence,” he said.
The shooting deaths by federal agents of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis may have prompted a “real sense of questioning” that it’s gone too far, he said.
But even as church leaders urge compassion, this year’s Lenten season coincides with a political and cultural battle over immigration policy playing out from the Capitol to Southern California.
White House Press Secretary Katherine Leavitt, herself a practicing Roman Catholic, said during an October press briefing, that “I would reject there is inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States under this administration,” adding that the Biden administration’s more lax border security policy was a form of inhumane treatment of immigrants.
President Donald Trump himself has often spoken fondly of Catholics. A majority of American Catholics — nearly 60% — supported him for the office.
But on Friday, more than 40 Catholic Democrats in Congress released a statement listing ideals from Catholic social teaching they say informs their considerations of immigration policy.
“First, we affirm that people have the right to migrate to sustain their lives and the lives of their families,” the statement reads. “Sacred Scripture consistently reminds us of our obligation toward the vulnerable and displaced. Jesus himself identifies with the migrant when he says, ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’”
The statement came after House Speaker Mike Johnson defended Trump’s mass deportation agenda early this month. Citing Bible verses about a nation’s borders, critics called out Johnson, a Baptist, for espousing a dangerous Christian nationalism.
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, signed the statement with other California Democrats, including Reps. Nancy Pelosi, Robert Garcia of Long Beach, Sam Liccardo of San Jose, Gil Cisneros of Covina and Nanette Barragan of San Pedro.
“As a Catholic, I follow Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 25:35,” Lieu said, referring to the Bible verse that begins, “For I was hungry, and you gave me food.”
“I believe in Christ’s teachings of advancing the common good by protecting the most vulnerable and individuals in need,” Lieu continued. “The Trump Administration has failed in these endeavors for those seeking refuge by exhibiting indifference and cruelty. We must continue to embrace ideals of justice, mercy, and human dignity while tackling the challenges of immigration.”
That congressional rebuke of Johnson comes after similar calls from U.S. religious leaders.
Protesters march as they pray and sing from a Catholic church to Montebello City Park, as a sign of solidarity with immigrant families impacted by ICE enforcement in Montebello on Aug. 7, 2025. (Connor Terry, Contributing Photographer)
On Jan. 28, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and considered a conservative leader, called for the Trump administration to be “generous in welcoming immigrants,” and encouraged other leaders to pray “for reconciliation where there is division, for justice where there are violations of fundamental rights, and for consolation for all who feel overwhelmed by fear or loss.”
Three Catholic cardinals protested Trump’sforeign policy on Jan. 19.
More than 150 Episcopal bishops on Jan. 31 called for the suspension of ICE and Border Patrol operations in Minnesota and anywhere in the country militarized enforcement is in place. Addressing the American people, the leaders encouraged people to use their community power, financial power, political power and knowledge to show up for each other and their neighbors.
Irreconcilable differences?
Sociologist Richard Wood, president of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC, said both the Biden and current Trump administrations have included substantial numbers of Catholics in cabinet-level leadership positions, with the Biden administration encompassing slightly more.
“Nonetheless, both administrations experienced tensions with the Catholic Church — Biden especially around issues of gender and sexuality, abortion, and American support for the brutal Israeli assault on Gaza in response to the brutal Hamas assault of Oct. 7, 2023; Trump especially around immigrant rights, threats to Greenland, and attacks on democratic institutions,” Wood said.
Among the Catholics in the second Trump administration: Vice President J.D. Vance, Leavitt and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
But having the first American Pope lead the world’s Catholics takes away an oft-used excuse that a Pope “just doesn’t understand America,” supporters said, and lends his criticism of the Trump presidency more weight. Pope Leo XIV was born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago in 1955.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers brushed away the Pope’s criticism of Trump and pointed to the president’s support among Catholics, saying in a Politico, that “in just 10 short months, the president has delivered unprecedented victories for Catholic Americans.”
Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo has not backed down, saying two months ago, at an address at the Vatican, that “ever more inhuman measures are being adopted —even celebrated politically — that treat these ‘undesirables’ as if they were garbage and not human beings.”
What the effect this divide between the White House and the Vatican can be seen in recent polling data that show large declines in support of Trump administration policies on immigration among both Catholics and Evangelical Christians, Wood said.
But both political parties have elements in them with real issues with religion and secularism, he added.
“The Democratic Party, because significant sectors of the party see religion as a problem and embrace a narrowly secular worldview that sees no value in religion, almost a kind of ‘secular fundamentalism,” he said. “And the Republican Party, because significant sectors affirm a worldview that falls well outside of traditional religious respect for the common good, the human dignity of all, and a reasonable level of civility in public life and diplomacy.”
Meanwhile, Gómez, the Coachella priest, who belongs to a congregation of missionaries in the Catholic Church who work with the poor in the U.S. and Latin America, readies for Ash Wednesday.
As he prepares, he is reflecting on a mission that relentlessly serves the poor and the persecuted – which in this moment means meeting a moment to serve immigrants.
“We have pledged our lives to those who stand on those margins. And those on the edge of death,” he said.
South Bay officials were taking victory laps this week after a successful Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium, but they won’t be resting on their laurels long — with NCAA March Madness games and FIFA World Cup matches on the horizon.
“Hosting three major sporting events marks a major milestone for our region and is a truly historic moment for our city and the South Bay,” San Jose City Manager Jennifer Maguire said during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The upcoming basketball and soccer games “will further establish San Jose as the South Bay’s hub for sports, arts and entertainment,” she said.
While nearly all the official NFL events were in San Francisco, fans still showed up in droves for events in the South Bay organized by the San Jose Sports Authority, Visit San Jose and the city of San Jose during the week leading up to the big game. A city report on foot traffic in downtown San Jose shows about 459,000 unique visitors to downtown from Jan. 31 through Feb. 8. The biggest day was Feb. 7, when about 153,000 people descended on downtown for the Dom Dolla block party and San Pedro Super Fest event.
The city’s first use of an entertainment zone downtown, which allows partygoers to take certain drinks outside of bars and restaurants, brought just under 48,000 visitors to San Pedro Square — including 22,900 on the Saturday before the Super Bowl.
“This was without question the busiest weekend San Pedro Square Market has ever experienced,” said John Burroughs, operations manager for San Pedro Square Market. “Saturday alone shattered our previous single-day sales record by more than 30%, and throughout the weekend the Market felt like a nonstop Sharks game rush for nearly seven straight hours.”
Videos from the weekend showed people packed in so tightly at times that it was difficult for some to move along narrow San Pedro Street, indicating a need for a better crowd-control plan for future events.
David Mulvehill, president of Nuvo Hospitality, which operates several restaurants and bars in San Pedro Square, was initially skeptical about the city’s expectations for out-of-town visitors going into the week.
He was proven wrong, he said, and credited the city and its partners. “I underestimated what attention they brought to San Jose as a serious destination for traveling fans. They did a great job marketing and setting up events around the city,” he said. “Their effort was tenfold compared to 10 years ago.”
The party wasn’t just downtown. Santana Row’s four-day Super Row Weekend and Big Game Tailgate also packed the swanky shopping center in West San Jose with visitors. Its NFL Pop Up Shop exceeded its sales goals by 60 percent, and restaurant owners reported strong sales and foot traffic all weekend.
Collette Navarette, senior marketing director for the Western Region for Santana Row owner Federal Realty, said that following the success of the Super Bowl events, there are plans to have more for the World Cup games in June and July.
Fans arrive for Super Bowl 60 between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Santa Clara, which hosted Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium, didn’t hold any official events connected to the game, but Mayor Lisa Gillmor praised the coordination of several city agencies for bringing the game to the goal line, especially crediting City Manager Jovan D. Grogan, among others.
“This event did not happen because of press releases or photo ops. It happened because a small but mighty city rolled up its sleeves and did the work,” Gillmor said during the Santa Clara City Council meeting on Tuesday. “I’ve seen a lot of people and cities eager to take a bow. That’s fine, but let’s be clear: Santa Clara owns the stadium, Santa Clara carried the load, and Santa Clara delivered. And we delivered with class.”
The week was not without its challenges. There were seven shootings downtown during a 24-hour period from early Sunday morning through Monday morning, resulting in two fatalities.
San Jose City Councilman Anthony Tordillos, whose district includes downtown, told constituents in a newsletter that the violence marred an otherwise great weekend. “In light of this, I’m prioritizing how we can improve on late-night safety as we prepare for more events this year — but also in general, because it’s not just visitors that deserve a safe downtown,” he said.
In the run-up to the big weekend, advocates for homeless people raised concerns that officials would increase sweeps of encampments.
Indeed, San Francisco caught flak nationally in 2016 for closing camps before Super Bowl 50, and again in 2023 when authorities moved people out of public view before an international economic summit.
In downtown San Jose, staff at shelters run by the nonprofit LifeMoves didn’t notice any changes in the city’s strategy, said spokesperson Maria Prato. Nor were more people referred to the shelters than usual, she said.
San Jose Sports Authority Executive Director John Poch said he and his team took Tuesday off and then were back at work getting ready for NCAA tournament games in March, the next event in the San Jose lineup for 2026. “It’s not just about the event, but what we can do around the event for people,” he said.
There is already a three-day concert series, Music Mania, announced in San Jose’s arty South First Area (SoFA) on March 27-29, featuring DJ Diesel (aka Shaquille O’Neal), Bebe Rexha and Dustin Lynch. You can also expect another drone show and large-scale art installations at SAP Center.
San Jose Downtown Association CEO Brian Kurtz, who was at many of the Super Bowl-related events throughout the week, called it a “resounding success” that sets up San Jose for the rest of the year.
“Our community worked tirelessly preparing to welcome an unknown number of visitors to downtown — and they showed up en masse. Downtown was buzzing with activity at sold-out concerts, fan fests and packed streets,” he said. “We’ll consider this the practice round as we move forward towards March Madness, World Cup festivities and so much in between.”
A large crowd attends the Kehlani performance during the Big Game Block Party on East Santa Clara Street in front of City Hall in downtown San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 7, 2026. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
What began as a small clothing giveaway has grown into a far-reaching community effort providing food, clothing and emotional support to families across East Contra Costa County.
Gracefully Broken, a nonprofit founded by Antioch native Randi Garcia, has spent the past three-and-a-half years serving residents in need through resource distribution, family events and volunteer outreach rooted in dignity and compassion.
Garcia, born and raised in Antioch, said her connection to the community runs deep, having attended local schools before eventually settling in Oakley. The inspiration for Gracefully Broken came during her first clothing giveaway. Alongside clothing, Garcia assembled small “blessings in a bag” filled with hygiene essentials.
“A young boy about 8 years of age asked if he could have one,” she said. “He yelled across the room, ‘Mom, I got a new toothbrush.’ I had to walk away … the most basic item anyone can have, and here a small boy is so excited about it.”
That same day, a grieving mother approached Garcia, unsure how she would afford school clothes after losing her husband months earlier. The encounters reshaped Garcia’s vision.
“Although basic needs are important, the emotional support is needed as well,” she said. “I began to meet people one-on-one … and have conversations.”
Gracefully Broken originally operated as part of Antioch Covenant Church (antiochcovenant.org), where Garcia hosted outreach events. As attendance grew, she saw the need for expansion. Last July, the organization became an independent nonprofit — a move Garcia said was intentional.
“We saw such a great need … not only basic needs but love, support, kindness and respect,” she said. “Many people tend to shy away from a ‘church.’ We want our community to see us as a safe place that welcomes all.”
Though still based at a church, Gracefully Broken does not require religious participation.
“We do not force any kind of religion on our participants,” Garcia said. “That’s where the respect comes in.”
Garcia says the nonprofit group’s name reflects the shared humanity she sees in those they serve.
“I feel we have all been broken … but we are given grace,” she said. “People tell me how lost, scared and broken they feel. As we meet and talk … it helps them feel more comfortable and I hope less broken.”
She says the group’s core mission is simple: “To treat people with love and respect. To serve them with a happy heart and compassion.”
Gracefully Broken hosts quarterly clothing giveaways and seasonal events such as Easter egg hunts, trunk-or-treat celebrations and “Christmas with the Grinch.” Plans are underway for a community baby shower and school supply distributions.
Garcia said outreach happens through social media, school partnerships and word-of-mouth within the congregation. The nonprofit is funded entirely through donations, including food, clothing and financial gifts. Local businesses can sponsor events, and the group is beginning the grant-writing process.
Community partnerships include the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, Sweet Beginnings Diaper Bank and Antioch’s CIWP (Community Integrated Work Program) center for disabled adults. For recipients, the impact is tangible. Barbara Blaser, 80, of Pittsburg, first encountered Gracefully Broken through Antioch Covenant Church.
“There is such a feeling of warmth and connection there,” Blaser said. “I may be able to get a salad mix, a few potatoes … eggs … hair products if I need them — but what I value most are the volunteers … who learned my name and welcomed me.”
Blaser now volunteers alongside her daughter.
“It has strengthened our relationship,” she said. “We have a common goal … to show love and compassion without prejudice.”
She recalled the happiness she has witnessed at events — from back-to-school giveaways to holiday celebrations at which children receive birthday party kits.
“I have seen the joy in children’s faces,” Blaser said.
Pittsburg’s Danika Phillips is both a volunteer and former recipient. A single parent living in public housing, she said food distributions were vital during difficult periods, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We rely heavily on food donations,” Phillips said. “I was a recipient for years until I began volunteering.”
Philips praised Garcia’s leadership as demand increased.
“She acted quickly to secure permits, attend meetings and manage an ever-evolving crew of volunteers,” Phillips said. “She doesn’t stop. She says, ‘Who else can we help?’ ”
Garcia said what moves her most is seeing stigma dissolve into community.
“It is a very humbling experience to come for free food and clothes,” she said. “You feel vulnerable … I want to put an end to the negative stigma of receiving help.”
Garcia said prefers not to call those served “clients.”
“To me they are friends,” she said.
Looking ahead, Garcia envisions classes on couponing, meal preparation and family nights designed to build connection alongside resources.
“We would love to build a place that people will tell others about,” she said. “Where they feel safe and welcomed no matter their circumstances.”
Her personal philosophy guides her work.
“Outside appearances do not matter, we all have a back story,” Garcia said. “We are all given a gift, and we have to do our best to use it.”
The leaders of seven states failed to negotiate a deal to share the diminishing waters of the Colorado River by a Trump administration deadline on Saturday, leaving the Southwest in a quagmire with uncertain repercussions while the river’s depleted reservoirs continue to decline.
Former U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said in an interview with The Times that the impasse now appears so intractable that Trump administration officials should take a step back, abandon the current effort and begin all over again.
Babbitt said he believes it would be a mistake for Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to “try to impose a long-term solution” by ordering major water cuts across the Southwest — which would likely set off a lengthy court battle.
“We need a fresh start,” Babbitt said. “I believe that in the absence of a unanimous agreement, [the Interior Department] should renew the existing agreements for five years, and then we should start all over. We should scrap the entire process and invent a new one.”
Officials for the seven states have tried to boost reservoir levels via voluntary water cutbacks and federal payments to farmers who agree to leave fields dry part of the year. But after more than two years of trying to hash out new long-term rules for sharing water, they remain deadlocked; the existing rules are set to expire at the end of this year.
Interior Department officials have not said how they will respond. The agency is considering four options for imposing cutbacks starting next year, as well as the option of taking no action.
Babbitt, who was Interior secretary under President Clinton from 1993 to 2001, said he thinks the Trump administration’s options are too narrow and inadequate. They would place the burden of water cuts on Arizona, California and Nevada while not requiring any for the four other upriver states — Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico.
Without a consensus, the only reasonable approach is to extend existing water-saving agreements for a few years while making a new push for solutions, Babbitt said.
Federal officials have “missed the opportunity” to take a strong leadership role, he said, and it’s time to reimagine the effort as a “much more inclusive, public, broad” process.
The river provides for about 35 million people and 5 million acres of farmland, from the Rocky Mountains to northern Mexico. California uses more water than any other state but has cut back substantially in recent years.
Since 2000, relentless drought intensified by climate change has sapped the river’s flow and left reservoirs depleted. This winter’s record warmth and lack of storms has left the Rockies with very little snow.
Lake Mead, the river’s largest reservoir, is now 34% full, while Lake Powell is at 26%.
“Our states have conserved large volumes of water in recent years,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a joint statement with Arizona’s Katie Hobbs and Nevada’s Joe Lombardo. “Our stance remains firm and fair: all seven basin states must share in the responsibility of conservation.”
The states’ positions haven’t changed much in the last two years, said JB Hamby, California’s lead negotiator, and moving toward an agreement will require firm commitments for cuts by all.
Officials representing the four Upper Basin states said they’ve offered compromises and are prepared to continue negotiating. In a written statement, they stressed they are already dealing with substantial water cuts, and said their downstream neighbors are trying to secure water “that simply does not exist.”
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s latest forecast shows the amount of runoff flowing into Lake Powell will decrease so dramatically this year that the dropping reservoir levels could render Glen Canyon Dam unable to continue generating electricity.
The Interior Department said in a written statement Saturday that it will finalize new rules by Oct. 1, and it “cannot delay action.” The agency is accepting comments from the public as part of its review of options until March 2.
“Negotiation efforts have been productive,” Burgum said. “We believe that a fair compromise with shared responsibility remains within reach.”
EBAL boys basketball powers De La Salle, Dougherty Valley set to meet in league title game Friday night. In girls soccer, St. Francis’ defense stands out. Plus, notes on Liberty, Pittsburg basketball, Palo Alto football.
Candy tops the list of this year’s popular Valentine’s Day gifts
Cards and flowers also rank high, as does jewelry, according to the National Retail Federation
With the holiday falling on a Saturday, experiential gifts are a big hit
The National Retail Federation says 83% of those celebrating will buy gifts for romantic partners, but plenty of others will spend on friends and coworkers, and a record 35% of Valentine’s Day shoppers are projected to spend a whopping $2.1 billion on their pets
“In terms of spending and category, jewelry absolutely wins the love leaderboard,” said Michelle Dalton Tyree, a retail and trend expert. “Here’s what I think is funny. Only 25% of people are actually buying jewelry, but that jewelry that they are buying makes up $7 billion of that Valentine’s Day pie.”
Most shoppers prefer buying online, but department stores are a close second, and for many, Valentine’s goodies don’t come in heart shaped boxes or any box at all.
With the holiday falling on a Saturday, experiential gifts are a big hit.
“Couples don’t have to squeeze in something in the middle of the week,” Dalton Tyree said. “This is a perfect time to do experiences, to go out to dinner, to go for a weekend getaway. So it really comes at an ideal time this year. And who doesn’t love a fun, frivolous escape?”
One possible excursion is a trip to White Castle. For the 35th-year running, 300 locations of this fast-food franchise will turn into “Love Castle,” offering table-side service and special decor.
Pizza Hut is selling heart shaped pies, and McDonald’s offered a special Valentine’s Day kit.
“This included caviar from Paramount Caviar, a $25 McDonald’s gift card, creme fraiche and even a traditional mother-of-pearl caviar spoon,” Dalton Tyree said. ”It sold out in minutes.”
The National Retail Federation says 83% of those celebrating will buy gifts for romantic partners, but plenty of others will spend on friends and coworkers, and a record 35% of Valentine’s Day shoppers are projected to spend a whopping $2.1 billion on their pets.
“One of the things driving this is we saw, obviously, a pandemic pet explosion,” Dalton Tyree said. “And a lot of those pets during the pandemic became people’s SOs. That was their significant other. And Gen Z’s and millennials are really, really driving this trend.”
Consumers are expected to spend $200 per person — the highest amount ever seen — showing that even in times of economic uncertainty, Americans love to love.
So has Earth Justice, one of the leading environmental law nonprofits in the country.
“We plan to sue them in court as soon as the rule is filed in the public register,” Senior Attorney Marvin Brown with Earth Justice told CBS News San Francisco.
Brown is concerned about how the repeal will increase the pollution from cars and trucks, which he says accounts for nearly 30% of all greenhouse emissions in the United States.
“It’s incredibly dangerous,” he said. “We’re talking about people’s lives here. Not just the lives of people here today but thinking about future generations that are going tobe affected by the actions we take today.”
President Trump has dismissed those health concerns, referring to climate change as a hoax.
“I tell them don’t worry about it because it has nothing to do with public health,” Mr. Trump said. “This was all a scam.”
Environmental law professor Holly Doremus from UC Berkeley says as legal challenges mount, she feels that in the courtroom, it’s not the science of climate change that will come into question, but the role of the EPA.
“They’re claiming that even if the science of global warming is correct, the EPA does not have the authority to regulate greenhouse gases,” Professor Holly Doremus with UC Berkeley Environmental Law said. “I think that’s where the core of the legal argument is going to be.”
The administration is also ending a credit for automakers to add start-stop features that shut off gas engines when cars idle, a move companies like Ford and Stellantis praised. The EPA says it will save drivers an average of $2,400 when they buy a new car, though one analysis by S-A-E International found the feature can improve fuel economy and save drivers money.
“They are only concerned about the apparently about the economic impacts of regulations, like limitations on greenhouse gas emissions,” Professor Doremus said.
“That is very dangerous because what it means is, the implication is anything that’s economically valuable can go ahead no matter how much it hurts people.”
California may be sheltered from some of the federal government’s actions since state law requires 100% of the electricity to come from renewable or carbon-free sources. Brown says while federal regulations may be up in the air, people can take steps to protect the environment.
“This is a big blow,” Brown said. “This is an agency abandoning its mission to protect public health. That doesn’t mean we still can’t fight back that there are things that we all can be doing to reduce this type of pollution.”
Oak Park’s Khali Mitchell and Sierra Canyon’s Jerzy Robinson scramble for control of the ball during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Sierra Canyon’s Delaney White attempts a shot under the basket during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Sierra Canyon’s Jerzy Robinson attempts a shot during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Oak Park’s Maya Urteaga and Sierra Canyon’s Cherri Hatter race for the ball during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Sierra Canyon’s Cherri Hatter and Oak Park’s Karisma Flores scramble for control of the ball during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Sierra Canyon’s Cherri Hatter drives to the basket during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Oak Park’s Karisma Flores attempts a shot under the basket as Sierra Canyon’s Delaney White lies on the court beneath her during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Oak Park’s Karisma Flores controls the ball under the basket during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Sierra Canyon’s Emilia Krstevski attempts a shot under the basket while being defended during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Sierra Canyon’s Delaney White scrambles for control of the ball during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Sierra Canyon’s Cherri Hatter attempts a shot under the basket during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Sierra Canyon’s Cherri Hatter brings the ball up the court while being defended by Oak Park’s Karisma Flores during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Oak Park’s Maya Deshautelle attempts a shot under the basket while being defended during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Oak Park’s Diana Sorrondo brings the ball up the court while being defended by Sierra Canyon’s Payton Montgomery during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Oak Park’s Karisma Flores moves toward the basket while being defended during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
1 of 15
Oak Park’s Khali Mitchell and Sierra Canyon’s Jerzy Robinson scramble for control of the ball during a CIF-SS Open Division pool play girls basketball game at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
It’s what the Sierra Canyon girls basketball team has been all season. It was no different against Oak Park on Thursday night in the first game of the CIF Southern Section Open Division girls basketball playoffs.
Five Sierra Canyon players scored in double figures and the Trailblazers did not relinquish a double-digit lead after the first quarter as they defeated Oak Park 77-51.
A trio of seniors led Sierra Canyon in scoring: Emilia Krstevski had 17 points, Jerzy Robinson scored 16 points and Payton Montgomery had 15 points off the bench.
Montgomery, who has flourished as both a starter and a reserve this season, provided a spark off the bench for her team Thursday night.
“She’s really sacrificed for the team. She should be a starter but we like her energy off the bench,” Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komaki said about Montgomery. “We like her focus, we like what she brings no matter if she starts or doesn’t start.”
Robinson, who will play at the University of South Carolina next year, started the night with a step-back 3-pointer for the first points of the game.
She proceeded to find her teammates for easy buckets throughout the first quarter, smiling wide when one of her teammates would score.
Robinson had five assists in the first quarter, threading the needle with her passes and finding her teammates in the right spots.
“For me the biggest thing has been her growth,” Komaki said about Robinson. “We’ve talked a lot about getting joy out of other people’s success and finding your teammates. She’s going to be able to get a bucket anytime she wants, but she’s making those around her better and she definitely did that tonight.”
Sophomore Rosie Oladokun scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Sierra Canyon. Her sophomore counterpart Cherri Hatter had eight points.
Delaney White, who transferred from Oak Park to Sierra Canyon for her senior season, scored 10 points.
“Passing the ball, moving the ball, we have multiple threats on different levels,” Oladokun said. “Anybody can score. We have so many advantages everywhere. We can’t be stopped.”
After struggling for much of the first three quarters, thanks in large part to Sierra Canyon’s physical defense, Oak Park was able to knock down some shots in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles scored 26 points in the final quarter after scoring 25 points in the first three quarters combined, but it was too little too late. Sierra Canyon’s lead was too big to surpass.
Senior Karisma Flores led the way for Oak Park with 20 points, half of which came in the final eight minutes. Maya Deshautelle scored 10 points.
Sierra Canyon and Oak Park will both face Corona Centennial, the third team in the group, to round out pool play.
Oak Park will be on the road Saturday against Centennial and Sierra Canyon will be at home against the Huskies on Wednesday.
A federal judge on Thursday blocked a Trump administration order slashing $600 million in federal grant funding for HIV programs in California and three other states, finding merit in the states’ argument that the move was politically motivated by disagreements over unrelated state sanctuary policies.
U.S. District Judge Manish Shah, an Obama appointee in Illinois, found that California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota were likely to succeed in arguing that President Trump and other administration officials targeted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding for termination “based on arbitrary, capricious, or unconstitutional rationales.”
Namely, Shah wrote that while Trump administration officials said the programs were cut for breaking with CDC priorities, other “recent statements” by officials “plausibly suggest that the reason for the direction is hostility to what the federal government calls ‘sanctuary jurisdictions’ or ‘sanctuary cities.’”
Shah found that the states had shown they would “suffer irreparable harm” from the cuts, and that the public interest would not be harmed by temporarily halting them — and as a result granted the states a temporary restraining order halting the administration’s action for 14 days while the litigation continues.
Shah wrote that while he may not have jurisdiction to block a simple grant termination, he did have jurisdiction to halt an administration directive to terminate funding based on unconstitutional grounds.
“More factual development is necessary and it may be that the only government action at issue is termination of grants for which I have no jurisdiction to review,” Shah wrote. “But as discussed, plaintiffs have made a sufficient showing that defendants issued internal guidance to terminate public-health grants for unlawful reasons; that guidance is enjoined as the parties develop a record.”
The cuts targeted a slate of programs aimed at tracking and curtailing HIV and other disease outbreaks, including one of California’s main early-warning systems for HIV outbreaks, state and local officials said. Some were oriented toward serving the LGBTQ+ community. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office said California faced “the largest share” of the cuts.
The White House said the cuts were to programs that “promote DEI and radical gender ideology,” while federal health officials said the programs in question did not reflect the CDC’s “priorities.”
Bonta cheered Shah’s order in a statement, saying he and his fellow attorneys general who sued are “confident that the facts and the law favor a permanent block of these reckless and illegal funding cuts.”
