Tag: Map

Court battle begins over Republican challenge to California’s Prop. 50

Republicans and Democrats squared off in court Monday in a high-stakes battle over the fate of California’s Proposition 50, which reconfigures the state’s congressional districts and could ultimately help determine which party controls the U.S. House in the 2026 midterms.

Dozens of California politicians and Sacramento insiders — including GOP Assembly members and Democratic redistricting expert Paul Mitchell — have given depositions in the case or could be called to testify in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles over the next few days.

The GOP wants the three-judge panel to temporarily block California’s new district map, claiming it is unconstitutional and illegally favors Latino voters.

An overwhelming majority of California voters approved Proposition 50 on Nov. 4 after Gov. Gavin Newsom pitched the redistricting plan as a way to counter partisan gerrymandering in Texas and other GOP-led states. Democrats acknowledged the new map would weaken Republicans’ voting power in California, but argued that it would just be a temporary measure to try to restore the national political balance.

Attorneys for the GOP cannot challenge the new redistricting map on the grounds that it disenfranchises swaths of California Republicans. In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that complaints of partisan gerrymandering have no path in federal court.

But the GOP can bring claims of racial discrimination. They argue that California legislators drew the new congressional maps based on race, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment, which prohibits governments from denying citizens the right to vote based on race or color.

Republicans face an uphill struggle in blocking the new map before the 2026 midterms. The hearing comes just a few weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Texas to temporarily keep its new congressional map — a move that Newsom’s office says bodes poorly for Republicans trying to block California’s map.

“In letting Texas use its gerrymandered maps, the Supreme Court noted that California’s maps, like Texas’s, were drawn for lawful reasons,” Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for Newsom, said in a statement. “That should be the beginning and the end of this Republican effort to silence the voters of California.”

In Texas, GOP leaders drew up new congressional district lines after President Trump openly pressed them to give Republicans five more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. A federal court blocked the map, finding racial considerations probably made the Texas map unconstitutional. But a few days later, the Supreme Court granted Texas’ request to pause that ruling, signaling that they view the Texas case — and this one in California — as part of a national politically motivated redistricting battle.

“The impetus for the adoption of the Texas map (like the map subsequently adopted in California),” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. argued, “was partisan advantage pure and simple.”

The fact that the Supreme Court order and Alito’s concurrence in the Texas case went out of their way to mention California is not a good sign for California Republicans, said Richard L. Hasen, professor of law and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law.

“It’s hard to prove racial predominance in drawing a map — that race predominated over partisanship or other traditional districting principles,” Hasen said. “Trying to get a preliminary injunction, there’s a higher burden now, because it would be changing things closer to the election, and the Supreme Court signaled in that Texas ruling that courts should be wary of making changes.”

On Nov. 4, California voters approved Proposition 50, a measure to scrap a congressional map drawn up by the state’s independent redistricting commission and replace it with a map drawn up by legislators to favor Democrats through 2030.

On Monday, a key plaintiff, Assemblymember David J. Tangipa (R-Fresno) — who serves on the Assembly Elections Committee — testified that the legislative panel was given only four days to analyze the redistricted maps and was not allowed to vote on them.

“In the language of the bill, it actually states that the Assembly and Senate election committee prepared these maps,” Tangipa said. “This was a lie.”

Tangipa claimed his Democratic colleagues repeatedly brought up increased Black, Latino and Asian representation to further their argument for redistricting.

“They were forcing, through emergency action, maps upon us to dismantle the independent redistricting commission,” Tangipa said. “They were using emotionally charged arguments, racial justifications and polarized arguments to pigeonhole us.”

Defense attorneys, however, referenced multiple instances in depositions and online posts where Tangipa had claimed that there was some “partisan” or “political” purpose for the existence of Proposition 50. Tangipa denied this and maintained that he believed that the redistricting effort was race-conscious since his conversations on the Assembly floor.

The hearing began with attorneys for the GOPhoming in on the new map’s Congressional District 13, which currently encompasses Merced, Stanislaus as well as parts of San Joaquin and Fresno counties, along with parts of Stockton. When Mitchell drew up the map, they argued, he overrepresented Latino voters as a “predominant consideration” over political leanings.

They called to the stand RealClearPolitics elections analyst Sean Trende, who said he observed an “appendage” in the new District 13, which extended partially into the San Joaquin Valley and put a crack in the new rendition of District 9.

“From my experience [appendages] are usually indicative of racial gerrymandering,” Trende said. “When the choice came between politics and race, it was race that won out.”

Defense attorneys, however, pressed Trende on whether the shift in Latino voters toward Republican candidates in the last election could have informed the new district boundaries, rather than racial makeup.

The defense referenced a sworn statement by Trende in the Texas redistricting case: the Proposition 50 map, he said then, was “drawn with partisan objectives in mind; in particular, it was drawn to improve Democratic prospects” to neutralize additional Republican seats.

Many legal scholars say that the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Texas case means California probably will keep its new map.

“It was really hard before the Texas case to make a racial gerrymandering claim like the plaintiffs were stating, and it’s only gotten harder in the last two weeks,” said Justin Levitt, a professor of law at Loyola Marymount University.

Hours after Californians voted in favor of Proposition 50, Tangipa and the California Republican Party filed a lawsuit alleging that the map enacted in Proposition 50 for California’s congressional districts is designed to favor Latino voters over others.

The Department of Justice also filed a complaint in the case, contending that the new congressional map uses race as a proxy for politics and manipulated district lines “in the name of bolstering the voting power of Hispanic Californians because of their race.”

Mitchell, the redistricting expert who drew up the maps, is likely to be a key figure in this week’s battle. In the days leading up to the hearing, attorneys sparred over whether Mitchell would testify and whether he should turn over his email correspondence with legislators. Mitchell’s attorneys argued that he had legislative privilege.

Attorneys for the GOP have seized on public comments made by Mitchell that the “number one thing” he started thinking about was “drawing a replacement Latino majority/minority district in the middle of Los Angeles” and the “first thing” he and his team did was “reverse” the California Citizens Redistricting Commission’s earlier decision to eliminate a Latino district from L.A.

Some legal experts, however, say that is not, in itself, a problem.

“What [Mitchell] said was, essentially, ‘I paid attention to race,’” Levitt said. “But there’s nothing under existing law that’s wrong with that. The problem comes when you pay too much attention to race at the exclusion of all of the other redistricting factors.”

Other legal experts say that what matters is not the intent of Mitchell or California legislators, but the California voters who passed Proposition 50.

“Regardless of what Paul Mitchell or legislative leaders thought, they were just making a proposal to the voters,” said Hasen, who filed an amicus brief in support of the state. “So it’s really the voters’ intent that matters. And if you look at what was actually presented to the voters in the ballot pamphlet, there was virtually nothing about race there.”

Jenny Jarvie, Christopher Buchanan

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December 15, 2025
See where voters supported, rejected Mecklenburg transit tax

Mecklenburg County voters this week approved a 1% sales tax increase referendum to fund transportation projects. Support was inconsistent across the county.

JEFF SINER

jsiner@charlotteobserver.com

A majority of Mecklenburg County voters said yes this week to a sales tax increase that is expected to set in motion a multi-billion dollar regional transportation overhaul.

The transit tax earned some of its biggest gains from the central city and NoDa area, which has access to an active line, and one precinct on the far north end of the county around Davidson, which is anticipating access to a line. The median age of registered voters in these areas ranged from 29 to 43. They skew more Democrat than Republican, but the largest share of them don’t affiliate with any party.

The measure appears to have been the least favored around the southeastern edge of the county, an area that was originally supposed to get access to the silver line. But the plan was canceled. The median age of the registered voters in these areas ranged from 46 to 57.

Several precincts in the county’s southeast that opposed the tax skew more Republican than Democrat – but a couple skew more Democrat. But, like the areas that heavily supported the measure, voters are more commonly unaffiliated.

Follow More of Our Reporting on Reality Check

Caitlin McGlade

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November 7, 2025
As Californians decide fate of Prop. 50, GOP states push their own redistricting plans

WASHINGTON — The hurried push to revise California’s congressional districts has drawn national attention, large sums of money, and renewed hope among Democrats that the effort may help counter a wave of Republican redistricting initiatives instigated by President Trump.

But if Democrats succeed in California, the question remains: Will it be enough to shift the balance of power in Congress?

To regain control of the House, Democrats need to flip three Republican seats in the midterm elections next year. That slim margin prompted the White House to push Republicans this summer to redraw maps in GOP states in an effort to keep Democrats in the minority.

Texas was the first to signal it would follow Trump’s edict and set off a rare mid-decade redistricting arms race that quickly roped in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom devised Proposition 50 to tap into his state’s massive inventory of congressional seats.

Californians appear poised to approve the measure Tuesday. If they do, Democrats potentially could gain five seats in the House — an outcome that mainly would offset the Republican effort in Texas that already passed.

While Democrats and Republicans in other states also have moved to redraw their maps, it is too soon to say which party will see a net gain, or predict voter sentiment a year from now, when a lopsided election in either direction could render the remapping irrelevant.

GOP leaders in North Carolina and Missouri approved new maps that likely will yield one new GOP seat in each, Ohio Republicans could pick up two more seats in a newly redrawn map approved Friday, and GOP leaders in Indiana, Louisiana, Kansas and Florida are considering or taking steps to redraw their maps. In all, those moves could lead to at least 10 new Republican seats, according to experts tracking the redistricting efforts.

To counter that, Democrats in Virginia passed a constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would give lawmakers the power and option to redraw a new map ahead of next year’s election. Illinois leaders are weighing their redistricting options and New York has filed a lawsuit that seeks to redraw a GOP-held district. But concerns over legal challenges already tanked the party’s efforts in Maryland and the potential dilution of the Black vote has slowed moves in Illinois.

So far, the partisan maneuvers appear to favor Republicans.

“Democrats cannot gerrymander their way out of their gerrymandering problem. The math simply doesn’t add up,” said David Daly, a senior fellow at the nonprofit FairVote. “They don’t have enough opportunities or enough targets.”

Complex factors for Democrats

Democrats have more than just political calculus to weigh. In many states they are hampered by a mix of constitutional restrictions, legal deadlines and the reality that many of their state maps no longer can be easily redrawn for partisan gain. In California, Prop. 50 marks a departure from the state’s commitment to independent redistricting.

The hesitancy from Democrats in states such as Maryland and Illinois also underscores the tensions brewing within the party as it tries to maximize its partisan advantage and establish a House majority that could thwart Trump in his last two years in office.

“Despite deeply shared frustrations about the state of our country, mid-cycle redistricting for Maryland presents a reality where the legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is dangerous, the downside risk to Democrats is catastrophic, and the certainty of our existing map would be undermined,” Bill Ferguson, the Maryland Senate president, wrote in a letter to state lawmakers last week.

In Illinois, Black Democrats are raising concerns over the plans and pledging to oppose maps that would reduce the share of Black voters in congressional districts where they have historically prevailed.

“I can’t just think about this as a short-term fight. I have to think about the long-term consequences of doing such a thing,” said state Sen. Willie Preston, chair of the Illinois Senate Black Caucus.

Adding to those concerns is the possibility that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority could weaken a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act and limit lawmakers’ ability to consider race when redrawing maps. The outcome — and its effect on the 2026 midterms — will depend heavily on the timing and scope of the court’s decision.

The court has been asked to rule on the case by January, but a decision may come later. Timing is key as many states have filing deadlines for 2026 congressional races or hold their primary election during the spring and summer.

If the court strikes down the provision, known as Section 2, advocacy groups estimate Republicans could pick up at least a dozen House seats across southern states.

“I think all of these things are going to contribute to what legislatures decide to do,” said Kareem Crayton, vice president of the Brennan Center for Justice. The looming court ruling, he added, is “an extra layer of uncertainty in an already uncertain moment.”

Republican-led states press ahead

Support for Prop. 50 has brought in more than $114 million, the backing of some of the party’s biggest luminaries, including former President Obama, and momentum for national Democrats who want to regain control of Congress after the midterms.

In an email to supporters Monday, Newsom said fundraising goals had been met and asked proponents of the effort to get involved in other states.

“I will be asking for you to help others — states like Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and more are all trying to stop Republican mid-decade redistricting efforts. More on that soon,” Newsom wrote.

Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Braun called a special session set to begin Monday, to “protect Hoosiers from efforts in other states that seek to diminish their voice in Washington and ensure their representation in Congress is fair.”

In Kansas, the GOP president of the state Senate said last week that there were enough signatures from Republicans in the chamber to call a special session to redraw the state’s maps. Republicans in the state House would need to match the effort to move forward.

In Louisiana, Republicans in control of the Legislature voted last week to delay the state’s 2026 primary elections. The move is meant to give lawmakers more time to redraw maps in the case that the Supreme Court rules in the federal voting case.

If the justices strike down the practice of drawing districts based on race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has indicated the state likely would jump into the mid-decade redistricting race.

Shaniqua McClendon, head of Vote Save America, said the GOP’s broad redistricting push underscores why Democrats should follow California’s lead — even if they dislike the tactic.

“Democrats have to be serious about what’s at stake. I know they don’t like the means, but we have to think about the end,” McClendon said. “We have to be able to take back the House — it’s the only way we’ll be able to hold Trump accountable.”

In New York, a lawsuit filed last week charging that a congressional district disenfranchises Black and Latino voters would be a “Hail Mary” for Democrats hoping to improve their chances in the 2026 midterms there, said Daly, of FairVote.

Utah also could give Democrats an outside opportunity to pick up a seat, said Dave Wasserman, a congressional forecaster for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. A court ruling this summer required Utah Republican leaders to redraw the state’s congressional map, resulting in two districts that Democrats potentially could flip.

Wasserman described the various redistricting efforts as an “arms race … Democrats are using what Republicans have done in Texas as a justification for California, and Republicans are using California as justification for their actions in other states.”

‘Political tribalism’

Some political observers said the outcome of California’s election could inspire still more political maneuvering in other states.

“I think passage of Proposition 50 in California could show other states that voters might support mid-decade redistricting when necessary, when they are under attack,” said Jeffrey Wice, a professor at New York Law School where he directs the New York Elections, Census & Redistricting Institute. “I think it would certainly provide impetus in places like New York to move forward.”

Similar to California, New York would need to ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment, but that could not take place in time for the midterms.

“It might also embolden Republican states that have been hesitant to redistrict to say, ‘Well if the voters in California support mid-decade redistricting, maybe they’ll support it here too,’” Wice said.

To Erik Nisbet, the director of the Center for Communications & Public Policy at Northwestern University, the idea that the mid-decade redistricting trend is gaining traction is part of a broader problem.

“It is a symptom of this 20-year trend in increasing polarization and political tribalism,” he said. “And, unfortunately, our tribalism is now breaking out, not only between each other, but it’s breaking out between states.”

He argued that both parties are sacrificing democratic norms and the ideas of procedural fairness as well as a representative democracy for political gain.

“I am worried about what the end result of this will be,” he said.

Ceballos reported from Washington, Mehta from Los Angeles.

Ana Ceballos, Seema Mehta

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November 2, 2025
Tracking Hurricane Melissa: Maps, models

Tracking Hurricane Melissa: Maps, models

SET FOR JUST AFTER 10:00, AND TONIGHT WE ARE TRACKING THE TROPICS. HURRICANE MELISSA IS RAPIDLY INTENSIFYING AS IT BARRELS TOWARD JAMAICA. IT’S CURRENTLY A CATEGORY THREE STORM, BUT IT COULD REACH CATEGORY FIVE IN THE NEAR FUTURE, AND THIS COULD BE ONE OF THE MOST DEVASTATING HURRICANES TO HIT JAMAICA IN YEARS. PEOPLE IN JAMAICA HAVE BEEN WARNED THAT THEY NEED TO PREPARE NOW AND HUNKER DOWN. THIS VIDEO, TAKEN IN KINGSTON, SHOWS WINDOWS BOARDED UP IN ANTICIPATION OF THE STORM. AND WE ARE TAKING YOU NOW TO A LIVE LOOK AT KINGSTON. YOU CAN SEE THERE THE GROUND ALREADY WET FROM THE OUTER BANDS AND MARQUISE. WHEN WE TALK ABOUT A CATEGORY FIVE STORM, JUST TO REMIND THE PUBLIC, HURRICANE ANDREW THAT HIT HERE IN SOUTH FLORIDA IN 1992, I BELIEVE WAS A CAT FIVE, AND THAT REALLY CHANGED EVERYTHING. THAT’S HOW STRONG THIS STORM COULD BE. IT’S RARE THAT WE SEE CATEGORY FIVES MAKE LANDFALL, BUT WHEN THEY DO, IT’S A HAYMAKER FOR THE ENTIRE REGION, RIGHT. WE’RE TALKING ABOUT THE CHANCE FOR IMMENSE FLOODING, POWER OUTAGES THAT COULD BE WIDESPREAD. ON TOP OF THAT, WITHIN THESE OUTER BANDS, YOU CAN OFTEN FIND SOME TORNADIC SPIN UPS AS WELL. SO ALL IMPACTS WILL BE ON THE TABLE FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS ACROSS THE CARIBBEAN. BUT SPECIFICALLY, WE’RE LOOKING AT JAMAICA AS YOU GUYS ARE UNDER THAT HURRICANE WARNING. IT’S BEEN QUITE A WHILE SINCE YOU SAW A MAJOR HURRICANE MAKE LANDFALL. THE LAST ONE THAT WAS HURRICANE GILBERT. I ALLUDED TO THIS EARLIER IN THE SHOW BACK IN 1988. SO LESS THAN 40 YEARS AGO, WHEN ADJUSTED FOR 2025, IT WAS IT CAUSED $10 BILLION WORTH OF DAMAGE. AND SINCE THEN, WELL, THE COUNTRY, THEY’VE GROWN IN SIZE BY ABOUT 500,000 PEOPLE. RIGHT ON TOP OF THAT, INFRASTRUCTURE HAS CHANGED AS WELL. BUT THIS STORM COULD POTENTIALLY BE JUST AS BIG AS THE ONE THEY HAD PREVIOUSLY. RIGHT. TAKING A LOOK AT THE EYE WALL, WE SEE THAT BECOMING MUCH MORE DEFINED NOW TONIGHT WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF 115MPH. THE STORM’S MOVEMENT IS TOWARDS THE WEST AT 30MPH CONDITIONS. SO IT’S REALLY JUST INCHING ITS WAY ACROSS THE CARIBBEAN. AND KEEP IN MIND, THE SLOWER IT MOVES, THE MORE TIME IT’S GOING TO HAVE TO DRAW IN TO THESE VERY DEEP, WARM WATERS ACROSS THE WESTERN CARIBBEAN. AND THE MORE TIME IT WILL HAVE TO DUMP DOWN THE RAIN ACROSS JAMAICA IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS. SO THAT’S WHAT WE’RE WATCHING OUT FOR. THIS STORM POTENTIALLY BECOMING A CATEGORY FIVE JUST BEFORE LANDFALL. HOW WARM IS THE WATER? WELL, TEMPERATURES ARE ANYWHERE BETWEEN 86 AND 88 DEGREES. SOME OF THE WARMEST SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE GLOBE. WHICH IS WHY WE HAVE THIS STORM BECOMING A CATEGORY FIVE BY MONDAY. HEADING INTO TUESDAY, MAKING LANDFALL RIGHT IN THE HEART OF JAMAICA. THEY’RE OUR SPAGHETTI PLOTS ARE FAIRLY TIGHT KNIT. WE SEE THAT RECURVE TOWARDS THE NORTH AND THE EAST, PLACING THIS OVER CUBA AS WE MOVE ACROSS THE WORKWEEK, LIKELY DOWNGRADING, THOUGH, FROM A CATEGORY FIVE OVER JAMAICA, POSSIBLY BECOMING A CATEGORY TWO JUST BEFORE LANDFALL HERE IN CUBA. REGARDLESS, THOUGH, SOUTHEASTERN CUBA, YOU GUYS WILL FEEL THE BRUNT OF THOSE STRONG HURRICANE FORCE WINDS AND ALSO RAINFALL, OFTEN KINGSTON WE COULD POSSIBLY SEE CHANCES FOR RAIN BETWEEN 18 AND 24IN. NOW THERE ARE A FEW DIFFERENT MODEL OUTCOMES IN WHICH MELISSA CAN TAKE. THE MOST LIKELY IS THIS NORTH AND EASTERLY PATH, BUT IF IT DOES INTENSIFY QUICKER, WE COULD SEE IT CURVE TOWARDS THE NORTH AND THE EAST A LITTLE BIT FASTER. IT’S GOING TO KEEP US SAFE AS THIS NEXT COLD FRONT HERE IN THE UNITED STATES. SO GREAT NEWS FOR US THERE. REGARDLESS THOUGH, THIS STORM IS GOING TO MAKE NOT ONE BUT TWO LANDFALLS IN JAMAICA AND ACROSS CUBA, LIKELY BEFORE IT GETS TO CUBA AS A CATEGORY THREE OR CATEGORY TWO. HERE, BACK AT HOME, TEMPERATURES ARE BACK IN THE MID 70S. AS WE SETTLE DOWN TONIGHT, BUT IT IS A BREEZY EVENING, WINDS COMING IN FROM THE EAST AND WE HAVE SOME GUSTY CONDITIONS BETWEEN 24 AND 30MPH. THAT’S GOING TO KEEP YOUR RIP CURRENT RISK ALIVE. AND ALSO A HIGH SURF ADVISORY IN PLACE AS WE HEAD INTO THE END OF YOUR WEEKEND, WHICH DOES INCLUDE A FEW MORE CHANCES FOR RAIN TOMORROW, WE’LL CARRY THAT CHANCE FOR RAIN INTO THE START OF YOUR WORKWEEK AS WELL. A 60% COVERAGE ON MONDAY, 30% COVERAGE TUESDAY. SUNSHINE RETURNS WITH COOLER TEMPERATURES, THOUGH, A

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring Hurricane Melissa. Bookmark this page for the latest maps and spaghetti models for Melissa. Hurricane season 2025The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. Stay with WESH 2 online and on-air for the most accurate Central Florida weather forecast.>> More: 2025 Hurricane Survival GuideThe First Warning Weather team includes First Warning Chief Meteorologist Tony Mainolfi, Eric Burris, Marquise Meda and Cam Tran.>> 2025 hurricane season | WESH long-range forecast>> Download Very Local | Stream Central Florida news and weather from WESH 2

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring Hurricane Melissa.

Bookmark this page for the latest maps and spaghetti models for Melissa.

Hurricane season 2025

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. Stay with WESH 2 online and on-air for the most accurate Central Florida weather forecast.

>> More: 2025 Hurricane Survival Guide

The First Warning Weather team includes First Warning Chief Meteorologist Tony Mainolfi, Eric Burris, Marquise Meda and Cam Tran.

>> 2025 hurricane season | WESH long-range forecast

>> Download Very Local | Stream Central Florida news and weather from WESH 2

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October 25, 2025
More than 1 million ballots turned in for California special election on Prop 50, data firm says

More than 1 million ballots turned in for California special election on Prop 50, data firm says

NEXT MONTH’S SPECIAL ELECTION. IF APPROVED, PROP 50 WILL GIVE CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS THE POWER TO REDRAW CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS, CREATING FIVE HOUSE SEATS FOR DEMOCRATS. KCRA 3’S CECIL HANNIBAL JOINS US LIVE IN DOWNTOWN SACRAMENTO. SO, CECIL, WHAT ARE VOTERS SAYING ABOUT THE PROCESS SO FAR? WE SPOKE TO SEVERAL VOTERS TODAY WHO SAY THAT IT’S BEEN A SMOOTH AND EASY PROCESS SO FAR. ONE, BECAUSE THEY CAN SIMPLY WALK UP OR DRIVE UP TO A BALLOT BOX AND PUT THEIR VOTE RIGHT IN THERE. OR ALSO BECAUSE THEY SAY WHAT’S ON THE BALLOT IS SIMPLE. IT’S 70 WORDS. ONE QUESTION WITH TWO OPTIONS YES OR NO FOR PROP 50. NOW, ELECTION OFFICIALS TODAY SAY THEY WANT THIS TO BE A SIMPLE AND SMOOTH PROCESS FOR VOTERS. PROBABLY WONDERING WHY WE’RE HERE IN DOCO. WELL, THAT’S BECAUSE THIS IS ONE LOCATION WHERE VOTERS IN SACRAMENTO COUNTY CAN COME DROP OFF THEIR BALLOT INSIDE OF THE KINGS TEAM STORE. ACTUALLY, AN EMPLOYEE JUST TOLD ME THEY’VE HAD THREE PEOPLE SHOW UP TODAY, TWO YESTERDAY. SO PEOPLE ARE GETTING OUT AND CASTING THEIR VOTES NOW. SACRAMENTO, EL DORADO AND SAN JOAQUIN COUNTIES ALL SAY THAT BALLOTS HAVE BEEN MAILED OUT, AND IF YOU HAVEN’T RECEIVED IT ALREADY, YOU SHOULD VERY SOON. WELL, YOU KNOW, VOTING LASTS UNTIL NOVEMBER 4TH. ANOTHER REMINDER FOR YOU WHEN YOU’RE DROPPING OFF YOUR BALLOT, MAKE SURE YOU SIGN THE PINK ENVELOPE. THAT’S VERY, VERY IMPORTANT. SO ELECTION OFFICIALS CAN VERIFY THAT IT IS YOU AND NOT VOTER FRAUD. YOU CAN ALSO MAIL IT IN FOR FREE THROUGH USPS. NOW WE TALKED ABOUT PROP 50, BUT IT’S NOW TIME FOR VOTERS TO DECIDE WITHOUT DISCUSSING PARTY AFFILIATION. WE TALKED TO VOTERS IN SACRAMENTO COUNTY TODAY ABOUT THE MEASURE. WELL, IT’S REALLY ONE SINGLE QUESTION. AND THAT QUESTION IS CLEAR TO ME. I THINK THAT IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME. I THINK IT’S REALLY UNFORTUNATE THAT WE HAVE TO DO THIS, BUT I FEEL LIKE WE’VE BEEN FORCED BY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. ONLY ONE VOTE. YOU KNOW, GOT TO DO WHAT I THINK IS RIGHT. YEAH. BACK OUT HERE LIVE AGAIN. THIS IS ONE LOCATION WHERE VOTERS CAN DROP OFF THEIR BALLOTS. IF YOU’RE HEADING TO A KINGS PRESEASON GAME THIS WEEK, RIGHT ON YOUR WAY TO THE ARENA OR SOMEWHERE TO WATCH THE GAME, YOU CAN JUST COME DROP OFF YOUR BALLOT. NOW WE’RE TALKING ABOUT DROP OFF YOUR BALLOT. IF YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT SECURITY. TODAY, WE TALKED TO ELECTION OFFICIALS FROM SACRAMENTO, EL DORADO AND SAN JOAQUIN COUNTIES ABOUT JUST THAT SECURITY AND STAFFING FOR THIS SPECIAL ELECTION. WE’LL HAVE MORE ON THOSE DISCUSSIONS COMING UP TONIGHT AT SIX. LIVE IN DOCO. CECIL HANNIBAL KCRA THREE NEWS, OKC. SO THANK YOU. AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE’S OFFICE OFFERS A WAY FOR VOTERS TO TRACK THEIR BALLOTS. IT’S CALLED WHERE’S MY BALLOT? VOTERS COULD SIGN UP WITH THEIR NAME, THEIR BIRTH DATE, AND ZIP CODE. ONCE LOGGED IN, YOU CAN TRACK WHERE THE BALLOT IS FROM WHEN IT’S MAILED TO YOU, SENT BACK TO COUNTY ELECTIONS OFFICE, AND RECEIVED AND THEN COUNTED. JUST A REMINDER, THE LAST DAY TO REGISTER IS OCTOBER 20TH AND TODAY IS THE SEVENTH. SO AS OF LAST MONTH, NEARLY HALF OF ALL VOTERS ARE REGISTERED. DEMOCRATS, 25% A

More than 1 million ballots turned in for California special election on Prop 50, data firm says

Updated: 4:30 PM PDT Oct 17, 2025

Editorial Standards ⓘ

More than 1 million ballots have been returned so far in California’s special election to decide Proposition 50, according to a data firm used by political campaigns.Political Data Inc. said on X Wednesday that 4.49% of ballots sent out to California voters have already been returned. The firm cited a rate that was “close to recall election numbers,” in a reference to the 2021 vote over whether to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom. According to the early mail-in vote, 5% of Democrats and 5% of Republicans have turned in their ballots. That equates to more than 530,000 votes from Democrats and more than 293,000 from Republicans. About 76% of ballots returned were from people ages 50 or older. White voters have been overrepresented with 72% of the vote so far. California voters on Nov. 4 will decide if the state should temporarily toss its current congressional district map drawn by the state’s independent commission and replace it with a new one that was quickly drawn by Democrats. It’s part of a larger national fight in which Republicans and Democrats are trying to gerrymander their congressional districts to determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives halfway through President Donald Trump’s term.The proposed maps target five California Republicans in an attempt to offset the five Republicans Texas is aiming to add.If approved, the maps would be in place for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections. State leaders have said the power to draw maps would return to the independent redistricting commission in 2031.One of the people who works at Political Data Inc., Paul Mitchell, is the owner of a consulting firm that helped to create the congressional redistricting maps for Democrats. He said he is not campaigning for the measure. The last day to register to vote is Oct. 20, though people can also vote on Nov. 3 with Conditional Voter Registration. | RELATED | Everything you need to know about California’s Proposition 50See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channelPHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

More than 1 million ballots have been returned so far in California’s special election to decide Proposition 50, according to a data firm used by political campaigns.

Political Data Inc. said on X Wednesday that 4.49% of ballots sent out to California voters have already been returned.

The firm cited a rate that was “close to recall election numbers,” in a reference to the 2021 vote over whether to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

According to the early mail-in vote, 5% of Democrats and 5% of Republicans have turned in their ballots. That equates to more than 530,000 votes from Democrats and more than 293,000 from Republicans.

About 76% of ballots returned were from people ages 50 or older. White voters have been overrepresented with 72% of the vote so far.

California voters on Nov. 4 will decide if the state should temporarily toss its current congressional district map drawn by the state’s independent commission and replace it with a new one that was quickly drawn by Democrats. It’s part of a larger national fight in which Republicans and Democrats are trying to gerrymander their congressional districts to determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives halfway through President Donald Trump’s term.

The proposed maps target five California Republicans in an attempt to offset the five Republicans Texas is aiming to add.

If approved, the maps would be in place for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections. State leaders have said the power to draw maps would return to the independent redistricting commission in 2031.

One of the people who works at Political Data Inc., Paul Mitchell, is the owner of a consulting firm that helped to create the congressional redistricting maps for Democrats. He said he is not campaigning for the measure.

The last day to register to vote is Oct. 20, though people can also vote on Nov. 3 with Conditional Voter Registration.

| RELATED | Everything you need to know about California’s Proposition 50

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October 17, 2025
Tracking Tropical Storm Jerry Maps, models

Tracking Tropical Storm Jerry: Maps, models

TRACK THE TROPICS WITH FIRST WARNING. METEOROLOGIST ERIC BURROUGHS. WE HAVE BEEN SO FORTUNATE SO FAR THIS HURRICANE SEASON. KNOCK ON WOOD, THAT PERSISTS. I MEAN, ALL OF THE HURRICANES HAVE STAYED AWAY FROM THE UNITED STATES. WE STILL HAVE ABOUT A MONTH AND A HALF TO GO FOR HURRICANE SEASON. SO LET’S MONITOR AND SEE HOW THIS PLAYS OUT. THE GOOD NEWS DOES NOT LOOK LIKE JERRY WILL BE A LANDFALL FOR US. IT’S UNDERGOING SOME SIGNIFICANT WIND SHEAR, BUT AS THE HURRICANE HUNTERS HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING, THEY HAVE FOUND IT GRADUALLY INTENSIFYING. WINDS ARE NOW AT 65 MILES AN HOUR. SO JERRY CONTINUES TO DEVELOP. WE THINK IT BECOMES A CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE AS IT LIFTS TO THE NORTH AND EVENTUALLY MAKES A HARD RIGHT TURN. IT GETS CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE LEEWARD ISLANDS AND WINDWARD ISLANDS, THOUGH, THAT THEY DO HAVE TROPICAL STORM WATCHES POSTED, SO IT IS EXPECTED TO STAY NORTH OF THEM. BUT SOME OF THOSE SQUALLY CONDITIONS MAY MOVE IN. SO IF YOU’VE GOT FRIENDS OR FAMILY THAT LIVE OUT THERE, JUST KEEP THAT IN MIND. ELSEWHERE, WE ARE WATCHING. THIS IS EXTRATROPICAL. INVEST 96. JUST SOMETHING INTERESTING TO LOOK AT. HAS A LOW END 10% CHANCE OF

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring Tropical Storm Jerry. Bookmark this page for the latest maps and spaghetti models for Jerry. Hurricane season 2025The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. Stay with WESH 2 online and on-air for the most accurate Central Florida weather forecast.>> More: 2025 Hurricane Survival GuideThe First Warning Weather team includes First Warning Chief Meteorologist Tony Mainolfi, Eric Burris, Marquise Meda and Cam Tran.>> 2025 hurricane season | WESH long-range forecast>> Download Very Local | Stream Central Florida news and weather from WESH 2

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring Tropical Storm Jerry.

Bookmark this page for the latest maps and spaghetti models for Jerry.

Hurricane season 2025

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. Stay with WESH 2 online and on-air for the most accurate Central Florida weather forecast.

>> More: 2025 Hurricane Survival Guide

The First Warning Weather team includes First Warning Chief Meteorologist Tony Mainolfi, Eric Burris, Marquise Meda and Cam Tran.

>> 2025 hurricane season | WESH long-range forecast

>> Download Very Local | Stream Central Florida news and weather from WESH 2

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October 9, 2025
Judge denies Utah lawmakers’ request to pause order tossing out congressional map

Judge Dianna Gibson holds a hearing on Utah’s congressional maps process, in Salt Lake City on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. Judge Gibson previously ruled — based on a decision last year by the Utah Supreme Court — that the Legislature had violated voters’ constitutional right to make laws when legislators repealed Proposition 4, the citizen-passed Better Boundaries initiative. (Pool photo by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune)

Third District Court Judge Dianna Gibson issued a decision late Tuesday denying Utah lawmakers’ attorneys’ request to push pause on her ruling last week that tossed out the state’s current congressional boundaries and ordered lawmakers to draw a new map.

“By granting a stay and proceeding with the 2026 election under the current 2021 Congressional Plan, this Court would be sanctioning the Legislature’s violation of the people’s constitutional right to reform their government through redistricting legislation,” the judge wrote in the decision.

Last week, Gibson ruled the Utah Legislature unconstitutionally overturned Better Boundaries’ ballot initiative known as Proposition 4, a voter-approved law that created an independent redistricting commission meant to prevent partisan gerrymandering. The 2021 Utah Legislature repealed and replaced it with a new law, SB200, which turned that commission into an advisory body that lawmakers could ignore — which they ultimately did when they adopted the 2021 congressional map.

Delaying the order “would sanction the wholesale repeal of Proposition 4 and would irreparably harm the people of Utah,” the judge wrote Tuesday. “Given the Court’s ruling, this Court cannot conclude that a ‘stay’ would be just under the circumstances.”

Gibson’s ruling has major implications for the future of Utah’s federal political landscape. Before the 2021 map was adopted, one of Utah’s four U.S. House seats was competitive for Democrats. Today, Republicans consistently dominate all four.

Her ruling comes during a time when fights over redistricting are on the national stage. While redistricting efforts in Texas, California and other states are playing out mid-decade — fueled by President Donald Trump’s aim to bolster the U.S. House’s slim GOP majority in the 2026 midterm elections — Utah’s effort for an independent and nonpartisan process is court ordered.

Gibson, in her decision issued Tuesday, said the state could set itself apart from other states.

“Utah has an opportunity to be different,” the judge wrote. “While other states are currently redrawing their congressional plans to intentionally render some citizen votes meaningless, Utah could redesign its congressional plan with an intention to protect its citizens’ right to vote and to ensure that each citizen’s vote is meaningful.”

Gibson also acknowledged that the “timing of this ruling,” along with the injunction on the 2021 Congressional Map, “presents challenges for the Legislature … to accomplish its duty” to draw a new map in compliance with Proposition 4 in time for the 2026 elections.

In an effort to address those timing challenges, Gibson asked the lieutenant governor’s office if there would be any flexibility — even if it’s a matter of days — to push back the previously set deadline of Nov. 1 for the court to select a new map while also allowing enough time for counties to finalize their precincts before candidates can begin filing in January.

In a court filing also submitted Tuesday, attorneys for Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson wrote that after consulting with county clerks “and due to the extenuating circumstances of this litigation, the deadline for congressional map submission for this election cycle is Nov. 10, 2025.”

Given that new deadline, it’s likely Gibson will offer some adjustments to the proposed timeline she included in her order last week, which gave lawmakers, plaintiffs and third parties until Sept. 24 to submit their proposed congressional maps for the court to choose from.

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September 3, 2025
California’s lightning-fast push for partisan redistricting reflects Trump’s new America

In an evening social media post about a supremely partisan battle that could reshape American political power for generations, President Trump sounded ebullient.

“Big WIN for the Great State of Texas!!! Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself,” Trump wrote, of the nation’s most populous red state pushing a mid-decade redistricting plan designed to win more Republican seats in Congress and protect Trump’s power through the 2026 midterms.

“Texas never lets us down. Florida, Indiana, and others are looking to do the same thing,” Trump wrote — nodding to a potential proliferation of such efforts across the country.

The next day, Gov. Gavin Newsom — projecting a fresh swagger as Trump’s chief antagonist on the issue — stood with fellow lawmakers from the nation’s most populous blue state to announce their own legislative success in putting to voters a redrawn congressional map for California that strongly favors Democrats.

“We got here because the president of the United States is one of the most unpopular presidents in U.S. history,” Newsom said, couching the California effort as defensive rather than offensive. “We got here because he recognizes that he will lose the election, [and that] Congress will go back into the hands of the Democratic Party next November.”

In the last week, with lightning speed, the nation’s foremost political leaders have jettisoned any pretense of political fairness — any notion of voters being equal or elected representatives reflecting their constituencies — in favor of an all-out partisan war for power that has some politicians and many political observers concerned for the future of American democracy.

“America is headed towards true authoritarian rule if people do not stand up,” Texas state Rep. Gene Wu, a Democrat from the Houston area, said Friday on a call with reporters.

The race to redistrict began with Trump, whose approval ratings have plummeted, pressuring Texas to manipulate maps to secure more House seats for Republicans so he wouldn’t face a hostile House majority in the second half of his second term. It escalated when Newsom and other California leaders said they wouldn’t stand idly by and started working to put a new map of their own on the November ballot — formally asking voters to jettison the state’s independent redistricting commission to counter Trump’s gambit in Texas.

Those two states alone are home to some 70 million Americans, but the fight is hardly limited there. As Trump suggested, other states are also eyeing whether to redraw lines — raising the prospect of a country divided between blue and red power centers more than ever before, and the voice of millions of minority-party voters being all but erased in the halls of Congress.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom answers questions on Thursday after signing legislation calling for a special election on a redrawn congressional map.

(Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)

Of course, gerrymandering is not new, and already exists in many states across the country. But the bold, unapologetic and bipartisan bent of the latest redistricting race is something new and different, experts said. It is a clear product of Trump’s new America, where political warfare is increasingly untethered to — and unbound by — long-standing political norms, and where leaders of both political parties seem increasingly willing to toss aside pretense and politeness in order to pursue power.

Trump on the campaign trail promised a new “Golden Age,” and he has long said his goal is to return America to some purportedly greater, more aspirational and proud past. But he has also signaled, repeatedly and with hardly any ambiguity, an intention to manipulate the political system to further empower himself and his fellow Republicans — whether through redistricting, ending mail-in ballots, or other measures aimed at curtailing voter turnout.

“In four years, you don’t have to vote again,” Trump told a crowd of evangelical Christians a little over a year ago, in the thick of his presidential campaign. “We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.”

‘No democracy left’

The redistricting war has dominated political news for weeks now, given its potential implications for reshaping Congress and further emboldening Trump in his second term.

Sam Wang, president of the Electoral Innovation Lab at Princeton University, has studied gerrymandering for years, but said during the media call with Wu that he has never received more inquiries than in the last few weeks, when his inbox has filled with questions from media around the world.

Wang said gerrymandering reached a high point more than a decade ago, but had been subsiding due to court battles and state legislatures establishing independent commissions to draw district lines.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defends his state’s redistricting move while calling California’s “a joke.”

(Eric Gay / Associated Press)

Now, however, the efforts of Texas and California are threatening that progress and pushing things “to a new low point,” he said — leaving some voters feeling disenfranchised and Wang worried about further erosion of voter protections under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which he said the conservative Supreme Court may be preparing to weaken.

Wu said allowing politicians to redraw congressional lines whenever they want in order to “make sure that they never lose” sets a dangerous precedent that will especially disenfranchise minority voters — because “politicians and leaders would no longer listen to the people.”

“There would be no democracy left,” he said.

That said, Wu drew a sharp distinction between Texas Republicans unilaterally redrawing maps to their and Trump’s advantage — in part by “hacking” apart minority populations — and California asking voters to counteract that power grab with a new map of their own.

“California is defending the nation,” he said. “Texas is doing something illegal.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday took the opposition position, saying Texas’ new map was constitutional while California’s was “a joke” and likely to be overturned. He also hinted at further efforts in other Republican-led states to add more House seats for the party.

“Republicans are not finished in the United States,” Abbott said.

Two legal experts on the call expressed grave concerns with such partisanship — especially in Texas.

Sara Rohani, assistant counsel with the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF, said her organization has been fighting for decades to ensure that the promises of the Voting Rights Act for Black and other minority groups aren’t infringed upon by unscrupulous and racist political leaders in search of power.

“Fair representation isn’t optional in this country. It’s the right of all Americans to [have] equal voting power,” she said.

That said, “voters of color have been excluded” from that promise consistently, both before and after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, and “in 2025, it’s clear that our fight for fair maps continues,” Rohani said.

Major victories have been won in the courts in recent years in states such as Alabama and Louisiana, and those battles are only going to continue, she said. Asked specifically if her group is preparing to sue over Texas’ maps, Rohani demurred — but didn’t back down, saying LDF will get involved “in any jurisdiction where Black voters are being targeted.”

Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said there are definitely going to be challenges to Texas’ maps.

By their own admission, Saenz said, Texas lawmakers redrew their maps in 2021 in order to maximize Republican advantage in congressional races — with the only limits being those imposed by the Voting Rights Act. That means in order to gain even more seats now, “they have to violate the Voting Rights Act,” he said.

Texas Republicans have argued that they are acting in part in response to a warning from the Justice Department that their current maps, from 2021, are unlawful. But Saenz noted that the Justice Department dropped a lawsuit challenging those maps when Trump took office — meaning any threats to sue again are an empty ploy and “clearly orchestrated with one objective: Donald Trump’s objective.”

Is there a legal case?

The fate of any legal challenges to the redistricting efforts is unclear, in part because gerrymandering has become much harder to challenge in court.

In 2019, the Supreme Court threw out claims that highly partisan state election maps are unconstitutional. Chief Justice John G. Roberts said such district-by-district line drawing “presents political questions” and there are no reliable “legal standards” for deciding what is fair and just.

It was not a new view for Roberts.

In 2006, shortly after he joined the court, the justices rejected a challenge to a mid-decade redistricting engineered by Texas Republicans, but ordered the state — over Roberts’ dissent — to redraw one of its majority-Latino districts to transfer some of its voters to another Latino-leaning district.

Roberts expressed his frustration at the time, writing that it “is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.”

Some legal experts say the new Texas redistricting could face a legal challenge if Black or Latino lawmakers are in danger of losing their seats. But the Supreme Court conservatives are skeptical of such claims — and have given signs they may shrink the scope of the Voting Rights Act.

In March, the justices considered a Louisiana case to decide if the state must create a second congressional district that would elect a Black candidate to comply with the Voting Rights Act, and if so, how it should be drawn.

But the court failed to issue a decision. Instead, on Aug. 1, the court said it would hear further arguments this fall on “whether the state’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority Congressional district” violates the Constitution.

Justice Clarence Thomas has long argued it is unconstitutional to draw election districts based on racial lines, regardless of the Voting Rights Act, and he may now have a majority that agrees with him.

If so, such a ruling could squelch discrimination claims from Black and Latino lawmakers in Texas or elsewhere — further clearing the path for partisan gerrymandering.

Looking ahead

Given the intensity of the battle and the uncertainty of the related legal challenges, few of America’s top political leaders are thinking to the future. They’re fighting in the present — focused on swaying public perception.

In a YouTube Live video with thousands of supporters on Thursday, Newsom said Trump “doesn’t believe in the rule of law — he believes in the rule of Don; period, full stop,” and that he hoped it was “dawning on more and more Americans what’s at stake.”

Newsom said that when Trump “made the phone call to rig the elections to Greg Abbott in Texas,” he expected Democrats to just roll over and take it. In response, he said, Democrats have to stop thinking about “whether or not we should play hardball,” and start focusing on “how we play hardball.”

On Friday, Newsom said he was “very proud of the Legislature for moving quickly” to counter Texas, and that he is confident voters will support the ballot measure to change the state’s maps despite polls showing a sluggish start to the campaign.

A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, conducted for The Times, found 48% of voters said they would cast ballots in favor of temporary gerrymandering efforts, though 20% were undecided.

Asked if he is encouraging Democratic leaders in other states to revisit their own maps, Newsom said he appreciated both Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signaling that they may be willing to do just that.

“I do believe that the actions of [the California] Legislature will inspire other legislative leaders to … meet this moment, to save this democracy and to stop this authoritarian and his continued actions to literally vandalize and gut our Constitution and our democratic principles,” Newsom said.

Kevin Rector, David G. Savage, Melody Gutierrez, Laura J. Nelson

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August 24, 2025
California Republicans push Democrats on transparency, timeline for redistricting

SACRAMENTO — California’s push to redraw the state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats faced early opposition Tuesday during legislative hearings, a preview of the obstacles ahead for Gov. Gavin Newsom and his allies as they try to convince voters to back the effort.

California Democrats entered the redistricting fray after Republicans in Texas moved to reconfigure their political districts to increase by five the number of GOP members of Congress after the 2026 midterm elections, a move that could sway the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections.

The proposed map of new districts in California that could go before voters in November could cost as many as five Golden State Republicans their seats in Congress.

In Sacramento, Republicans criticized Democrats for trying to scrap the independent redistricting process approved by voters in 2010, a change designed to remove self-serving politics and partisan game-playing. GOP lawmakers argued that the public and legislators had little time to review the maps of the proposed congressional districts and questioned who crafted the new districts and bankrolled the effort.

In an attempt to slow down the push by Democrats, California Republicans filed an emergency petition at the California Supreme Court, arguing that Democrats violated the state Constitution by rushing the bills through the legislature.

The state Constitution requires lawmakers to introduce non-budget bills 30 days before they are voted on, unless the Legislature waives that rule by a three-fourths majority vote. The bills were introduced Monday through a common process known as “gut and amend,” where lawmakers strip out the language from an older pending bill and replace it with a new proposal.

The lawsuit said that without the Supreme Court’s intervention, the state could enact “significant new legislation that the public has only seen for, at most, a few days,” according to the lawsuit filed by GOP state Sens. Tony Strickland of Huntington Beach and Suzette Martinez Valladares of Acton and Assemblymembers Tri Ta of Westminster and Kathryn Sanchez of Trabuco Canyon.

Democrats bristled at the questions about their actions, including grilling by reporters and Republicans about who had drawn the proposed congressional districts that the party wants to put before voters.

“When I go to a restaurant, I don’t need to meet the chef,” said Assembly Elections Committee chair Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz).

Democrats unveiled their campaign to suspend the independent redistricting commission’s work Thursday, proposed maps of the redrawn districts were submitted to state legislative leaders Friday, and the three bills were introduced in the legislature Monday.

If passed by a two-thirds vote in both bodies of the legislature and signed by Newsom this week, as expected, the measure will be on the ballot on Nov. 4.

On Tuesday, lawmakers listened to hours of testimony and debate, frequently engaging in testy exchanges.

After heated arguing and interrupting during an Assembly Elections Committee hearing, Pellerin admonished Assemblymembers Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) and David Tangipa (R-Clovis).

“I would like you both to give me a little time and respect,” Pellerin said near the end of a hearing that lasted about five hours.

Tangipa and the committee’s vice chair, Assemblywoman Alexandra Macedo (R-Tulare), repeatedly questioned witnesses about issues that the GOP is likely to continue to raise: the speed with which the legislation is being pushed through, the cost of the special election, the limited opportunity for public comment on the maps, who drew the proposed new districts and who is funding the effort.

Tangipa voiced concerns that legislators had too little time to review the legislation.

“That’s insanity, and that’s heartbreaking to the rest of Californians,” Tangipa said. “How can you say you actually care about the people of California?

Berman dismissed the criticism, saying the bill was five pages long.

In a Senate elections committee hearing, State Sen. Steve Choi (R-Irvine), the only Republican on the panel, repeatedly pressed Democrats about how the maps had been drawn before they were presented.

Tom Willis, Newsom’s campaign counsel who appeared as a witness to support the redistricting bills, said the map was “publicly submitted, and then the legislature reviewed it carefully and made sure that it was legally compliant.”

But, Choi asked, who drew the maps in the first place? Willis said he couldn’t answer, because he “wasn’t a part of that process.”

In response to questions about why California should change their independent redistricting ethos to respond to potential moves by Texas, state Sen. Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) was blunt.

“This is a partisan gerrymander,” she said, to counter the impacts of Trump administration policy decisions, from healthcare cuts to immigration raids, that are disproportionately impacting Californians. “That’s what we’re talking about here.”

Her comments prompted a GOP operative who is aiding the opposition campaign to the ballot measure to say, “It made me salivate.”

California Common Cause, an ardent supporter of independent redistricting, initially signaled openness to revisiting the state’s independent redistricting rules because they would not “call for unilateral political disarmament in the face of authoritarianism.”

But on Tuesday, the group announced its opposition to a state Senate bill.

“it would create significant rollbacks in voter protections,” the group said in a statement, arguing that the legislation would result in reduced in-person voting, less opportunities for underrepresented communities to cast ballots and dampens opportunities for public input. “These changes to the Elections Code … would hinder full voter participation, with likely disproportionate harm falling to already underrepresented Californians.”

Seema Mehta, Laura J. Nelson

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August 20, 2025
How Democrats plan to reshape California’s congressional delegation and thwart Trump

A decade and a half after California voters stripped lawmakers of the ability to draw the boundaries of congressional districts, Gov. Gavin Newsom and fellow Democrats are pushing to take that partisan power back.

The redistricting plan taking shape in Sacramento and headed toward voters in November could shift the Golden State’s political landscape for at least six years, if not longer. The outcome could also sway which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2026 midterm elections, which will be pivotal to the fate of President Trump’s political agenda.

What Golden State voters choose to do will reverberate nationwide, killing some political careers and launching others, provoking other states to reconfigure their own congressional districts and boosting Newsom’s profile as a top Trump nemesis and leader of the nation’s Democratic resistance.

The new maps, drawn by Democratic strategists and lawmakers behind closed doors, were submitted Friday to legislative leaders by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the group that works to elect House Democrats.

The maps are expected to appear on a Nov. 4 special election ballot, along with a constitutional amendment that would override the state’s voter-approved, independent redistricting commission.

The changes would ripple across more than 1,000 miles of California, from the forests near the Oregon state line through the deserts of Death Valley and Palm Springs to the U.S.-Mexico border, expanding Democrats’ grip on California and further isolating Republicans.

The proposed map would concentrate Republican voters in a handful of deep-red districts and eliminate an Inland Empire congressional seat represented by the longest-serving member of California’s GOP delegation. For Democrats, the plans would boost the fortunes of up-and-coming politicians and shore up vulnerable incumbents, including two new lawmakers who won election by fewer than 1,000 votes last fall.

Under the proposal, Democrats could pick up five seats currently held by Republicans while bolstering vulnerable Democratic incumbent Reps. Adam Gray, Josh Harder, George Whitesides, Derek Tran and Dave Min, which would save the party millions of dollars in costly reelection fights.

In a letter to the state Legislature, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee director Julie Merz said the map “serves the best interest of California voters, while also attempting to push back against the corrupt scheme occurring in Texas and other Republican-majority states.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee, the group that works to elect House Republicans, said they are “prepared to fight this illegal power grab in the courts and at the ballot box to stop Newsom in his tracks.”

“This is the final declaration of political war between California and the Trump administration,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego.

How will the ballot measure work?

For the state to reverse the independent redistricting process that the electorate approved in 2010, a majority of California voters would have to approve the measure, which backers are calling the “Election Rigging Response Act.”

The state Legislature, where Democrats hold a supermajority in both the Assembly and Senate, will consider the ballot language next week when lawmakers return from summer recess. Both chambers would need to pass the ballot language by a two-thirds majority and get the bill to Newsom’s desk by Aug. 22, leaving just enough time for voter guides to be mailed and ballots to be printed.

Approving the new map would be up to the state’s electorate, which backed independent redistricting in 2010 by more than 61%. Registered Democrats outnumber Republican voters by almost a two-to-one margin in California.

Newsom has said that the measure would include a “trigger,” meaning the state’s maps would only take effect if a Republican state — such as Texas, Florida or Indiana — approve new mid-decade maps.

“There’s still an exit ramp,” Newsom said. “We’re hopeful they don’t move forward.”

Explaining the esoteric concept of redistricting and getting voters to participate in an off-year election will require that Newsom and his allies, including organized labor, launch what is expected to be an expensive campaign very quickly.

“It’s summer in California,” Kousser said. “People are not focused on this.”

California has no limit on campaign contributions for ballot measures, and a measure that pits Democrats against Trump, and Republicans against Newsom, could become a high-stakes, high-cost national brawl.

“It’s tens of millions of dollars, and it’s going to be determined on the basis of what an opposition looks like as well,” Newsom said Thursday. The fundraising effort, he said, is “not insignificant… considering the 90-day sprint.”

The ballot measure’s campaign website mentions three major funding sources thus far: Newsom’s gubernatorial campaign, the main political action committee for House Democrats in Washington, and Manhattan Beach businessman Bill Bloomfield, a longtime donor to California Democrats.

The opposition is also expected to be well-funded. A representative of a coalition fighting the effort said that Charles Munger Jr., who bankrolled the 2010 ballot measure that created the independent commission, is committed to defending the electoral reform.

What’s at stake?

Control of the U.S. House of Representatives hangs in the balance.

The party that holds the White House tends to lose House seats during the midterm election. Republicans hold a razor-thin majority in the House, and Democrats taking control of chamber in 2026 would stymie Trump’s controversial, right-wing agenda in his final two years in office.

Redistricting typically only happens once a decade, after the U.S. Census. But Trump has been prodding Republican states, starting with Texas, to redraw their lines in the middle of the decade to boost the GOP’s chances in the midterms.

At Trump’s encouragement, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special legislative session to redraw the Texas congressional map to favor five more Republicans. In response, Newsom and other California Democrats have called for their own maps that would favor five more Democrats.

Texas Democratic lawmakers fled the state to deny the legislature a quorum and stop the vote. They faced daily fines, death threats and calls to be removed from office. They agreed to return to Austin after the special session ended on Friday, with one condition being that California Democrats moved forward with their redistricting plan.

The situation has the potential to spiral into an all-out redistricting arms race, with Trump leaning on Indiana, Florida, Ohio and Missouri to redraw their maps, while Newsom is asking the same of blue states including New York and Illinois.

California Republicans in the crosshairs

The California gerrymandering plan targets five of California’s nine Republican members of Congress: Reps. Kevin Kiley and Doug LaMalfa in Northern California, Rep. David Valadao in the Central Valley, and Reps. Ken Calvert and Darrell Issa in Southern California.

The map consolidates Republican voters into a smaller number of ruby-red districts known as “vote sinks.” Some conservative and rural areas would be shifted into districts where Republican voters would be diluted by high voter registration advantage for Democrats.

The biggest change would be for Calvert, who would see his Inland Empire district eliminated.

Calvert has been in Congress since 1992 and represents a sprawling Riverside County district that includes Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Palm Springs and his home base of Corona. Calvert, who oversees defense spending on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, comfortably won reelection last year despite a well-funded national campaign by Democrats.

Under the proposed map, the Inland Empire district would be carved up and redistributed, parceled out to a district represented by Rep. Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills). Liberal Palm Springs would be shifted into the district represented by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall), which would help tilt the district from Republican to a narrowly divided swing seat.

Members of Congress are not required to live in their districts, but there would not be an obvious seat for Calvert to run for, unless he ran against Kim or Issa.

Leaked screenshots of the map began to circulate Friday afternoon, prompting fierce and immediate pushback from California Republicans. The lines are “third-world dictator stuff,” Orange County GOP chair Will O’Neill said on X, and the “slicing and dicing of Orange County cities is obscene.”

In Northern California, the boundaries of Kiley’s district would shrink and dogleg into the Sacramento suburbs to add registered Democrats. Kiley said in a post on X that he expected his district to stay the same because voters would “defeat Newsom’s sham initiative and vindicate the will of California voters.”

LaMalfa’s district would shift south, away from the rural and conservative areas along the Oregon border, and pick up more liberal areas in parts of Sonoma County. Democrat Audrey Denney, who lost to LaMalfa in 2018 and 2020, said Friday that if voters approve the new map, she would run again.

In Central California, boundaries would shift to shore up Harder and Gray, who won election last year by 187 votes, the narrowest margin in the country.

Valadao, a perennial target for Democrats, would see the northern boundary of his district stretch into the bluer suburbs of Fresno. Democrats have tried for years to unseat Valadao, who represents a district that has a strong Democratic voter registration advantage on paper, but where turnout among blue voters is lackluster.

Democrats eye open seats

Eight of the state’s 52 congressional districts would be left unchanged under the new map, including the three historic Black districts in Los Angeles and Oakland. Three districts with the highest number of Asian American voters would be preserved, while a Latino lawmaker would likely be elected from a new Los Angeles-area seat.

That new congressional seat in Los Angeles County that would stretch through the southeast cities of Downey, Santa Fe Springs, Whittier and Lakewood. An open seat in Congress is a rare opportunity for politicians, especially in deep-blue Los Angeles County, where incumbent lawmakers can keep their jobs for decades.

Portions of that district were once represented by retired U.S. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, the first Mexican American woman elected to Congress. That seat was eliminated in the 2021 redistricting cycle, when California lost a congressional seat for the first time in its history.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis has told members of the California Congressional delegation that she is thinking about running for the new seat.

Another possible contender, former Assembly speaker Anthony Rendon of Lakewood, launched a campaign for state superintendent of schools in late July and said he is not interested in vying to represent the new district.

Other lawmakers who represent the area or areas nearby include State Sen. Blanca Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), state Sen. Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera) and state Assemblywoman Lisa Calderon (D-Whittier).

In Northern California, the southern tip of LaMalfa’s district would stretch south into the Sonoma County cities of Santa Rosa and Healdsberg, home to Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire. McGuire will be termed out of the state Senate next year, and the new seat might present a prime opportunity for him to go to Washington.

Times staff writer Taryn Luna in Sacramento contributed to this report.

Laura J. Nelson, Seema Mehta

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August 15, 2025
Newsom welcomes Texas Democrats who fled to foil Trump’s redistricting plan
SACRAMENTO — California became center stage for the national political fight over House seats Friday when Gov. Gavin Newsom welcomed Democratic lawmakers from Texas who fled their home state to foil President Trump’s plans to redraw congressional districts.

California lawmakers plan to respond with their own plan to gerrymander districts to favor Democrats and neutralize any Republican seats gained in Texas in 2026, with a proposed map expected to become public next week, Newsom said at a news conference after meeting with the lawmakers.

“Make no mistake, California is moving forward,” the governor said. “We are talking about emergency measures to respond to what’s happening in Texas, and we will nullify what happens in Texas.”
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He noted that while Democrats still support the state’s independent redistricting commission, they must counter Trump’s plan in GOP-led states to give their party a better chance in next year’s midterm election.

“They drew first blood,” he later added of Republicans.

Asked about the gathering, a Trump administration spokesperson said Newsom was seeking the limelight to further his political ambitions.

“Gavin Newsom is a loser of the highest order and he will never be president, no matter how hard he prostitutes himself to the press,” said the spokesperson, Steven Cheung.

Friday marked the second time in two weeks that Texas Democrats have stood next to Newsom at the California governor’s mansion and warned that Republican efforts to draw a new map in their state would dilute the power of Black and brown voters.

The Texas Democrats hoped that their departure would leave the state Legislature with too few members present to change the map in a special session. They face $500 fines for each day of absence, as well as threats of arrest and removal from office by Gov. Greg Abbott and other Texas GOP officials. Some of the Democratic lawmakers were evacuated from a Chicago hotel where they were staying after a bomb threat Wednesday.

“We are now facing threats — the threat that we’re going to lose our jobs, the threat of financial ruin, the threat that we will be hunted down as our colleagues sit on their hands and remain silent, as we all get personal threats to our lives,” said Texas state Rep. Ann Johnson, one of six Texas Democrats at the news conference, who was among those evacuated from the Chicago hotel. “We as Democrats are standing up to ensure that the voices of every voter is lifted up in this next election, and that the next election is not stolen from them.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco); Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San José), chair of the California Democratic congressional delegation; California Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg); state Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) and other elected officials joined the meeting in a show of unity as California Democrats attempt to convince their own state’s voters to fight back.

Pelosi noted that the state’s congressional delegation is united in backing the redistricting proposal to counter Trump.

“The president has paved over the Rose Garden. He’s paved over freedom of speech. He’s paved over freedom of education, [an] independent judiciary, the rule of law,” Pelosi said. “He’s gone too far. We will not let him pave over free and fair elections in our country, starting with what he’s trying to do in Texas.”

She countered an argument some have made — that two wrongs don’t make a right.

“This is self-defense for our democracy,” she said.

The California plan calls for the state Legislature to approve a constitutional amendment establishing new congressional voting districts crafted to make GOP members vulnerable.

Passage of the bill would result in a special election on Nov. 4, with California voters deciding whether the state should temporarily pause the congressional boundaries created by an independent redistricting commission in 2021 and adopt new maps for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections.

If approved by voters, the measure would include a “trigger” specifying that it would take effect only if Texas or other Republican-led states follow through with redrawing their maps to boost GOP seats before the midterm election. California would revert to its existing redistricting law after the next census and before the 2032 election.

At least so far, California voters appear uncertain about whether they want to swap Newsom’s plan for the independent redistricting system they previously adopted at the ballot box.

An Emerson College poll found support for redrawing California’s congressional map at 33% and opposition at 25%. The survey of 1,000 registered voters, conducted Aug. 4 and 5, found that 42% were undecided.

Newsom has expressed confidence that California voters will back his plan, which he is casting as a rebuttal to Trump’s efforts to “rig” the midterm elections.

“I’m confident we’ll get it when people know what it is and what it’s not, and I think, at the end of the day, they understand what’s at stake,” Newsom said Thursday.

Newsom argues that California’s process is more transparent than Trump’s because voters here will see the map and decide whether the state should go forward with it.

To fulfill Trump’s request for five additional seats, Abbott is attempting to redraw House districts in Texas through a state legislative process that does not require voter approval. It’s unclear what will happen in Austin, with Democrats determined to block the effort and the governor and other Texas Republicans insisting they will keep pressing it.

The current special session ends Aug. 19. But in an interview with NBC News on Thursday evening, Abbott vowed “to call special session after special session after special session with the same agenda items on there.”

In addition to arrest on civil warrants, the Democrats are facing threats of being removed from office. Direct-deposit payments to the legislators have been curtailed, forcing them to pick up their checks in person at the state capitol in Austin or go without the money.

The redistricting fight has strengthened Newsom’s national platform as a potential 2028 presidential contender and bolstered his reputation as a Democrat willing to take the fight to Trump and his allies.

Since Trump took office in January, Newsom had been walking a fine line between calling out the president and working with him in hopes of being able to join together to rebuild from the California wildfires.

But Newsom took a hard line after Trump deployed the National Guard during federal immigration raids in Los Angeles in June, prompting the governor and his administration to much more aggressively resist the president’s agenda.
Seema Mehta, Taryn Luna

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August 8, 2025
Interactive Map: Where are the presidential candidates on Nov. 1?

Interactive Map: Where are the presidential candidates on Nov. 1?

Updated: 5:21 AM EDT Nov 1, 2024

It’s the final days of the campaign and the candidates are busier than ever, with nine public events scheduled today, Friday, Nov. 1, between Vice President Kamala Harris, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance. Other than one Vance event in North Carolina, all eight appearances will be in the neighboring states of Wisconsin and Michigan, putting the candidates in close proximity to each other. Harris will host a Get Out The Vote community event in Appleton, Wisconsin, followed by a “When We Vote We Win” GOTV rally in Milwaukee with remarks by Cardi B and musical performances by GloRilla, Flo Milli, MC Lyte, The Isley Brothers and DJ GEMINI GILLY. Trump is also set to host a rally in Milwaukee, as well as one in Warren, Michigan. Meanwhile, Walz will deliver remarks at three campaign events in Michigan and Vance will also host a rally in the Wolverine State. Below is Hearst Television’s candidate tracker. Track where the presidential and vice presidential nominees have visited and held events since July 21, when Harris entered the race.

WASHINGTON —

It’s the final days of the campaign and the candidates are busier than ever, with nine public events scheduled today, Friday, Nov. 1, between Vice President Kamala Harris, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Other than one Vance event in North Carolina, all eight appearances will be in the neighboring states of Wisconsin and Michigan, putting the candidates in close proximity to each other. Harris will host a Get Out The Vote community event in Appleton, Wisconsin, followed by a “When We Vote We Win” GOTV rally in Milwaukee with remarks by Cardi B and musical performances by GloRilla, Flo Milli, MC Lyte, The Isley Brothers and DJ GEMINI GILLY. Trump is also set to host a rally in Milwaukee, as well as one in Warren, Michigan. Meanwhile, Walz will deliver remarks at three campaign events in Michigan and Vance will also host a rally in the Wolverine State.

Below is Hearst Television’s candidate tracker. Track where the presidential and vice presidential nominees have visited and held events since July 21, when Harris entered the race.

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November 1, 2024
Interactive Map: See the top trending Halloween costumes in your area

GETTING ANY CONTACT LENSES. NEARLY $4 BILLION IS GOING TO BE SPENT ON HALLOWEEN COSTUMES IN AMERICA THIS YEAR. MANY WILL ONLY BE USED ONCE OR TWICE. PEYTON SPELLACY JOINS US IN STUDIO WITH SOME TIPS AND TRICKS ON HOW TO SAVE MONEY AND CUT DOWN ON WASTE. PEYTON TODD DO IT YOURSELF OR THRIFTING. COSTUMES ARE FAR LESS EXPENSIVE THAN ONES BOUGHT FROM BIG BOX STORES, AND THEY’RE ONE OF A KIND. MELISSA STOCK, THE CHIEF ADMINISTRATION OFFICER OF GOODWILL, SAYS THRIFTING MIGHT COST YOU AT MOST $15. THE TIPS ARE TO LOOK IN YOUR CLOSET TO SEE WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE AND PICK OUT KEY PIECES. THAT MAKES A COSTUME RECOGNIZABLE. THEN GO TO A THRIFT STORE AND TOP OFF YOUR LOOK WITH WHATEVER NEEDED, SHE SAYS. THE BIG COSTUMES EVERY YEAR FOLLOW POP CULTURE AND NOT ONLY IS IT COST EFFECTIVE, IT ALSO MAKES YOUR OUTFIT UNIQUE. IT’S ALSO SUSTAINABLE. YOU CAN GET A WHOLE OUTFIT THAT’S COMPLETELY UNIQUELY YOU AND EVERY DOLLAR YOU SPEND STAYS LOCAL. WHEN YOU PURCHASE THINGS HERE, AND THEN YOU DONATE THEM BACK. WE KEEP ALMOST 10 MILLION POUNDS OUT OF THE LANDFILL IN OUR STATE. EVERY SINGLE YEAR. IT JUST SPREADS THE LOVE. NOW, IF YOU DON’T HAVE A COSTUME IDEA GOODWILL, GOODWILL HAS THESE CARDS THAT HIGHLIGHTS ITEMS THAT YOU NEED TO RECREATE POPULAR COSTUMES AND GET YOUR

Interactive Map: See the top trending Halloween costumes in your area

Updated: 11:11 PM EDT Oct 29, 2024

Halloween is almost here, but it’s not too late to find a costume! Google Trends published a new report showing the top trending Halloween costumes across the U.S. this spooky season, measured using search interest. Related video above: Creating a Halloween costume on a budgetThe big winners? Deadpool shows up in the top five most searched costumes for over a quarter of the 210 markets analyzed, followed by a tie between Wolverine and minions. Taylor Swift is the most commonly appearing real person among the searches, though Google is also reporting Sabrina Carpenter’s costume popularity is at an all-time high.See what’s popular in your region by interacting with the map below.

Halloween is almost here, but it’s not too late to find a costume!

Google Trends published a new report showing the top trending Halloween costumes across the U.S. this spooky season, measured using search interest.

Related video above: Creating a Halloween costume on a budget

The big winners? Deadpool shows up in the top five most searched costumes for over a quarter of the 210 markets analyzed, followed by a tie between Wolverine and minions. Taylor Swift is the most commonly appearing real person among the searches, though Google is also reporting Sabrina Carpenter’s costume popularity is at an all-time high.

See what’s popular in your region by interacting with the map below.

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October 29, 2024
Homebuyers beware: How to avoid properties with high landslide risk
The landslides that have forced authorities to shut off power and gas to hundreds of homes in Rancho Palos Verdes over the last two months highlight the risk of living on land susceptible to shifting and eroding with little warning.

Deep-seated landslides can occur weeks or months after heavy rainfall, when water has time to percolate down to weak zones of rock, creating a landslide plane under the weight of the overlying rock and soil, according to the California Geological Survey.

These types of landslides generally occur on moderately steep slopes.

If you are in the market to buy a home, experts say there are a few ways to determine whether you are buying a property with a high risk of landslides.

What causes landslides

Landslides are part of the natural process that erodes mountains and moves sediment to the ocean through river systems. “It’s important to the basic erosion process,” said Jonathan Godt, the landslide hazards program coordinator for the United States Geological Survey.

“Over the human lifespan, we’re just a blink of an eye in geological time, so [landslide] issues or those processes don’t penetrate our consciousness until something like the unfortunate situation in Rancho Palos Verdes happens,” he said.

In 2011 the California Geological Survey created a map that shows that a majority of the state’s coast is at risk of landslides.

Homes built decades ago on ancient landslides that were at one time dormant are “fine for periods of time, [but] sometimes there are changes,” Godt said.

Several factors can alter a landslide’s active status, such as rainfall and earthquakes, but the warning signs are hard to see because they are “well beneath our feet and kind of hidden,” he said.

When properties in these areas are for sale, it’s up to buyers to gauge the land movement risk of the property they’re interested in.

If the seller or their agent knows that the property is on a seismic hazard zone that is subject to strong ground shaking, soil liquefaction or landslide, the information must be disclosed, according to the state Department of Real Estate.

But buyers are also responsible for conducting their own research.

Online research into a property’s landslide risk

At least two websites, Realtor.com and Redfin.com, provide information on the property’s natural disaster risk. Near the bottom of the listing there’s a section that breaks down the property’s risk of flooding, fires, heat, wind and air. Unfortunately, landslides and land movement are not factors that are disclosed.

Instead, potential buyers should conduct a Google search of the neighborhood alongside the words “landslide” or “natural disaster.” If there has been previous landslide activity, news articles about those problems probably will surface, said Timothy D. Stark, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Illinois.

For more scientific data, buyers can turn to three landslide maps created by the California Geological Survey. The Reported Landslides Database has reports of landslides from local governments, the National Weather Service and citizen scientists. The Landslide Index allows users to request reports and other documentation of landslides in a specific area. The California Deep Landslide Susceptibility and Landslide Inventory includes a map of the state that marks areas of landslide susceptibility in dark red.

The California Department of Conservation also published a 2023 California Landslide Response report that included a page showing where deep-seated landslide activity might occur after the 2023 storms.

Stark also suggested using Google Earth Pro to look at aerial images over time to look for land movement.

When you look up an address or a neighborhood on Google Earth Pro, it will automatically show you the current image. To view past images, click the View tab and then Historical Imagery or click on a small clock icon above the 3D Viewer. You can then zoom in or out to change the start and end dates.

As you look at the surface of the area you’re researching, Stark said to look for ground surface features such as drops in nearby hillsides or reddish areas (that have exposed or no vegetation) that indicate steep slopes — all potential signs of prior slope movement.

Looking for signs of past or potential landslide activity

Other signs of landslide risks can be spotted with the naked eye when visiting a property you are looking to buy.

When you’re visiting the neighborhood, take a look at the surrounding properties.

If the house is near or around hills, check out the hill or slope itself. A sign of land movement is if the ridge at the top of the hill is flat and then has a steep curve, a drop or cracks, suggesting a previous landslide.

Check the base of the hill; if the ground is heaved up, that’s a sign of movement.

Consider how close the hill or slope is to the property you’re interested in. If there is sudden land movement or a landslide, the higher the nearby hillside, the farther a landslide can travel, Stark said.

Other signs of past land movement in the area might include:
- Misaligned fencing, pavement, guard rails, utility poles, trees or walls.
- Visible cracks on the ground.
- Water and sewer lines that are above ground.
- A cracked or buckled roadway.
- Offset yellow or white lines on the roadway.
- Houses in the neighborhood that are supported by wooden boards or railroad ties.
- Houses that have cracks or are leaning.
You can also check whether land is moving by taking a photograph of the offset marked lines on the ground or a crack in the pavement and revisit the same site a week or two later to see if there’s any visible difference, Stark said.

If you decide to make an offer for a home and start escrow, a home inspector can help you determine if past land movement has affected the property.

Stark said home inspectors will complete a home assessment and look at the walls, drywall and foundation for any types of cracks that suggest land movement. Inspectors will also look at whether the walls are straight and the floor inside the home is level.

Inspectors can also suggest if a geotechnical engineer is needed to conduct soil samples of the home. These tests can detect the behavior of the ground under varying conditions.

Insurance coverage for landslides?

Natural disasters such as earthquakes, flooding and landslides typically are not covered by a general homeowners insurance policy.

However, homeowners can buy a non-standard policy, called a Difference in Condition policy, that’s often used to cover earthquake damage.

Jerry Becerra, president of Heffernan Barbary Insurance Services, said it’s possible to find a DIC policy covering earthquakes where the definition of earth movement is broad enough to include landslides. But he said such a policy could be pricey.

“Presuming you can find a DIC earthquake policy to cover a building located in an area prone to earth movement, the pricing would reflect the exposure,” Becerra said.

Underwriters rely on maps that show soil conditions, proximity to earthquake faults and other factors to determine rates, he said.

If the area is known to have a lot of earth movement, he said, it’s possible no company would be willing to provide coverage.

“I would not take a guess on actual pricing, but I expect it to be more than 1% of the coverage value and subject to high deductibles,” Becerra said.
Karen Garcia

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September 12, 2024
Man killed in downtown Sacramento assault identified as bail bondsman

A man killed in an assault in downtown Sacramento early Monday has been identified as 56-year-old Kevin Brace, police said. Brace was a longtime employee of Greg Padilla Bail Bonds, which is located in the area where the assault took place on I Street. Police said a 38-year-old Jacob Mandell, of Sacramento, was arrested on homicide charges in connection with Brace’s death. Police said they responded to reports of the assault in the 500 block of I Street around 4:15 a.m. Officers and later Sacramento Fire Department personnel performed live-saving measures on Brace but he died at the scene. Police said investigators are working to determine the motive for the assault. Anyone with information is urged to call the dispatch center at 916-808-5471 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at 916-443-HELP (4357). Mandell appeared in court briefly Wednesday to hear the murder charge against him. He’ll next be due in court on June 12. Greg Padilla Bail Bonds’ co-owner Topo Padilla said he planned to be at the suspect’s arraignment on Wednesday and speak afterward. This story is developing. Stay with KCRA 3 for updatesSee more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

A man killed in an assault in downtown Sacramento early Monday has been identified as 56-year-old Kevin Brace, police said.

Brace was a longtime employee of Greg Padilla Bail Bonds, which is located in the area where the assault took place on I Street.

Police said a 38-year-old Jacob Mandell, of Sacramento, was arrested on homicide charges in connection with Brace’s death.

Police said they responded to reports of the assault in the 500 block of I Street around 4:15 a.m.

Officers and later Sacramento Fire Department personnel performed live-saving measures on Brace but he died at the scene.

Police said investigators are working to determine the motive for the assault. Anyone with information is urged to call the dispatch center at 916-808-5471 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at 916-443-HELP (4357).

Mandell appeared in court briefly Wednesday to hear the murder charge against him. He’ll next be due in court on June 12.

Greg Padilla Bail Bonds’ co-owner Topo Padilla said he planned to be at the suspect’s arraignment on Wednesday and speak afterward.

This story is developing. Stay with KCRA 3 for updates

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app.

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June 5, 2024
NYS legislature reveals newest Congressional district map

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A new congressional district map has been revealed by the New York State Legislature. The newest map comes 24 hours after lawmakers rejected a map drawn by the Independent Redistricting Commission.

Lawmakers must still vote on the newest map. The legislature looked at the Special Masters map from two years ago and commission’s version to create the map released on Wednesday.

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Some changes were made to Capital Region districts.

In the 21st district in the North Country, it will no longer includes parts of Rensselaer County. Schoharie County will now be part of that district. The 20th district will now include parts of northern Rensselaer County, and the rest of the county will be in the 19th district.

The legislature plans on voting on this map on Wednesday.

Courtney Ward

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February 27, 2024
Honkai: Star Rail Penacony treasure chests locations and map

Penacony is the third area you’ll visit in Honkai: Star Rail, and with it comes new treasure and puzzles to complete on the new planet. With over 100 new things to find, it can be a lot to scour out all at once.

A lot of the places in Penacony will only unlock once you’ve completed a certain part of the main Trailblaze Missions or have completed certain puzzles. Because of that, we recommend hunting all the treasure once you finish the story.

Most maps have loot hidden around and this loot expands beyond just treasure chests. When you open the map, you’ll notice a chest icon in the top left corner with numbers next to it. This indicates how many of the different types of loot you’ve found. However, this counter only lists treasure that isn’t locked behind puzzles or formidable foes (the powerful monsters that guard chests) and Warp Trotters.

Note that our maps are based off of beta content, so things may be different in the live version. We’re also missing a handful of chests that may be locked behind content that we didn’t get to in the beta. We’ll update this guide as soon as we can if there are any specific changes.

How Penacony treasure chests work

Opening chests and solving puzzles around Penacony will reward you with Clock Credits, which you can turn in to level up the Clockie statue in the center of Golden Hour. Leveling up the statue nets you rewards like Stellar Jade and other goodies.

There are lots of new puzzle types to Penacony, including block-sliding mirror puzzles and literal puzzles (with pieces you have to fit in to make an image). Most notably, there’s a new type of collectable found under the treasure chest drop down when you look at maps: “Lordly Trashcans.” These garbage pails will ask you a question, and if you answer correctly, they’ll give you a reward. If you answer wrong, they’ll engage you in battle — and you’ll still get the same reward after, so don’t worry about answering wrong.

Penacony also has quite a few maps where you’ll be walking on walls and the map there is 3D. While it’s obviously tough for us to convey information on where to find each chest, Warp Trotter, or Lordly Trashcan in these spaces, we did our best to indicate where the chests are located using circles to indicate which platform the object is on.

The Reverie (Reality) treasure chest locations

The Reverie (Reality) F1

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Hoyoverse

The Reverie (Reality) F2

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Hoyoverse

The Reverie (Reality) F3

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Hoyoverse

The first door from the left opens when you do the quest “Cosmic Star.” The second door from the left requires you to do the quest “The Trees as Peace” to open.

Golden Hour treasure chest locations

Golden Hour F1

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Hoyoverse

Golden Hour F2

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Hoyoverse

Golden Hour F3

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Hoyoverse

Dream’s Edge treasure chest locations

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Hoyoverse

A Child’s Dream treasure chest locations

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Hoyoverse

The Reverie (Dreamscape) treasure chest locations

We were only able to find 24 out of 29 treasure chests, even with Topaz and Numby sniffing them out. It’s possible that we missed some or that a room is locked by a quest or future content, but we’ll update this guide when we find the rest of them.

The Reverie (Dreamscape) F1

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Hoyoverse

The Reverie (Dreamscape) F2

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Hoyoverse

The Reverie (Dreamscape) F3

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Hoyoverse

If you’re looking for more chests and loot in Honkai: Star Rail, you can check out our complete maps of the Herta Space Station, the Xianzhou Luofu, and Jarilo-VI, too.

Julia Lee

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February 5, 2024
Fortnite’s new map is too bougie for me

Gone are the days of scrounging up loot at dilapidated taco joints and rusty playgrounds in Fortnite. Epic Games released a massive new update to the battle royale game this week as part of Chapter 5 Season 1. The patch literally blew up the OG map with a meteor, replacing it with an entirely new, much fancier map. Instead of rough locales like Greasy Groves or Tomato Temple, players now explore palatial manors like Lavish Lair or the manicured vineyards of Pleasant Piazza. Fortnite is basically a fancy European vacation now, and it feels a bit outside my personal budget.

Developers stuffed the new map with luxurious points of interest. Another example: Grand Glacier, a hotel nestled on a snow-capped mountain that looks like it’s straight out of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. If the mountains aren’t your thing, you can head over to the Ritzy Riviera, a picturesque shore-side town with villas nestled into a sloped hillside. At places like Classy Courts, decrypted playgrounds with broken concrete have been replaced with manicured hedges.

Image: Epic Games

Call me a traditionalist, but I like to do dumb shit in Fortnite. I personally play as Kakashi from Naruto, and style him with an Among Us backpack as I regale other players with emotes like the Gangnam Style dance. Part of what made me fall in love with Fortnite was the garishness of it all. It’s a bright, cartoony game where you can go fishing with Ariana Grande, then turn around and scuffle with Goku. In the new season, a lot of that whimsy is still there: Peter Griffin is now a skin, and appears as an NPC you can fight. But that tone doesn’t seem to be reflected in the map, which forms a central part of the game.

It isn’t that previous maps were lacking in high-end locations. Prior to the return of the OG map, Chapter 4 Season 4 added the cyberpunk-inspired Mega City and the sweeping Japanese estates of Kenjutsu Crossing. While Kenjutsu resembles the more elaborate locales in the current iteration of the game, some of those additions still evoked a sort of surrealism: Mega City’s sci-fi elements felt true to the less realistic elements of Fortnite.

All that said, locations are subject to change with each update. So it’s possible that further meteors or other ill fates might befall some of these fancy locales and bring back some of the good old Fortnite charm — rough hedges and all.

Ana Diaz

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December 6, 2023
Statue of Liberty and Muir Woods Are the Most Visited National Monuments in the US as per Travel App, Visited
The travel app, Visited, which is popular among US travelers as well as those that travel internationally has published the top 10 most visited US monuments as determined by their 1,500,000 users.

Press Release
–

Jan 19, 2023
TORONTO, January 19, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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The travel map app Visited by Arriving In High Heels Corporation has published a list of the top 10 most visited U.S. national monuments.

Visited, available on iOS or Android, is an app with over 1.5 million internationally travelled users that allows users to mark off places and countries they’ve been to. Users can also browse top travel destinations, set travel goals, get custom printed travel maps, and more in the Visited app.

The top 10 most visited U.S. national monuments according to Visited include:
1. Statue of Liberty National Monument in New York City draws the most visitors each year, attracting people from around the world who come to see Lady Liberty, a symbol of freedom.
2. Muir Woods National Monument includes majestic, towering redwood trees located north of San Francisco, California.
3. Fort Sumter National Monument in Charleston, South Carolina, is the site of the first Civil War battle.
4. Colorado National Monument features a vast arid landscape of red rock canyons and towering monoliths.
5. Devils Tower National Monument is a sacred butte located in the Black Hills of Wyoming.
6. Rainbow Bridge National Monument is one of the world’s largest natural bridges and includes multi-colored rocks in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah.
7. Montezuma Castle National Monument features ancient housing built by indigenous people in the desert of Camp Verde, Arizona.
8. Fort McHenry National Monument is a historic fort in Baltimore, Maryland, that played a part in defending the country from attack by the British in the War of 1812.
9. Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument includes over 12,708 acres of submerged marine habitat located off Saint John, Virgin Islands.
10. George Washington Birthplace National Monument is where the first president of the U.S. grew up in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
To see the complete list of the most popular U.S. national monuments and over 50 bucket lists of the most visited travel destinations, download Visited on iOS or Android.

Create your own countries visited map today. To learn more about the Visited Map App, visit https://visitedapp.com.

About Arriving In High Heels Corporation

Arriving In High Heels Corporation is a mobile app company with apps including Pay Off Debt, X-Walk, and Visited, their most popular app.

Source: Arriving In High Heels Corporation
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January 19, 2023
Halo Infinite Devs Use Fan’s Pokémon Map To Help With Game’s Aiming Issues

Image: The Pokemon Company / 343 Industries / Kotaku

Halo has a long tradition of community-made maps and game modes that range everywhere from serious to silly. Recently, one map and mode combo that’s more on the playful and fun side of things caught the attention of 343 Industries as an opportunity to fix long-standing shooting issues. Named after a certain Pokémon notorious for digging and jumping out of holes, this community creation is now being used to pinpoint and fix aiming and shot registration woes, as they’ve plagued Halo Infinite since it launched just over a year ago.

Halo Infinite, the latest entry in the long-running and often critically acclaimed first person shooter series, only recently received an update that included a beta version of its in-game map creator: Forge. First premiering in Halo 3, Forge has been a staple of the series ever since 2007, allowing anyone to create a map of their own design with the tools necessary to create custom games for it, be those party and minigames or more traditional takes on the franchise’s well-known modes, like Slayer or Capture the Flag. One such community-created game, that takes its name from the Diglett Pokémon, seems to have caught 343’s eye as an opportunity to test drive fixes to the game’s core mechanics.

Read More: Someone Recreated The Entire Halo 1 Warthog Finale In Halo Infinite

With community Forge maps popping up on a regular basis these days, 343 Industries’ senior community manager John Junyszek put out a tweet asking for the community’s favorite Forge minigames so far. When competitive Halo player Linz shouted out Digletts, a game where players pop out of holes to take sniper shots at one another, Junyszek followed up with an interesting bit of behind-the-scenes trivia:

Kotaku has reached out to 343 Industries for more information.

As many Halo fans have known, while Infinite’s core mechanics are solid and work well, there have been issues around aiming, with many players suspecting that the game seems particularly off when trying to line up precision shots with a sniper rifle, either descoped or while aiming down sights. Whether this is due to the game’s auto-aim function that eases controller aim (and exists on most modern shooters that take controller inputs), bullet magnetism, or the notorious desync issues many players have had with Infinite isn’t totally certain. Since Diglet is a game that only features aiming and shooting, it’s a pretty perfect test environment for studying aiming behavior. Junyszek said that the “minigame has recently helped our team further test and investigate various shot registration situations, especially in regards to latency and networking. Since it’s a curated environment without many variables, it’s helped us investigate specific scenarios.”

Check out the the Diglett game mode in action here:

343 Industries / iSpiteful

Who knew RPing as a Diglet armed with a legendary anti-materiel rifle could be so productive?

Claire Jackson

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January 13, 2023