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Tag: state

  • Arizona draws a line on groundwater use after letting Saudi-owned company pump freely for years

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    For years, the water table has been dropping beneath thousands of acres of desert farmland in western Arizona, where a Saudi-owned dairy company has been allowed to pump unlimited amounts of groundwater to grow hay for its cows.

    But the company and other landowners in the area will now face limits under a decision by state officials to impose regulation.

    Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said Monday that her administration is acting to “crack down on the out-of-state special interests that are pumping our state dry while Arizona families and farmers suffer.”

    Fondomonte, part of the Saudi dairy giant Almarai, is by far the largest water user in the area, using dozens of wells to to irrigate alfalfa that it ships overseas to the Middle East.

    After conducting a review, the state Department of Water Resources designated the Ranegras Plain area, located 100 miles west of Phoenix, as a new “active management area” to preserve the groundwater.

    This isn’t the first time the Democratic governor and her administration have used this approach to curb excessive pumping in a rural areas. In January 2025, her administration similarly established a new regulated area to limit agricultural pumping around the city of Willcox in southeastern Arizona.

    Hobbs pointed out that some residents’ wells have gone dry as water levels have plummeted in the Ranegras Plain, and that the land has been sinking as the aquifer is depleted.

    “Unlike politicians of the past, I refuse to bury my head in the sand. I refuse to ignore the problems we face,” Hobbs said Monday in her state of the state address. “We can no longer sit idly by while our rural communities go without help. They deserve solutions and security, not another decade of inaction and uncertainty.”

    The state’s action will prohibit landowners from irrigating any additional farmland in this part of La Paz County and require those with high-capacity wells to start reporting how much water they use. It also will bring other changes, forming a local advisory council and requiring a plan to reduce water use.

    State officials reached the decision after receiving more than 400 comments from the public on the proposal, the vast majority in support. Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, issued the decision, saying the future of residents and local businesses “depends upon protecting the finite groundwater resources.”

    According to state data, water levels in wells in parts of the area have dropped more than 200 feet over the last 40 years, and pumping has increased over the last decade.

    Some residents who spoke at a hearing last month said it’s wrong that Fondomonte gets to use the water to grow hay and export it across the world. Others said they don’t see any problem with having a foreign company as their neighbor but believe farms must switch to less water-intensive crops.

    Following the state’s announcement, Fondomonte said in a written statement that it is “committed to progressive, efficient agricultural practices,” supports the farming community, and “has invested significantly to bring the latest technology to conserve water” on its farms. The company also said it would comply with state and local regulations.

    The company currently faces a lawsuit filed by Arizona Atty. Gen. Kris Mayes alleging that its excessive pumping violates the law by causing declines in groundwater, land subsidence and worsening water quality. That lawsuit is set to continue while the state also imposes its new regulatory limits.

    Holly Irwin, a La Paz County supervisor who for years has pushed to protect the area’s water, said she’s pleased the state finally acted “to stop the bleeding that threatens the vitality of our community.”

    “It’s a big win,” said Irwin, a Republican. “It’s going to prevent other megafarms from being able to move into the area and set up the same type of operation that Fondamonte has going on right now. And it’ll prevent them from expanding.”

    Fondomonte started its Arizona farming operation in 2014. Saudi Arabia has banned the domestic farming of alfalfa and other forage crops because the country’s groundwater has been depleted. As a result, Saudi companies have been buying farmland overseas.

    A lawyer for the company has said it owns 3,600 acres in this part of Arizona. The company also rents 3,088 acres of farmland and 3,163 acres of grazing land in the state.

    In addition, it owns 3,375 acres of California farmland near Blythe, where it uses Colorado River water to irrigate alfalfa fields.

    Efforts to address the depletion of groundwater present complex challenges for communities and government agencies in Arizona, California and other Western states, where climate change is exacerbating strains on water supplies.

    Arizona’s current groundwater law, adopted in 1980, limits pumping in Phoenix, Tucson and other urban areas. But those rules do not apply to about 80% of the state, which has allowed large farming companies and investors to drill wells and pump as much as they want.

    Since Hobbs took office in 2023, she has supported efforts to address overpumping. In one step intended to rein in water use, she terminated Fondomonte’s leases of 3,520 acres of state-owned farmland in Butler Valley in western Arizona. That decision followed an Arizona Republic investigation that revealed the state had given Fondomonte discounted, below-market lease rates.

    When she ended those leases, Hobbs said Fondomonte “was recklessly pumping our groundwater to boost their corporate profits.”

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    Ian James

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  • California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta opts against running for governor. Again.

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    California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Sunday that he would not run for California governor, a decision grounded in his belief that his legal efforts combating the Trump administration as the state’s top prosecutor are paramount at this moment in history.

    “Watching this dystopian horror come to life has reaffirmed something I feel in every fiber of my being: in this moment, my place is here — shielding Californians from the most brazen attacks on our rights and our families,” Bonta said in a statement. “My vision for the California Department of Justice is that we remain the nation’s largest and most powerful check on power.”

    Bonta said that President Trump’s blocking of welfare funds to California and the fatal shooting of a Minnesota mother of three last week by a federal immigration agent cemented his decision to seek reelection to his current post, according to Politico, which first reported that Bonta would not run for governor.

    Bonta, 53, a former state lawmaker and a close political ally to Gov. Gavin Newsom, has served as the state’s top law enforcement official since Newsom appointed him to the position in 2021. In the last year, his office has sued the Trump administration more than 50 times — a track record that would probably have served him well had he decided to run in a state where Trump has lost three times and has sky-high disapproval ratings.

    Bonta in 2024 said that he was considering running. Then in February he announced he had ruled it out and was focused instead on doing the job of attorney general, which he considers especially important under the Trump administration. Then, both former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced they would not run for governor, and Bonta began reconsidering, he said.

    “I had two horses in the governor’s race already,” Bonta told The Times in November. “They decided not to get involved in the end. … The race is fundamentally different today, right?”

    The race for California governor remains wide open. Newsom is serving the final year of his second term and is barred from running again because of term limits. Newsom has said he is considering a run for president in 2028.

    Former Rep. Katie Porter — an early leader in polls — late last year faltered after videos emerged of her screaming at an aide and berating a reporter. The videos contributed to her dropping behind Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, in a November poll released by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times.

    Porter rebounded a bit toward the end of the year, a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California showed, however none of the candidates has secured a majority of support and many voters remain undecided.

    California hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 2006, Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans in the state, and many are seething with anger over Trump and looking for Democratic candidates willing to fight back against the current administration.

    Bonta has faced questions in recent months about spending about $468,000 in campaign funds on legal advice last year as he spoke to federal investigators about alleged corruption involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who was charged in an alleged bribery scheme involving local businessmen David Trung Duong and Andy Hung Duong. All three have pleaded not guilty.

    According to his political consultant Dan Newman, Bonta — who had received campaign donations from the Duong family — was approached by investigators because he was initially viewed as a “possible victim” in the alleged scheme, though that was later ruled out. Bonta has since returned $155,000 in campaign contributions from the Duong family, according to news reports.

    Bonta is the son of civil rights activists Warren Bonta, a white native Californian, and Cynthia Bonta, a native of the Philippines who immigrated to the U.S. on a scholarship in 1965. Bonta, a U.S. citizen, was born in Quezon City, Philippines, in 1972, when his parents were working there as missionaries, and immigrated with his family to California as an infant.

    In 2012, Bonta was elected to represent Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro as the first Filipino American to serve in California’s Legislature. In Sacramento, he pursued a string of criminal justice reforms and developed a record as one of the body’s most liberal members.

    Bonta is married to Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), who succeeded him in the state Assembly, and the couple have three children.

    Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report.

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    Kevin Rector, Seema Mehta

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  • ‘Silence is complicity’: Protesters continue to rally for justice, understanding

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    Nearly 1,000 protests across the country formed on Saturday following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis and the shooting of two people in Portland, Oregon, by federal officers enforcing a Trump administration immigration crackdown.Protests, vigils and other “ICE Out For Good” events have taken place the past few days. Some protesters were criticizing members of the Trump administration, like U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller.Video above: Candlelight vigil held to honor Renee GoodIn Savannah, Georgia, Kendra Clark said the protest is less about political parties and more about understanding each other.”When you start talking to people, what you realize is we all want the same things. And so that’s what we’re here to do today, is to bring people together and show that we’re all working together,” Clark said.Nearly 100 people joined the protest in Savannah Saturday.”Well, silence is complicity. And if I stay silent and sit still at home, then I’m asking for whatever’s going to happen,” protester Margie Standard said. “And with the way things are going, things aren’t happening very good.”Two were arrested in Savannah during the two-hour protest.Some people in Frankfurt, Kentucky, turned a different page for their protest. Nearly 160 protesters held a silent gathering to get their message across. Organizer Tona Barkley said the gathering was meant to give people a place to process and to show solidarity.“This, I think, is kind of a turning point and it’s very, very important for us to get out and to give people in our community a place in a way to express their grief and their outrage,” Barkley said.For some in attendance, the protest was also about what comes next for younger generations. Susan Goddard said her grandson has already noticed the impact in his classroom.“I asked him, when all that went down, you know, are there people at your school that not showing up? And he said, yes. And he doesn’t understand and it’s upsetting. He wanted to know why,” Goddard said.Things were a bit more rowdy in Florida as a 65-year-old Boca Raton man is facing two battery charges after an anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs protest became heated at an intersection west of Boca Raton on Saturday morning.Video below: Protesters physically confronted in FloridaThomas Landry was arrested Saturday morning, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.Louis Garcia, of Boynton Beach, who was wearing a “Firefighters for Biden/Harris” shirt, said there were about 200 protesters at the intersection, but he chose to go to another corner where there weren’t other people.”I had my back turned facing the eastbound traffic,” said Garcia, noting he was with two female protesters. “I was holding a large American flag and an impeach Trump sign.”All of a sudden, I heard a scream. He knocked the impeach Trump sign, knocked down a young woman.”This guy was coming up behind me, very cowardly. Punched me in the chest with closed fist. I was startled and told to back up. He kept moving forward. Went to swing at head and knocked off my helmet,” Garcia said.PBSO, which was nearby, was contacted and Landry was arrested on suspicion of battery of Garcia and a woman.Garcia said he didn’t sustain any injuries.Video below: Boston protesters rally for second day as new details surface in deadly Minnesota ICE shootingTwo rallies were held in Boston Saturday.Demonstrators demanded that Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and other lawmakers sever all ties between state and local law enforcement and ICE, end the alleged immigration-to-incarceration pipeline, and help families impacted by ICE detentions.”An attack on a community member is an attack on all of us,” An Immigrant Justice Network statement read. “We keep each other safe — and we will continue to show up together until ICE is out of our communities.”The group said they were there to mourn those killed by immigration enforcement and to demand an end to ICE operations and local collaboration across the state.Boston police did not report any arrests at either protest.Things turned violent in Minnesota Friday night.A protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as demonstrators threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Saturday. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested. He faulted “agitators that are trying to rile up large crowds.””This is what Donald Trump wants,” Frey said of the president who has demanded massive immigration enforcement efforts in several U.S. cities. “He wants us to take the bait.”Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz echoed the call for peace.”Trump sent thousands of armed federal officers into our state, and it took just one day for them to kill someone,” Walz posted on social media. “Now he wants nothing more than to see chaos distract from that horrific action. Don’t give him what he wants.”

    Nearly 1,000 protests across the country formed on Saturday following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis and the shooting of two people in Portland, Oregon, by federal officers enforcing a Trump administration immigration crackdown.

    Protests, vigils and other “ICE Out For Good” events have taken place the past few days.

    Some protesters were criticizing members of the Trump administration, like U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller.

    Video above: Candlelight vigil held to honor Renee Good

    In Savannah, Georgia, Kendra Clark said the protest is less about political parties and more about understanding each other.

    “When you start talking to people, what you realize is we all want the same things. And so that’s what we’re here to do today, is to bring people together and show that we’re all working together,” Clark said.

    Nearly 100 people joined the protest in Savannah Saturday.

    “Well, silence is complicity. And if I stay silent and sit still at home, then I’m asking for whatever’s going to happen,” protester Margie Standard said. “And with the way things are going, things aren’t happening very good.”

    Two were arrested in Savannah during the two-hour protest.

    Some people in Frankfurt, Kentucky, turned a different page for their protest. Nearly 160 protesters held a silent gathering to get their message across.

    Organizer Tona Barkley said the gathering was meant to give people a place to process and to show solidarity.

    “This, I think, is kind of a turning point and it’s very, very important for us to get out and to give people in our community a place in a way to express their grief and their outrage,” Barkley said.

    For some in attendance, the protest was also about what comes next for younger generations. Susan Goddard said her grandson has already noticed the impact in his classroom.

    “I asked him, when all that went down, you know, are there people at your school that not showing up? And he said, yes. And he doesn’t understand and it’s upsetting. He wanted to know why,” Goddard said.

    Things were a bit more rowdy in Florida as a 65-year-old Boca Raton man is facing two battery charges after an anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs protest became heated at an intersection west of Boca Raton on Saturday morning.

    Video below: Protesters physically confronted in Florida

    Thomas Landry was arrested Saturday morning, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.

    Louis Garcia, of Boynton Beach, who was wearing a “Firefighters for Biden/Harris” shirt, said there were about 200 protesters at the intersection, but he chose to go to another corner where there weren’t other people.

    “I had my back turned facing the eastbound traffic,” said Garcia, noting he was with two female protesters. “I was holding a large American flag and an impeach Trump sign.

    “All of a sudden, I heard a scream. He knocked the impeach Trump sign, knocked down a young woman.

    “This guy was coming up behind me, very cowardly. Punched me in the chest with closed fist. I was startled and told to back up. He kept moving forward. Went to swing at head and knocked off my helmet,” Garcia said.

    PBSO, which was nearby, was contacted and Landry was arrested on suspicion of battery of Garcia and a woman.

    Garcia said he didn’t sustain any injuries.

    Video below: Boston protesters rally for second day as new details surface in deadly Minnesota ICE shooting

    Two rallies were held in Boston Saturday.

    Demonstrators demanded that Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and other lawmakers sever all ties between state and local law enforcement and ICE, end the alleged immigration-to-incarceration pipeline, and help families impacted by ICE detentions.

    “An attack on a community member is an attack on all of us,” An Immigrant Justice Network statement read. “We keep each other safe — and we will continue to show up together until ICE is out of our communities.”

    The group said they were there to mourn those killed by immigration enforcement and to demand an end to ICE operations and local collaboration across the state.

    Boston police did not report any arrests at either protest.

    Things turned violent in Minnesota Friday night.

    A protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as demonstrators threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Saturday. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested. He faulted “agitators that are trying to rile up large crowds.”

    “This is what Donald Trump wants,” Frey said of the president who has demanded massive immigration enforcement efforts in several U.S. cities. “He wants us to take the bait.”

    Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz echoed the call for peace.

    “Trump sent thousands of armed federal officers into our state, and it took just one day for them to kill someone,” Walz posted on social media. “Now he wants nothing more than to see chaos distract from that horrific action. Don’t give him what he wants.”

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  • Protests against ICE planned across the US after shootings in Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon

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    Protesters against immigration enforcement actions took to the streets in cities and towns across the country on Saturday after a federal officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis and another shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon.Video above: Protesters and counterprotesters clash in Minneapolis day after ICE shootingThe demonstrations come as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security pushes forward in the Twin Cities with what it calls its biggest-ever immigration enforcement operation. President Donald Trump’s administration has said both shootings were acts of self-defense against drivers who “weaponized” their vehicles to attack officers. Steven Eubanks, 51, said he felt compelled to get out of his comfort zone and attend a Saturday protest in Durham, North Carolina, because of what he called the “horrifying” killing in Minneapolis.”We can’t allow it,” Eubanks said. “We have to stand up.”Video below: Protests intensify after ICE shooting of Renee GoodIndivisible, a social movement organization that formed to resist the Trump administration, said hundreds of protests were scheduled in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Florida and other states. Many were dubbed “ICE Out for Good” using the acronym for the federal agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Indivisible and its local chapters organized protests in all 50 states last year.In Minneapolis, a coalition of migrant rights groups called for a demonstration at Powderhorn Park, a large green space about half a mile from the residential neighborhood where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot on Wednesday. They said the rally and march would celebrate Good’s life and call for an “end to deadly terror on our streets.”Protests held in the neighborhood have so far been largely peaceful, in contrast to the violence that hit Minneapolis in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Near the airport, some confrontations erupted on Thursday and Friday between smaller groups of protesters and officers guarding the federal building used as a base for the Twin Cities crackdown. On Friday night, a protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as people threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference Saturday. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested.The Trump administration has been surging thousands of federal officers to Minnesota under a sweeping new crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. More than 2,000 officers were taking part. Some officers moved in after abruptly pulling out of Louisiana, where they were part of another operation that started last month and was expected to last until February. Associated Press writer Allen Breed contributed to this report from Durham, North Carolina.

    MINNEAPOLIS —

    Protesters against immigration enforcement actions took to the streets in cities and towns across the country on Saturday after a federal officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis and another shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon.

    Video above: Protesters and counterprotesters clash in Minneapolis day after ICE shooting

    The demonstrations come as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security pushes forward in the Twin Cities with what it calls its biggest-ever immigration enforcement operation. President Donald Trump’s administration has said both shootings were acts of self-defense against drivers who “weaponized” their vehicles to attack officers.

    Steven Eubanks, 51, said he felt compelled to get out of his comfort zone and attend a Saturday protest in Durham, North Carolina, because of what he called the “horrifying” killing in Minneapolis.

    “We can’t allow it,” Eubanks said. “We have to stand up.”

    Video below: Protests intensify after ICE shooting of Renee Good

    Indivisible, a social movement organization that formed to resist the Trump administration, said hundreds of protests were scheduled in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Florida and other states. Many were dubbed “ICE Out for Good” using the acronym for the federal agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Indivisible and its local chapters organized protests in all 50 states last year.

    In Minneapolis, a coalition of migrant rights groups called for a demonstration at Powderhorn Park, a large green space about half a mile from the residential neighborhood where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot on Wednesday. They said the rally and march would celebrate Good’s life and call for an “end to deadly terror on our streets.”

    Protests held in the neighborhood have so far been largely peaceful, in contrast to the violence that hit Minneapolis in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Near the airport, some confrontations erupted on Thursday and Friday between smaller groups of protesters and officers guarding the federal building used as a base for the Twin Cities crackdown.

    NurPhoto

    In St. Paul, Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz and First Lady Gwen Walz join a moment of silence with clergy and demonstrators at the Minnesota State Capitol during a vigil urging accountability and compassion after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman this week.

    On Friday night, a protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as people threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference Saturday. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested.

    The Trump administration has been surging thousands of federal officers to Minnesota under a sweeping new crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. More than 2,000 officers were taking part.

    Some officers moved in after abruptly pulling out of Louisiana, where they were part of another operation that started last month and was expected to last until February.

    Associated Press writer Allen Breed contributed to this report from Durham, North Carolina.

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  • Graphic: New video shows confrontation between ICE officer, Renee Good before fatal shooting

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    A Minnesota prosecutor on Friday called on the public to share with investigators any recordings and evidence connected to the fatal shooting of Renee Good as a new video emerged showing the final moments of her encounter with an immigration officer.Warning: The video above may be graphic to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.The Minneapolis killing and a separate shooting in Portland, Oregon, a day later by the Border Patrol have set off protests in multiple cities and denunciations of immigration enforcement tactics by the U.S. government. The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents.The reaction to the shooting has largely been focused on witness cellphone video of the encounter. A new, 47-second video that was published online by a Minnesota-based conservative news site, Alpha News, and later reposted on social media by the Department of Homeland Security shows the shooting from the perspective of ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who fired the shots.Video below: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds press conference FridaySirens blaring in the background, he approaches Good’s vehicle in the middle of the road while apparently filming on his cellphone. At the same time, Good’s wife also was recording the encounter and can be seen walking around the vehicle and approaching the officer. A series of exchanges occurred:”That’s fine, I’m not mad at you,” Good says as the officer passes by her door. She has one hand on the steering wheel and the other outside the open driver side window.”U.S. citizen, former f—ing veteran,” says her wife, standing outside the passenger side of the SUV holding up her phone. “You wanna come at us, you wanna come at us, I say go get yourself some lunch big boy.”Other officers at the scene are approaching the driver’s side of the car at about the same time and one says: “Get out of the car, get out of the f—ing car.” Good reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel toward the passenger side as she drives ahead and Ross opens fire.The camera becomes unsteady and points toward the sky and then returns to the street view showing Good’s SUV careening away.”F—— b—,” someone at the scene says.A crashing sound is heard as Good’s vehicle smashes into others parked on the street.Federal agencies have encouraged officers to document encounters in which people may attempt to interfere with enforcement actions, but policing experts have cautioned that recording on a handheld device can complicate already volatile situations by occupying an officer’s hands and narrowing focus at moments when rapid decision-making is required.Under an ICE policy directive, officers and agents are expected to activate body-worn cameras at the start of enforcement activities and to record throughout interactions, and footage must be kept for review in serious incidents such as deaths or use-of-force cases. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to questions about whether the officer who opened fire or any of the others who were on the scene were wearing body cameras.Homeland Security says video shows self-defenseVice President JD Vance and Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in posts on X that the new video backs their contention that the officer fired in self-defense.“Many of you have been told this law enforcement officer wasn’t hit by a car, wasn’t being harassed, and murdered an innocent woman,” Vance said. “The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self defense.”Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has said any self-defense argument is “garbage.”Policing experts said the video didn’t change their thoughts on the use-of-force but did raise additional questions about the officer’s training.“Now that we can see he’s holding a gun in one hand and a cellphone in the other filming, I want to see the officer training that permits that,” said Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina.The video demonstrates that the officers didn’t perceive Good to be a threat, said John P. Gross, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School who has written extensively about officers shooting at moving vehicles.“If you are an officer who views this woman as a threat, you don’t have one hand on a cellphone. You don’t walk around this supposed weapon, casually filming,” Gross said. Attempts to reach Ross at phone numbers and email addresses associated with him were not successful. Prosecutor asks for video and evidenceMeanwhile, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration’s decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Good’s killing.She also said the officer who shot Good in the head does not have complete legal immunity, as Vice President JD Vance declared.Video above: VP Vance addresses, answers questions on ICE shooting in Minneapolis”We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” Moriarty said at a news conference. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn’t sure what legal outcome submissions might produce.Good’s wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.””On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns,” Becca Good said.”I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote.The reaction to Good’s shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution and offering an online option through Feb. 12.On Friday, protesters were outside a federal facility serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in Minneapolis and St. Paul. That evening, hundreds protested outside a hotel in downtown Minneapolis, banging on pots and drums and carrying signs that said, “ICE Out” and “Don’t Shoot.”Video below: Minnesota law enforcement blocked from federal investigation into deadly ICE shooting Shooting in PortlandThe Portland shooting happened outside a hospital Thursday. A federal border officer shot and wounded a man and woman in a vehicle, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras. Police said they were in stable condition Friday after surgery, with DHS saying Nico Moncada was taken into FBI custodyDHS defended the actions of its officers in Portland, saying the shooting occurred after the driver with alleged gang ties tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit them. It said no officers were injured.Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed that the two people shot had “some nexus” to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Day said they came to the attention of police during an investigation of a July shooting believed to have been carried out by gang members, but they were not identified as suspects.The chief said any gang affiliation did not necessarily justify the shooting by U.S. Border Patrol. The Oregon Department of Justice said it would investigate.The biggest crackdown yetThe Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests.The government is also shifting immigration officers to Minneapolis from sweeps in Louisiana, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. This represents a pivot, as the Louisiana crackdown that began in December had been expected to last into February.Good’s death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since President Donald Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, with protests planned for this weekend, according to Indivisible, a group formed to resist the Trump administration.A deadly encounter seen from multiple anglesNoem, Trump and others in his administration have repeatedly characterized the Minneapolis shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.Several bystanders captured video of Good’s killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said any self-defense argument is “garbage.”The federal agent who fatally shot Good is an Iraq War veteran who has served for nearly two decades in the Border Patrol and ICE, according to records obtained by AP.Noem has not publicly named him, but a Homeland Security spokesperson said her description of his injuries last summer refers to an incident in Bloomington, Minnesota, in which court documents identify him as Ross.Ross got his arm stuck in the window of a vehicle whose driver was fleeing arrest on an immigration violation. Ross was dragged and fired his Taser. A jury found the driver guilty of assault. ___Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis; Ed White in Detroit; Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas; Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Jim Mustian and Safiyah Riddle in New York; Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

    MINNEAPOLIS —

    A Minnesota prosecutor on Friday called on the public to share with investigators any recordings and evidence connected to the fatal shooting of Renee Good as a new video emerged showing the final moments of her encounter with an immigration officer.

    Warning: The video above may be graphic to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

    The Minneapolis killing and a separate shooting in Portland, Oregon, a day later by the Border Patrol have set off protests in multiple cities and denunciations of immigration enforcement tactics by the U.S. government. The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents.

    The reaction to the shooting has largely been focused on witness cellphone video of the encounter. A new, 47-second video that was published online by a Minnesota-based conservative news site, Alpha News, and later reposted on social media by the Department of Homeland Security shows the shooting from the perspective of ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who fired the shots.

    Video below: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds press conference Friday

    Sirens blaring in the background, he approaches Good’s vehicle in the middle of the road while apparently filming on his cellphone. At the same time, Good’s wife also was recording the encounter and can be seen walking around the vehicle and approaching the officer. A series of exchanges occurred:

    “That’s fine, I’m not mad at you,” Good says as the officer passes by her door. She has one hand on the steering wheel and the other outside the open driver side window.

    “U.S. citizen, former f—ing veteran,” says her wife, standing outside the passenger side of the SUV holding up her phone. “You wanna come at us, you wanna come at us, I say go get yourself some lunch big boy.”

    Other officers at the scene are approaching the driver’s side of the car at about the same time and one says: “Get out of the car, get out of the f—ing car.” Good reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel toward the passenger side as she drives ahead and Ross opens fire.

    The camera becomes unsteady and points toward the sky and then returns to the street view showing Good’s SUV careening away.

    “F—— b—,” someone at the scene says.

    A crashing sound is heard as Good’s vehicle smashes into others parked on the street.

    Federal agencies have encouraged officers to document encounters in which people may attempt to interfere with enforcement actions, but policing experts have cautioned that recording on a handheld device can complicate already volatile situations by occupying an officer’s hands and narrowing focus at moments when rapid decision-making is required.

    Under an ICE policy directive, officers and agents are expected to activate body-worn cameras at the start of enforcement activities and to record throughout interactions, and footage must be kept for review in serious incidents such as deaths or use-of-force cases. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to questions about whether the officer who opened fire or any of the others who were on the scene were wearing body cameras.

    Homeland Security says video shows self-defense

    Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in posts on X that the new video backs their contention that the officer fired in self-defense.

    “Many of you have been told this law enforcement officer wasn’t hit by a car, wasn’t being harassed, and murdered an innocent woman,” Vance said. “The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self defense.”

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has said any self-defense argument is “garbage.”

    Policing experts said the video didn’t change their thoughts on the use-of-force but did raise additional questions about the officer’s training.

    “Now that we can see he’s holding a gun in one hand and a cellphone in the other filming, I want to see the officer training that permits that,” said Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina.

    The video demonstrates that the officers didn’t perceive Good to be a threat, said John P. Gross, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School who has written extensively about officers shooting at moving vehicles.

    “If you are an officer who views this woman as a threat, you don’t have one hand on a cellphone. You don’t walk around this supposed weapon, casually filming,” Gross said.

    Attempts to reach Ross at phone numbers and email addresses associated with him were not successful.

    Prosecutor asks for video and evidence

    Meanwhile, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration’s decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Good’s killing.

    She also said the officer who shot Good in the head does not have complete legal immunity, as Vice President JD Vance declared.

    Video above: VP Vance addresses, answers questions on ICE shooting in Minneapolis

    “We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” Moriarty said at a news conference. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”

    Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn’t sure what legal outcome submissions might produce.

    Good’s wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.”

    “On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns,” Becca Good said.

    “I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote.

    The reaction to Good’s shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution and offering an online option through Feb. 12.

    On Friday, protesters were outside a federal facility serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in Minneapolis and St. Paul. That evening, hundreds protested outside a hotel in downtown Minneapolis, banging on pots and drums and carrying signs that said, “ICE Out” and “Don’t Shoot.”

    Video below: Minnesota law enforcement blocked from federal investigation into deadly ICE shooting

    Shooting in Portland

    The Portland shooting happened outside a hospital Thursday. A federal border officer shot and wounded a man and woman in a vehicle, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras. Police said they were in stable condition Friday after surgery, with DHS saying Nico Moncada was taken into FBI custody

    DHS defended the actions of its officers in Portland, saying the shooting occurred after the driver with alleged gang ties tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit them. It said no officers were injured.

    Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed that the two people shot had “some nexus” to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Day said they came to the attention of police during an investigation of a July shooting believed to have been carried out by gang members, but they were not identified as suspects.

    The chief said any gang affiliation did not necessarily justify the shooting by U.S. Border Patrol. The Oregon Department of Justice said it would investigate.

    The biggest crackdown yet

    The Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests.

    The government is also shifting immigration officers to Minneapolis from sweeps in Louisiana, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. This represents a pivot, as the Louisiana crackdown that began in December had been expected to last into February.

    Good’s death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since President Donald Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, with protests planned for this weekend, according to Indivisible, a group formed to resist the Trump administration.

    A deadly encounter seen from multiple angles

    Noem, Trump and others in his administration have repeatedly characterized the Minneapolis shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.

    Several bystanders captured video of Good’s killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said any self-defense argument is “garbage.”

    The federal agent who fatally shot Good is an Iraq War veteran who has served for nearly two decades in the Border Patrol and ICE, according to records obtained by AP.

    Noem has not publicly named him, but a Homeland Security spokesperson said her description of his injuries last summer refers to an incident in Bloomington, Minnesota, in which court documents identify him as Ross.

    Ross got his arm stuck in the window of a vehicle whose driver was fleeing arrest on an immigration violation. Ross was dragged and fired his Taser. A jury found the driver guilty of assault.

    ___

    Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis; Ed White in Detroit; Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas; Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Jim Mustian and Safiyah Riddle in New York; Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

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  • Federal judge blocks Trump administration’s freeze of $10 billion in child-care funds

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    A federal judge in New York has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s move to freeze $10 billion in child-care funds in five Democrat-led states including California.

    The ruling Friday afternoon capped a tumultuous stretch that began earlier this week when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told California officials and those in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York that it would freeze federal funding over fraud concerns.

    On Thursday the states sued the administration in federal court in Manhattan. The states sought a temporary restraining order, asking the court to block the funding freeze and the administration’s demands for large volumes of administrative data.

    An attorney for the states argued Friday morning that there was an immediate need for funding — and that withholding it would cause chaos by depriving families of their ability to pay for child care, and would harm child-care providers who would lose income.

    In a brief ruling, Judge Arun Subramanian said that “good cause has been shown for the issuance of a temporary restraining order.”

    The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The federal government’s effort has been viewed as a broad attack on social services in California, and jolted tens of thousands of working families and the state’s child-care industry. Providers told The Times that the funding freeze could imperil child-care centers, many of which operate on slim margins.

    “The underscoring issue is that child care and these other federally funded social services programs are major family supports,” said Nina Buthee, executive director of EveryChild California. “They are essential infrastructure that our communities need and depend on, and should not be political tools. So the fact that this judge went in and blocked this very dramatic freeze, I think is only a good thing.”

    In a trio of Jan. 6 letters addressed to Gov. Gavin Newsom, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it was concerned there had been “potential for extensive and systemic fraud” in child care and other social services programs that rely on federal funding, and had “reason to believe” that the state was “illicitly providing illegal aliens” with benefits.

    The letters did not provide evidence to support the claims. State officials have said the suggestions of fraud are unsubstantiated.

    Newsom has said he welcomes any fraud investigations the federal government might conduct, but said cutting off funding hurts families who rely on the aid. According to the state Legislative Analyst’s Office, about $1.4 billion in federal child-care funding was frozen per the letters from Health and Human Services.

    “You want to support families? You believe in families? Then you believe in supporting child care and child-care workers in the workforce,” Newsom told MS NOW.

    After Subramanian issued the ruling, Newsom’s press office said on X that “the feds went ghost-hunting for widespread ‘fraud’ (with no evidence) — and ended up trying to rip child care and food from kids.”

    “It took a federal judge less than 24 hours to shut down Trump’s politically motivated child care cuts in California,” the account posted.

    In instituting the freeze, Health and Human Services had said it would review how the federal money had been used by the state, and was restricting access to additional money amid its inquiries. The federal government asked for various data, including attendance documentation for child care. It also demanded beefed-up fiscal accountability requirements.

    “Again and again, President Trump has shown a willingness to throw vulnerable children, seniors, and families under the bus if he thinks it will advance his vendetta against Democratic-led states,” Bonta said in a statement following the ruling. “Cutting funding for childcare and other family assistance is cruel, reckless, and most importantly, illegal.”

    For Laura Pryor, research director at the California Budget & Policy Center, it is “a sigh of relief.”

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  • California sues Trump administration over ‘baseless and cruel’ freezing of child-care funds

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    California is suing the Trump administration over its “baseless and cruel” decision to freeze $10 billion in federal funding for child care and family assistance allocated to California and four other Democratic-led states, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Thursday.

    The lawsuit was filed jointly by the five states targeted by the freeze — California, New York, Minnesota, Illinois and Colorado — over the Trump administration’s allegations of widespread fraud within their welfare systems. California alone is facing a loss of about $5 billion in funding, including $1.4 billion for child-care programs.

    The lawsuit alleges that the freeze is based on unfounded claims of fraud and infringes on Congress’ spending power as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    “This is just the latest example of Trump’s willingness to throw vulnerable children, vulnerable families and seniors under the bus if he thinks it will advance his vendetta against California and Democratic-led states,” Bonta said at a Thursday evening news conference.

    The $10-billion funding freeze follows the administration’s decision to freeze $185 million in child-care funds to Minnesota, where federal officials allege that as much as half of the roughly $18 billion paid to 14 state-run programs since 2018 may have been fraudulent. Amid the fallout, Gov. Tim Walz has ordered a third-party audit and announced that he will not seek a third term.

    Bonta said that letters sent by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announcing the freeze Tuesday provided no evidence to back up claims of widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars in California. The freeze applies to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, the Social Services Block Grant program and the Child Care and Development Fund.

    “This is funding that California parents count on to get the safe and reliable child care they need so that they can go to work and provide for their families,” he said. “It’s funding that helps families on the brink of homelessness keep roofs over their heads.”

    Bonta also raised concerns regarding Health and Human Services’ request that California turn over all documents associated with the state’s implementation of the three programs. This requires the state to share personally identifiable information about program participants, a move Bonta called “deeply concerning and also deeply questionable.”

    “The administration doesn’t have the authority to override the established, lawful process our states have already gone through to submit plans and receive approval for these funds,” Bonta said. “It doesn’t have the authority to override the U.S. Constitution and trample Congress’ power of the purse.”

    The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Manhattan and marked the 53rd suit California had filed against the Trump administration since the president’s inauguration last January. It asks the court to block the funding freeze and the administration’s sweeping demands for documents and data.

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    Clara Harter

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  • Minnesota governor says state must play a role in investigation after ICE agent fatally shoots woman

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    Minnesota must play a role in investigating the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Gov. Tim Walz insisted Thursday, pushing back against the Trump administration’s decision to keep the investigation solely in federal hands.A day after the unidentified ICE officer shot and killed 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good as she tried to drive away on a snowy Minneapolis street, tensions remained high, with dozens of protesters venting their outrage outside of a federal facility that’s serving as a hub for the administration’s latest immigration crackdown on a major city.Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of the crackdowns in other cities, walked along the long line of officers, looking at the crowd as protesters yelled at him, including a man who shouted, “Border Patrol should be along the border!” Many activists tried to converse with the officers and persuade them that the job they were doing was wrong.“We should be horrified,” protester Shanta Hejmadi said as demonstrators shouted “No More ICE,” “Go Home Nazis,” and other slogans at a line of Border Patrol officers, who responded with tear gas and pepper spray. “We should be saddened that our government is waging war on our citizens. We should get out and say no. What else can we do?”Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump and others in his administration characterized the shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.Vice President JD Vance weighed in Thursday, saying the shooting was justified and that Good was a “victim of left-wing ideology.”“I can believe that her death is a tragedy while also recognizing that it is a tragedy of her own making,” Vance said, noting that the officer who killed her was injured while making an arrest last June.But state and local officials and protesters rejected that characterization, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saying video of the shooting shows the self-defense argument to be “garbage.” Video below: VP Vance addresses, answers questions on ICE shooting in Minneapolis An immigration crackdown quickly turns deadlyThe shooting happened on Day 2 of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, which the Department of Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers taking part, and Noem said they have already made more than 1,500 arrests.It provoked an immediate response in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of people turning up to the scene to vent their outrage at the ICE officers and the school district later canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution.Good’s death — at least the fifth tied to an immigration crackdown under Trump — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, as anti-immigration enforcement protests took place or were expected Thursday in New York City, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago. Protests were also scheduled for later this week in Arizona, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.Video above: Witness describes Minneapolis shooting involving ICE officerWho will investigate?On Thursday, the Minnesota agency that investigates officer-involved shootings said it was informed that the FBI and U.S. Justice Department would not work with the department, effectively ending any role for the state to determine if crimes were committed. Noem said the state has no jurisdiction.“Without complete access to the evidence, witnesses and information collected, we cannot meet the investigative standards that Minnesota law and the public demands,” Drew Evans, the bureau’s superintendent, said.Walz publicly demanded that the state be allowed to take part, repeatedly emphasizing that it would be “very difficult for Minnesotans” to accept that an investigation that excludes the state could be fair.Walz publicly demanded that the state be allowed to take part, repeatedly emphasizing that it would be “very, very difficult for Minnesotans” to accept that an investigation that excludes the state could be fair.Noem, he said, was “judge, jury and basically executioner” during her public comments about the confrontation.“People in positions of power have already passed judgment, from the president to the vice president to Kristi Noem — have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate,” the governor said.Frey, the mayor, told The Associated Press: “We want to make sure that there is a check on this administration to ensure that this investigation is done for justice, not for the sake of a cover-up.”Video above: Kristi Noem questioned on ICE shootingA deadly encounter seen from several anglesSeveral bystanders captured footage of Good’s killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown.The videos show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward, and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.Graphic video shows woman shot by ICE agent in MinneapolisIt isn’t clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there is no indication of whether the woman had interactions with ICE agents earlier. After the shooting the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.The mayor said he’s working with community leaders to try to keep any protests peaceful.“The top thing that this Trump administration is looking for is an excuse to come in with militarized force, to further occupy our streets, to cause more chaos, to have this kind of civil war on the streets of America in a Democratically run city,” Frey told the AP. “We cannot give them what they want.” ___Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski, Giovanna Dell’Orto and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis, Ed White in Detroit, Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas, Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma, Michael Biesecker In Washington, Jim Mustian in New York and Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa contributed.

    MINNEAPOLIS —

    Minnesota must play a role in investigating the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Gov. Tim Walz insisted Thursday, pushing back against the Trump administration’s decision to keep the investigation solely in federal hands.

    A day after the unidentified ICE officer shot and killed 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good as she tried to drive away on a snowy Minneapolis street, tensions remained high, with dozens of protesters venting their outrage outside of a federal facility that’s serving as a hub for the administration’s latest immigration crackdown on a major city.

    Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of the crackdowns in other cities, walked along the long line of officers, looking at the crowd as protesters yelled at him, including a man who shouted, “Border Patrol should be along the border!” Many activists tried to converse with the officers and persuade them that the job they were doing was wrong.

    “We should be horrified,” protester Shanta Hejmadi said as demonstrators shouted “No More ICE,” “Go Home Nazis,” and other slogans at a line of Border Patrol officers, who responded with tear gas and pepper spray. “We should be saddened that our government is waging war on our citizens. We should get out and say no. What else can we do?”

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump and others in his administration characterized the shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.

    Vice President JD Vance weighed in Thursday, saying the shooting was justified and that Good was a “victim of left-wing ideology.”

    “I can believe that her death is a tragedy while also recognizing that it is a tragedy of her own making,” Vance said, noting that the officer who killed her was injured while making an arrest last June.

    But state and local officials and protesters rejected that characterization, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saying video of the shooting shows the self-defense argument to be “garbage.”

    Video below: VP Vance addresses, answers questions on ICE shooting in Minneapolis

    An immigration crackdown quickly turns deadly

    The shooting happened on Day 2 of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, which the Department of Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers taking part, and Noem said they have already made more than 1,500 arrests.

    It provoked an immediate response in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of people turning up to the scene to vent their outrage at the ICE officers and the school district later canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution.

    Good’s death — at least the fifth tied to an immigration crackdown under Trump — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, as anti-immigration enforcement protests took place or were expected Thursday in New York City, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago. Protests were also scheduled for later this week in Arizona, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.

    Video above: Witness describes Minneapolis shooting involving ICE officer

    Who will investigate?

    On Thursday, the Minnesota agency that investigates officer-involved shootings said it was informed that the FBI and U.S. Justice Department would not work with the department, effectively ending any role for the state to determine if crimes were committed. Noem said the state has no jurisdiction.

    “Without complete access to the evidence, witnesses and information collected, we cannot meet the investigative standards that Minnesota law and the public demands,” Drew Evans, the bureau’s superintendent, said.

    Walz publicly demanded that the state be allowed to take part, repeatedly emphasizing that it would be “very difficult for Minnesotans” to accept that an investigation that excludes the state could be fair.

    Walz publicly demanded that the state be allowed to take part, repeatedly emphasizing that it would be “very, very difficult for Minnesotans” to accept that an investigation that excludes the state could be fair.

    Noem, he said, was “judge, jury and basically executioner” during her public comments about the confrontation.

    “People in positions of power have already passed judgment, from the president to the vice president to Kristi Noem — have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate,” the governor said.

    Frey, the mayor, told The Associated Press: “We want to make sure that there is a check on this administration to ensure that this investigation is done for justice, not for the sake of a cover-up.”

    Video above: Kristi Noem questioned on ICE shooting


    A deadly encounter seen from several angles

    Several bystanders captured footage of Good’s killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown.

    The videos show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward, and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.

    Graphic video shows woman shot by ICE agent in Minneapolis

    It isn’t clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there is no indication of whether the woman had interactions with ICE agents earlier. After the shooting the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.

    The mayor said he’s working with community leaders to try to keep any protests peaceful.

    “The top thing that this Trump administration is looking for is an excuse to come in with militarized force, to further occupy our streets, to cause more chaos, to have this kind of civil war on the streets of America in a Democratically run city,” Frey told the AP. “We cannot give them what they want.”

    ___

    Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski, Giovanna Dell’Orto and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis, Ed White in Detroit, Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas, Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma, Michael Biesecker In Washington, Jim Mustian in New York and Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa contributed.

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  • State of the State: Gavin Newsom to deliver final address as California governor

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    Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to deliver his final State of the State address as the state’s governor this Thursday.Newsom will host the address at the state Capitol in front of a joint session of the Legislature, the first time he has done so since 2020. In recent years, he has opted for writing letters to the Legislature, releasing pre-recorded messages or touring across the state to issue new policies and initiatives.Ahead of the address, the governor’s office offered brief outlines of themes Newsom is expected to touch upon. One topic includes homelessness and California’s efforts to resolve the state’s mental health crisis.Housing affordability, education and investment in public schools are other topics outlined. The governor also plans on addressing public safety, violent crime, and theft across the state, and the various levels of law enforcement working to handle those issues.Another major topic Newsom is expected to address is climate initiatives and how California’s policies have implications both nationally and globally.Newsom’s office also shared that Newsom will convey that California is a stable democracy, an economic engine with conscience, and a “functioning alternative to Donald Trump’s federal dysfunction.” The State of the State address begins at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.Because there is a two-term limit on holding the office of California governor, Newsom will not be able to run for a third term.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to deliver his final State of the State address as the state’s governor this Thursday.

    Newsom will host the address at the state Capitol in front of a joint session of the Legislature, the first time he has done so since 2020. In recent years, he has opted for writing letters to the Legislature, releasing pre-recorded messages or touring across the state to issue new policies and initiatives.

    Ahead of the address, the governor’s office offered brief outlines of themes Newsom is expected to touch upon. One topic includes homelessness and California’s efforts to resolve the state’s mental health crisis.

    Housing affordability, education and investment in public schools are other topics outlined. The governor also plans on addressing public safety, violent crime, and theft across the state, and the various levels of law enforcement working to handle those issues.

    Another major topic Newsom is expected to address is climate initiatives and how California’s policies have implications both nationally and globally.

    Newsom’s office also shared that Newsom will convey that California is a stable democracy, an economic engine with conscience, and a “functioning alternative to Donald Trump’s federal dysfunction.”

    The State of the State address begins at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

    Because there is a two-term limit on holding the office of California governor, Newsom will not be able to run for a third term.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Newsom’s signature water tunnel is set back by California court ruling

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    In a decision that could complicate Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to build a giant water tunnel and remake California’s water system, a state appeals court has rejected the state’s plan for financing the project.

    The 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled against the state Department of Water Resources’ plan to issue billions of dollars in bonds to build the 45-mile tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

    The decision is a win for California ratepayers and taxpayers, said Roger Moore, a lawyer representing six counties in Northern California and two water agencies in the Delta region.

    He said it underlines that state agencies “have to take real steps to make sure that there is transparency and accountability.”

    Upholding a 2024 decision by a Sacramento County Superior Court judge, the court ruled the water agency does not have the authority under a 1959 law to issue bonds for a new “unit” of the State Water Project, which delivers water from the Delta to farms and cities, and “exceeded its delegated authority” in planning to finance the tunnel through bonds.

    Kirsten Macintyre, a spokesperson for the department, said the court didn’t say the Department of Water Resources lacks the authority to build the project or borrow funds to pay for it, but rather that the description the state presented in the case was “overly broad.”

    “While DWR respectfully disagrees with that conclusion, we have taken additional steps to resolve the issue,” she said in an email.

    Last year, the agency opened a second court case in an effort to confirm its bond-issuing authority, a step that Macintyre said was taken to “address the court’s concerns.”

    If the appeals court decision stands and the ongoing case doesn’t bring a different conclusion, it might lead the Newsom administration to revise its plan for financing the project. Officials could also petition for the California Supreme Court to hear the case.

    The state estimated in 2024 that the tunnel would cost $20.1 billion, while opponents say it could cost three to five times more than that.

    State officials have said that the tunnel, called the Delta Conveyance Project, ultimately would be paid for by participating water agencies that agree to repay the bonds.

    The tunnel would create a second route to transport water from new intakes on the Sacramento River to the south side of the Delta, where pumps send water into the aqueducts of the State Water Project.

    The system of aqueducts and pipelines transports water from the Delta to 27 million people in cities from the Bay Area to San Diego, and to 750,000 acres of farmland.

    In 1960, California voters approved bonds for the construction of the State Water Project. Legislation in 1959 had given DWR the authority to build the Feather River Project, an initial component of the State Water Project.

    But in the ruling last week, the court said DWR officials were wrong to rely on that provision. The three judges said it doesn’t allow the agency to issue bonds “under the guise of a ‘further modification’” of that original water system.

    Newsom has said the project is essential for the state’s future and has made it a central priority of his administration.

    State officials and supporters of the project have said the tunnel would modernize the state’s water system for more severe droughts and deluges with climate change, and would withstand sea level rise and the risks of a major earthquake in the region.

    Opponents, including environmental advocates, fishing groups and tribal leaders, argue the project would harm the Delta’s communities and ecosystem, and further threaten native fish that are already in decline.

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    Ian James

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  • California’s exodus isn’t just billionaires — it’s regular people renting U-Hauls, too

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    It isn’t just billionaires leaving California.

    Anecdotal data suggest there is also an exodus of regular people who load their belongings into rental trucks and lug them to another state.

    U-Haul’s survey of the more than 2.5 million one-way trips using its vehicles in the U.S. last year showed that the gap between the number of people leaving and the number arriving was higher in California than in any other state.

    While the Golden State also attracts a large number of newcomers, it has had the biggest net outflow for six years in a row.

    Generally, the defectors don’t go far. The top five destinations for the diaspora using U-Haul’s trucks, trailers and boxes last year were Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Texas.

    California experienced a net outflow of U-Haul users with an in-migration of 49.4%, and those leaving of 50.6%. Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Illinois also rank among the bottom five on the index.

    U-Haul didn’t speculate on the reasons California continues to top the ranking.

    “We continue to find that life circumstances — marriage, children, a death in the family, college, jobs and other events — dictate the need for most moves,” John Taylor, U-Haul International president, said in a press statement.

    While California’s exodus was greater than any other state, the silver lining was that the state lost fewer residents to out-of-state migration in 2025 than in 2024.

    U-Haul said that broadly the hotly debated issue of blue-to-red state migration, which became more pronounced after the pandemic of 2020, continues to be a discernible trend.

    Though U-Haul did not specify the reasons for the exodus, California demographers tracking the trend point to the cost of living and housing affordability as the top reasons for leaving.

    “Over the last dozen years or so, on a net basis, the flow out of the state because of housing [affordability] far exceeds other reasons people cite [including] jobs or family,” said Hans Johnson, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.

    “This net out migration from California is a more than two-decade-long trend. And again, we’re a big state, so the net out numbers are big,” he said.

    U-Haul data showed that there was a pretty even split between arrivals and departures. While the company declined to share absolute numbers, it said that 50.6% of its one-way customers in California were leaving, while 49.4% were arriving.

    U-Haul’s network of 24,000 rental locations across the U.S. provides a near-real-time view of domestic migration dynamics, while official data on population movements often lags.

    California’s population grew by a marginal 0.05% in the year ending July 2025, reaching 39.5 million people, according to the California Department of Finance.

    After two consecutive years of population decline following the 2020 pandemic, California recorded its third year of population growth in 2025. While international migration has rebounded, the number of California residents moving out increased to 216,000, consistent with levels in 2018 and 2019.

    Eric McGhee, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, who researches the challenges facing California, said there’s growing evidence of political leanings shaping the state’s migration patterns, with those moving out of state more likely to be Republican and those moving in likely to be Democratic.

    “Partisanship probably is not the most significant of these considerations, but it may be just the last straw that broke the camel’s back, on top of the other things that are more traditional drivers of migration … cost of living and family and friends and jobs,” McGhee said.

    Living in California costs 12.6% more than the national average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. One of the biggest pain points in the state is housing, which is 57.8% more expensive than what the average American pays.

    The U-Haul study across all 50 states found that 7 of the top 10 growth states where people moved to have Republican governors. Nine of the states with the biggest net outflows had Democrat governors.

    Texas, Florida and North Carolina were the top three growth states for U-Haul customers, with Dallas, Houston and Austin bagging the top spots for growth in metro regions.

    A notable exception in California was San Diego and San Francisco, which were the only California cities in the top 25 metros with a net inflow of one-way U-Haul customers.

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    Nilesh Christopher

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  • Maduro indictment alleges long criminal past, promises lengthy legal battle ahead

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    Ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro stood in a Manhattan courthouse Monday a captive criminal defendant: surrounded by heavy security, deprived of his power as a head of state and facing drug, weapon and conspiracy charges likely to keep him behind bars for years.

    “I was captured,” he said in Spanish, before pleading not guilty during a brief arraignment. “I am a decent man, the president of my country.”

    Just two days prior, more than 2,000 miles away in Caracas, Maduro was seated “atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking,” according to a sweeping indictment unsealed Saturday.

    What preceded Maduro’s swift downfall was not just his weekend capture in what President Trump called “one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might” in U.S. history, but decades of partnership with “narco-terrorists” from Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico to enrich himself and his family through “massive-scale” cocaine trafficking, the indictment claims.

    The allegations, built off a 2020 indictment, stretch back a quarter-century and implicate other Venezuelan leaders and Maduro’s wife and son. They suggest extensive coordination with notorious drug trafficking organizations and cartels from across the region, and paint a world Trump himself has long worked to instill in the minds of Americans — one in which the nation’s southern neighbors are intentionally flooding the U.S. with lethal drugs and violent criminals, to the devastation of local communities.

    It is a portrait of drugs, money and violence every bit as dramatic as the nighttime raid that sent jets and helicopters into Venezuelan airspace, U.S. special forces into Maduro’s bedroom and Maduro and his wife into U.S. custody and ultimately to their arraignment in court Monday.

    It appears to rely on clandestine intelligence and other witness testimony gathered over the course of decades, which Maduro’s defense team will undoubtedly seek to discredit by impugning the cast of characters — some drug traffickers themselves — whom prosecutors relied on.

    Legal experts said it could take years for the case to reach trial, slowed not only by the normal nuance of litigating a multi-defendant conspiracy case but the added complexity of a prosecution that is almost certainly predicated in part on classified intelligence.

    “That’s very different than a typical drug case, even a very high-level drug case, [where] you’re not going to have classified State Department cables the way you’re going to have them when you’re actually prosecuting a head of state or a former head of state,” said Renato Stabile, an attorney for former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted in a similar cocaine trafficking case in 2024 before being pardoned by Trump last month.

    Joe McNally, the former acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles, said he expects the case will take at least a year to get to trial, after prosecutors “show their cards” and Maduro’s attorneys review that evidence and seek out their own witnesses.

    He said he expects a strong case from prosecutors — despite it being “not easy to prove a case that involves high level cartel activity that’s happening thousands of miles away” — that will appropriately play out entirely in public view.

    “He’ll have his day in court. It’s not a military tribunal,” McNally said. “His guilt or innocence will be decided by 12 people from the district [in New York where he’s been indicted], and ultimately the burden will be on the prosecutor.”

    The case against Maduro

    According to the indictment, Maduro and his fellow indicted Venezuelan leaders have since about 1999 “partnered with some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world” — including the FARC and ELN groups in Colombia, the Sinaloa and Los Zetas cartels in Mexico and the Tren de Aragua gang in Venezuela.

    Among the others indicted in the case is Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, aka “Niño Guerrero,” a purported leader of Tren de Aragua.

    Trump has accused Tren de Aragua of committing violence in the U.S. and used alleged ties between it and Maduro to justify using a wartime statute to deport Venezuelans accused of being in the gang to a notorious Salvadoran prison. However, Maduro’s links to the group have been heavily questioned in the past — including by U.S. intelligence agencies — and the indictment doesn’t spell out any specific links between Maduro and Guerrero Flores.

    The indictment alleges Maduro and his co-conspirators “facilitated the empowerment and growth of violent narco-terrorist groups fueling their organizations with cocaine profits,” including by providing “law enforcement cover and logistical support for the transport of cocaine through Venezuela, with knowledge that their drug trafficking partners would move the cocaine north to the United States.”

    It specifically alleges that between 2006 and 2008, when he was foreign affairs minister, Maduro sold diplomatic passports to people he knew were drug traffickers, specifically so they could move drug proceeds from Mexico back to Venezuela “under diplomatic cover” and without military or law enforcement scrutinizing their flights.

    It also alleges that between 2004 and 2015, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, “worked together to traffic cocaine, much of which had been previously seized by Venezuelan law enforcement, with the assistance of armed military escorts.”

    It alleges the couple “maintained their own groups of state-sponsored gangs known as colectivos to facilitate and protect their drug trafficking operation,” and “ordered kidnappings, beatings, and murders against those who owed them drug money or otherwise undermined their drug trafficking operation, including ordering the murder of a local drug boss in Caracas.”

    The indictment references a half-dozen other criminal cases already brought in the U.S. against others with alleged ties to Maduro and his alleged co-conspirators, several of whom have been convicted.

    What’s ahead

    Stabile said the legally questionable nature of Maduro’s capture will no doubt be a factor in the criminal proceedings ahead, with his defense team likely to argue that his detention is unlawful. “That’s going to be front and center, and I assume it’s going to be the subject of a motion to dismiss,” he said.

    Whether anything will come of that argument, however, is less clear, as courts in the U.S. have in the past allowed criminal proceedings to continue against individuals captured abroad, including former Panama dictator Manuel Noriega. Part of the U.S. argument for why Noriega could be prosecuted was that he was not the legitimate leader of Panama, an argument that is likely to be made in Maduro’s case, too.

    Beyond that, Stabile said how the case plays out will depend on what evidence the government has against Maduro.

    “Is his case just gonna be based on the testimony of sources and cooperators, which is pretty much what it was in President Hernandez’s case?” Stabile said. “Or are there recordings? Are there videos? Are there bank records? Are there text messages? Are there emails?”

    McNally said he will be watching to see whom prosecutors have lined up to testify against Maduro.

    “In most of the high-level narcotics trafficking cases, international narcotics trafficking cases that have been brought and go to trial, the common thread is that you end up with cooperators — individuals who were part of the conspiracy, they were the criminal partners of the defendant, and they ultimately decide, hey, it’s in my self-interest to come forward and testify,” McNally said.

    “They obviously are cross-examined, and they’ll frequently be accused of … lying for their own self-interest,” he said. “But in my experience, cooperators in these types of cases are especially valuable, and the key is to then corroborate them with other witnesses who tell the same story or documentary evidence.”

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    Kevin Rector

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  • Contributor: California’s place in enslaved people’s struggle for freedom

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    In one version of U.S. history, California is a place where slavery was prohibited from the founding, in the 1849 state constitution, and where that ban was reaffirmed by the state’s ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865. In another telling, it was a place that had ended the practice some 30 years earlier — when it was part of Mexico.

    Despite being on the periphery of the Spanish empire and Mexico before becoming part of the United States, California had an important place in the larger struggle by enslaved people for their freedom. California connects Mexican and U.S. history while also serving as a reminder that there are few corners of the Western Hemisphere that are untouched by the legacy of slavery.

    The story of the rise and fall of African enslavement is often presented as a national story in the United States — and a mostly Southern one — rather than as the hemispheric phenomenon that it was. Enslaved Africans could be found as far south as Chile and Argentina all the way up to Canada. Likewise, the end of slavery was not solely brought about by the Civil War in the U.S., but also by centuries of resistance through rebellions, wars, sabotage and self-emancipation, across the entire Americas. This, too, was part of California’s story.

    After the Spanish toppled the Mexica empire in 1521, they wasted little time bringing captive Africans to the place they called New Spain — a vast territory that would later expand to the north to include New Mexico and California. By the 1530s there were reports of conspiracies to revolt, as well as the establishment of colonies by escapees from slavery. The leader of one such community, Gaspar Yanga, forced Spanish authorities to recognize its autonomy, after troops failed to vanquish him in 1608. This land outside of Veracruz became the first free Black town in Mexico, today known as Yanga. It was a significant victory at a time when an estimated 130,000 Africans were brought to New Spain, resulting in one of the highest African slave populations in the 17th century Americas.

    However, by the 18th century the center of enslavement had shifted farther north, toward the sugar plantations of the Caribbean, and the numbers dropped in Mexico. In addition, there was still Indigenous labor in Mexico, which was often exploited. This was also the case in the lands that would become California, as well as New Mexico, where indentured and often “detribalized” Indigenous people, known as genízaros, were often forced into a servitude that often bore more than a passing resemblance to slavery.

    In 1829, president of a now-independent Mexico, Vicente Guerrero, who was of partial African descent, abolished slavery. This triggered an immediate outcry in the Texas territory, which was largely populated by slave-owning immigrants from the U.S. By 1836 Texas was independent, and slavery in Mexico was officially finished the following year. Now Mexico became a land of possible refuge for people fleeing enslavement in Texas or nearby places such as Louisiana. It was far closer than the Underground Railroad leading to the northern states or Canada. Historian Alice Baumgartner has estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 enslaved people escaped to Mexico from the U.S.

    However, this potential zone of freedom was significantly reduced by the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. In the aftermath of that conflict, 51% of Mexico was ceded to the United States. This included New Mexico, which had been part of Spain’s empire since the early 1600s, and California, which was colonized in 1769. Ultimately, the entire territory would form the states of California, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

    People in the lands ceded from Mexico were forced to confront the issue of slavery anew as part of the U.S. Gold miners were racing to California, and some were from the South, bringing enslaved people to work on their claims. By the time of statehood in 1850, according to one estimate, there had been around 500 to 1,500 enslaved people brought to California, their status obscured even after the state constitution was enacted. Although the shadow of Southern slavery stalked California, some people managed to find freedom in those early years. However, in 1852, California enacted a Fugitive Slave Law, which applied to people who were brought before statehood and led to many being sent back to the plantations of the South. The Utah and New Mexico territories — which would not become states until 1896 and 1912 — passed slave codes, which permitted slavery and were meant to regulate the treatment of people in servitude or bondage, both Black and Native Americans.

    Farther south, however, most of the new republics of Spanish America had ended their involvement with the slave trade and implemented gradual emancipation measures as early as 1811, and with final abolition in place by the mid-1850s. Had California remained part of Mexico, it would have been in this larger, earlier wave of abolition, rather than seeing the continuation or return of enslavement.

    Slavery shaped the Americas for four centuries, blighting the entire hemisphere. The long struggle to dismantle it did not happen only in the U.S. or only in the South; in fact, in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Brazil it continued for decades after the U.S. Civil War. Simple narratives such as “California banned slavery at its founding” and “slavery ended in 1865” obscure much of its connection to this larger story. What happened to California illuminates the unevenness of abolition and the many false promises of freedom. It also serves as a reminder of the need for a wider lens when thinking about enslavement and freedom throughout the Americas today.

    Carrie Gibson is the author of the forthcoming “The Great Resistance: The 400-Year Fight to End Slavery in the Americas” and of “El Norte: The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America.”

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    Carrie Gibson

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  • Judge panel rules California’s open carry ban unconstitutional

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    A dissenting panel of federal judges for the Ninth Circuit on Friday deemed California’s open carry ban in most counties unconstitutional.The ruling comes following a challenge by Mark Baird, who the San Francisco Chronicle identifies as a gun owner from Siskiyou County. Baird specifically challenged California’s restriction on open carry in counties with a population greater than 200,000.(Video Above: California ammunition background check law is unconstitutional)The panel ruled 2-1 in Baird’s favor. In favor of Baird, Judge Lawrence VanDyke noted that the restrictions apply to roughly 95% of the state’s population. And for those counties with populations under 200,000, the judge notes that those wanting to open carry need to apply for a license allowing them to do so, but that the ability to secure the license is “unclear.””California admits that it has no record of even one open-carry license being issued, and one potential reason is that California has misled its citizens about how to apply for an open-carry license,” the ruling’s summary states, referring to the opinions of VanDyke and Judge Kenneth K. Lee. The panel held that the open carry ban was inconsistent with the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms as applied to states under the Fourteenth Amendment. It also referred to the standard applied in 2022’s New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which established that “historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this Nation’s history and tradition.”Judge N. Randy Smith, who dissented in part, noted that “open carry is not conduct that is covered by the plain text of the Second Amendment.” Smith also noted that reasoning in the Bruen case allows California to lawfully eliminate one manner of public carry to protect citizens, “so long as its citizens may carry weapons in another manner that allows for self-defense.”Smith asserted that because California allows concealed carry, it may restrict open carry.While the court primarily sided with Baird, it also rejected his related challenge to California’s licensing requirements in counties with fewer than 200,000 residents. Those counties may issue open-carry permits.See the full ruling here. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office slammed the ruling on social media Friday. “California just got military troops with weapons of war off of the streets of our cities, but now Republican activists on the Ninth Circuit want to replace them with gunslingers and return to the days of the Wild West. California’s law was carefully crafted to comply with the Second Amendment and we’re confident this decision will not stand,” the Newsom’s office said.KCRA 3 has reached out to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s Office for comment.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    A dissenting panel of federal judges for the Ninth Circuit on Friday deemed California’s open carry ban in most counties unconstitutional.

    The ruling comes following a challenge by Mark Baird, who the San Francisco Chronicle identifies as a gun owner from Siskiyou County. Baird specifically challenged California’s restriction on open carry in counties with a population greater than 200,000.

    (Video Above: California ammunition background check law is unconstitutional)

    The panel ruled 2-1 in Baird’s favor.

    In favor of Baird, Judge Lawrence VanDyke noted that the restrictions apply to roughly 95% of the state’s population. And for those counties with populations under 200,000, the judge notes that those wanting to open carry need to apply for a license allowing them to do so, but that the ability to secure the license is “unclear.”

    “California admits that it has no record of even one open-carry license being issued, and one potential reason is that California has misled its citizens about how to apply for an open-carry license,” the ruling’s summary states, referring to the opinions of VanDyke and Judge Kenneth K. Lee.

    The panel held that the open carry ban was inconsistent with the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms as applied to states under the Fourteenth Amendment. It also referred to the standard applied in 2022’s New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which established that “historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this Nation’s history and tradition.”

    Judge N. Randy Smith, who dissented in part, noted that “open carry is not conduct that is covered by the plain text of the Second Amendment.” Smith also noted that reasoning in the Bruen case allows California to lawfully eliminate one manner of public carry to protect citizens, “so long as its citizens may carry weapons in another manner that allows for self-defense.”

    Smith asserted that because California allows concealed carry, it may restrict open carry.

    While the court primarily sided with Baird, it also rejected his related challenge to California’s licensing requirements in counties with fewer than 200,000 residents. Those counties may issue open-carry permits.

    See the full ruling here.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office slammed the ruling on social media Friday.

    “California just got military troops with weapons of war off of the streets of our cities, but now Republican activists on the Ninth Circuit want to replace them with gunslingers and return to the days of the Wild West. California’s law was carefully crafted to comply with the Second Amendment and we’re confident this decision will not stand,” the Newsom’s office said.

    KCRA 3 has reached out to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s Office for comment.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Billionaire tax proposal sparks soul-searching for Californians

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    The fiery debate about a proposed ballot measure to tax California’s billionaires has sparked some soul-searching across the state.

    While the idea of a one-time tax on more than 200 people has a long way to go before getting onto the ballot and would need to be passed by voters in November, the tempest around it captures the zeitgeist of angst and anger at the core of California. Silicon Valley is minting new millionaires while millions of the state’s residents face the loss of healthcare coverage and struggle with inflation.

    Supporters of the proposed billionaire tax say it is one of the few ways the state can provide healthcare for its most vulnerable. Opponents warn it would squash the innovation that has made the state rich and prompt an exodus of wealthy entrepreneurs from the state.

    The controversial measure is already creating fractures among powerful Democrats who enjoy tremendous sway in California. Progressive icon Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) quickly endorsed the billionaire tax, while Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced it .

    The Golden State’s rich residents say they are tired of feeling targeted. Their success has not only created unimaginable wealth but also jobs and better lives for Californians, they say, yet they feel they are being punished.

    “California politics forces together some of the richest areas of America with some of the poorest, often separated by just a freeway,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego. “The impulse to force those with extreme wealth to share their riches is only natural, but often runs into the reality of our anti-tax traditions as well as modern concerns about stifling entrepreneurship or driving job creation out of the state.”

    The state budget in California is already largely dependent on income taxes paid by its highest earners. Because of that, revenues are prone to volatility, hinging on capital gains from investments, bonuses to executives and windfalls from new stock offerings, and are notoriously difficult for the state to predict.

    The tax proposal would cost the state’s richest residents about $100 billion if a majority of voters support it on the November ballot.

    Supporters say the revenue is needed to backfill the massive federal funding cuts to healthcare that President Trump signed this summer. The California Budget & Policy Center estimates that as many as 3.4 million Californians could lose Medi-Cal coverage, rural hospitals could shutter and other healthcare services would be slashed unless a new funding source is found.

    On social media, some wealthy Californians who oppose the wealth tax faced off against Democratic politicians and labor unions.

    An increasing number of companies and investors have decided it isn’t worth the hassle to be in the state and are taking their companies and their homes to other states with lower taxes and less regulation.

    “I promise you this will be the final straw,” Jessie Powell, co-founder of the Bay Area-based crypto exchange platform Kraken, wrote on X. “Billionaires will take with them all of their spending, hobbies, philanthropy and jobs.”

    Proponents of the proposed tax were granted permission to start gathering signatures Dec. 26 by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber.

    The proposal would impose a one-time tax of up to 5% on taxpayers and trusts with assets, such as businesses, art and intellectual property, valued at more than $1 billion. There are some exclusions, including property.

    They could pay the levy over five years. Ninety percent of the revenue would fund healthcare programs and the remaining 10% would be spent on food assistance and education programs.

    To qualify for the November ballot, proponents of the proposal, led by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, must gather the signatures of nearly 875,000 registered voters and submit them to county elections officials by June 24.

    The union, which represents more than 120,000 healthcare workers, patients and healthcare consumers, has committed to spending $14 million on the measure so far and plans to start collecting signatures soon, said Suzanne Jimenez, the labor group’s chief of staff.

    Without new funding, the state is facing “a collapse of our healthcare system here in California,” she said.

    Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) spoke out in support of the tax.

    “It’s a matter of values,” he said on X. “We believe billionaires can pay a modest wealth tax so working-class Californians have the Medicaid.”

    The Trump administration did not respond to requests for comment.

    The debate has become a lightning rod for national thought leaders looking to target California’s policies or the ultra-rich.

    On Tuesday, Sanders endorsed the billionaire tax proposal and said he plans to call for a nationwide version.

    “This is a model that should be emulated throughout the country, which is why I will soon be introducing a national wealth tax on billionaires,” Sanders said on X. “We can and should respect innovation, entrepreneurship and risk-taking, but we cannot respect the extraordinary level of greed, arrogance and irresponsibility that is currently being displayed by much of the billionaire class.”

    But there isn’t unanimous support for the proposal among Democrats.

    Notably, Newsom has consistently opposed state-based wealth taxes. He reiterated his opposition when asked about the proposed billionaires’ tax in early December.

    “You can’t isolate yourself from the 49 others,” Newsom said at the New York Times DealBook Summit. “We’re in a competitive environment. People have this simple luxury, particularly people of that status, they already have two or three homes outside the state. It’s a simple issue. You’ve got to be pragmatic about it.”

    Newsom has opposed state-based wealth taxes throughout his tenure.

    In 2022, he opposed a ballot measure that would have subsidized the electric vehicle market by raising taxes on Californians who earn more than $2 million annually. The measure failed at the ballot box, with strategists on both sides of the issue saying Newsom’s vocal opposition to the effort was a critical factor.

    The following year, he opposed legislation by a fellow Democrat to tax assets exceeding $50 million at 1% annually and taxpayers with a net worth greater than $1 billion at 1.5% annually. The bill was shelved before the legislature could vote on it.

    The latest effort is also being opposed by a political action committee called “Stop the Squeeze,” which was seeded by a $100,000 donation from venture capitalist and longtime Newsom ally Ron Conway. Conservative taxpayer rights groups such as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. and state Republicans are expected to campaign against the proposal.

    The chances of the ballot measure passing in November are uncertain, given the potential for enormous spending on the campaign — unlike statewide and other candidate races, there is no limit on the amount of money donors can contribute to support or oppose a ballot measure.

    “The backers of this proposed initiative to tax California billionaires would have their work cut out for them,” said Kousser at UC San Diego. “Despite the state’s national reputation as ‘Scandinavia by the Sea,’ there remains a strong anti-tax impulse among voters who often reject tax increases and are loath to kill the state’s golden goose of tech entrepreneurship.”

    Additionally, as Newsom eyes a presidential bid in 2028, political experts question how the governor will position himself — opposing raising taxes but also not wanting to be viewed as responsible for large-scale healthcare cuts that would harm the most vulnerable Californians.

    “It wouldn’t be surprising if they qualify the initiative. There’s enough money and enough pent-up anger on the left to get this on the ballot,” said Dan Schnur, a political communications professor who teaches at USC, Pepperdine and UC Berkeley.

    “What happens once it qualifies is anybody’s guess,” he said.

    Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, called Newsom’s position “an Achilles heel” that could irk primary voters in places like the Midwest who are focused on economic inequality, inflation, affordability and the growing wealth gap.

    “I think it’s going to be really hard for him to take a position that we shouldn’t tax the billionaires,” said Gonzalez, whose labor umbrella group will consider whether to endorse the proposed tax next year.

    California billionaires who are residents of the state as of Jan. 1 would be impacted by the ballot measure if it passes . Prominent business leaders announced moves that appeared to be a strategy to avoid the levy at the end of 2025. On Dec. 31, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel announced that his firm had opened a new office in Miami, the same day venture capitalist David Sacks said he was opening an office in Austin.

    Wealth taxes are not unprecedented in the U.S. and versions exist in Switzerland and Spain, said Brian Galle, a taxation expert and law professor at UC Berkeley.

    In California, the tax offers an efficient and practical way to pay for healthcare services without disrupting the economy, he said.

    “A 1% annual tax on billionaires for five years would have essentially no meaningful impact on their economic behavior,” Galle said. “We’re funding a way of avoiding a real economic disaster with something that has very tiny impact.”

    Palo Alto-based venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya disagrees. Billionaires whose wealth is often locked in company stakes and not liquid could go bankrupt, Palihapitiya wrote on X.

    The tax, he posted, “will kill entrepreneurship in California.”

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    Seema Mehta, Caroline Petrow-Cohen

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  • New California laws aim to improve road safety

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    TODAY WE ARE STARTING A NEW YEAR AND WE HAVE SOME NEW LAWS IN CALIFORNIA. HERE’S A LIVE LOOK AT I-5 IN SACRAMENTO TONIGHT WHERE WE HAVE SOME NEW RULES FOR THE ROAD. OBVIOUSLY, WE DO FEEL THIS WILL SAVE LIVES AND KCRA 3’S PEYTON HEADLEE IS LIVE IN SACRAMENTO WITH THE LAWS AND HOW THEY IMPACT DRIVERS. PAYTON. YEAH. HEY. WELL ONE OF THEM IS LOOKING TO CREATE MORE PROTECTIONS FOR PEOPLE WHOSE CAR MAY HAVE BEEN BROKEN DOWN OR DISABLED ON THE SIDE OF ROADWAYS. AND THE OTHER ONE CREATES STRICTER PENALTIES FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN CONVICTED OF VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER WITH DUI. BOTH OF THEM LOOK TO MAKE THE ROADS SAFER. THIS IS THE MONTANO FAMILY. FAMILIES VICTIMIZED BY DRUNK DRIVERS. DRUNK DRIVER HIT THEIR CAR AND KILLED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM EXCEPT THE BABY. JULIAN, ARE ONES WHO RHONDA CAMPBELL HOLDS CLOSE TO HER HEART. THIS IS ANGEL RENTERIA TOOK HER DOG OUT FOR A WALK ONE NIGHT WHEN SHE WAS STRUCK BY A DRUNK DRIVER AND LEFT TO DIE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. CAMPBELL IS THE VICTIM SERVICES MANAGER FOR MOTHERS AGAINST DRUNK DRIVING, AND TODAY THIS IS ANGEL’S LIFE. ANGEL’S IN A WHEELCHAIR. SHE’S NONVERBAL. SHE CAN’T WALK. STORIES LIKE THESE ARE WHY SHE IS CONSTANTLY PUSHING FOR HARSHER, IMPAIRED DRIVING LEGISLATION. A NEW STATE LAW THAT EXTENDS THE PROBATION PERIOD FOR VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER WITH DUI FROM TWO YEARS TO 3 TO 5. SHE SAYS, IS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT GOING TO BE A REMEDY, BUT WHAT IT DOES DO IS EXTEND THE PERIOD OF ACCOUNTABILITY. IN MY OPINION. ANOTHER MOVE TO MAKE THE ROAD SAFER AND EXPANSION OF THE STATE’S SLOW DOWN. MOVE OVER LAW, ONE THAT USED TO BE LIMITED TO FIRST RESPONDERS, TOW TRUCKS AND ROADSIDE MAINTENANCE CREWS. IT ACTUALLY MAKES IT SO YOU HAVE TO SLOW DOWN OR MOVE OVER. FOR ANYBODY BROKEN DOWN ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, THAT INCLUDES YOU OR ME AND OUR PERSONAL CAR. DOUG JOHNSON WITH TRIPLE A SAYS ANYONE WHO DOESN’T CHANGE LANES OR SLOW DOWN COULD FACE FINES OF UP TO $1,000. CALIFORNIA IS ACTUALLY SECOND ONLY TO TEXAS, AND THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE KILLED OUTSIDE OF DISABLED VEHICLES. SO IT IS A REALLY BIG PROBLEM IN OUR STATE, AND WE ARE HOPING THAT THIS WILL HELP. BOTH LAWS, HOPING TO SAVE LIVES ON CALIFORNIA ROADS. ANYTHING THE LAW CAN DO TO ADD A LITTLE MORE ACCOUNTABILITY TO ME IS POSITIVE. AND SINCE 2013, TRIPLE A SAYS THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN KILLED WHILE OUTSIDE OF THEIR DISABLED VEHICLES HAS GROWN 60%. THEY’RE HOPING THAT THIS LAW CAN HELP TO LOWER THAT NUMBER. WE’RE LIVE IN SACRAMENTO, PEYTON HEADLEE KCRA THREE NEWS. PEYTON, THANK YOU SO MUCH.

    New California laws aim to improve road safety

    California introduces new laws to enhance road safety, including stricter penalties for DUI-related vehicular manslaughter and expanded protections for roadside vehicles.

    Updated: 10:21 PM PST Jan 1, 2026

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    California has introduced new laws to improve road safety, including extending the probation period for DUI-related vehicular manslaughter and expanding protections for vehicles stopped on the roadside.Rhonda Campbell, the victim services manager for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, emphasized the importance of harsher impaired-driving legislation.”This is certainly not going to be a remedy. But what it does do is extend the period of accountability, in my opinion,” Campbell said. The new state law extends the probation period for a person convicted of vehicular manslaughter or gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated from two years to three to five years.Additionally, the state’s Slow Down, Move Over law has been expanded to require drivers to slow down or move over for any vehicle stopped on the side of the road, not just first responders, tow trucks, and roadside maintenance crews. Doug Johnson from AAA explained that failing to comply could result in up to $1,000 in fines.”California is actually second only to Texas in the number of people killed outside of disabled vehicles. So it is a really big problem in our state and we are hoping that this will help,” Johnson said. Since 2013, AAA reports a 60% increase in the number of people killed outside of disabled vehicles in California, and they hope these changes will reduce that number. “Anything the law can do to add a little more accountability to me is positive,” Campbell added, as both laws aim to save lives on California roads.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    California has introduced new laws to improve road safety, including extending the probation period for DUI-related vehicular manslaughter and expanding protections for vehicles stopped on the roadside.

    Rhonda Campbell, the victim services manager for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, emphasized the importance of harsher impaired-driving legislation.

    “This is certainly not going to be a remedy. But what it does do is extend the period of accountability, in my opinion,” Campbell said.

    The new state law extends the probation period for a person convicted of vehicular manslaughter or gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated from two years to three to five years.

    Additionally, the state’s Slow Down, Move Over law has been expanded to require drivers to slow down or move over for any vehicle stopped on the side of the road, not just first responders, tow trucks, and roadside maintenance crews.

    Doug Johnson from AAA explained that failing to comply could result in up to $1,000 in fines.

    “California is actually second only to Texas in the number of people killed outside of disabled vehicles. So it is a really big problem in our state and we are hoping that this will help,” Johnson said.

    Since 2013, AAA reports a 60% increase in the number of people killed outside of disabled vehicles in California, and they hope these changes will reduce that number.

    “Anything the law can do to add a little more accountability to me is positive,” Campbell added, as both laws aim to save lives on California roads.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • California sets up a showdown with Washington by reissuing licenses to migrant truckers

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    California has delayed its cancellation of thousands of commercial driver’s licenses held by migrants, setting it up for another showdown with Washington.

    The Department of Motor Vehicles announced on Tuesday that the 17,000 migrant truck drivers whose licenses had been revoked can now keep them for 60 more days, which could enable the drivers to retake tests and do whatever is necessary to remain legal.

    “Commercial drivers are an important part of our economy — our supply chains don’t move, and our communities don’t stay connected without them,” said DMV Director Steve Gordon in a statement after the extension.

    U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reacted by threatening to cut $160 million in federal funding to California if the state doesn’t meet the Jan. 5 deadline to revoke unvetted foreign trucker licenses.

    “California does NOT have an ‘extension’ to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads,” Duffy posted on X.

    He had earlier withheld $40 million in federal funding to California for failing to enforce English proficiency tests for truckers.

    California’s move to delay license revocations comes days after the Sikh Coalition and the Asian Law Caucus, filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the DMV failed to offer proper recourse for affected drivers, refused to renew or issue new commercial driver’s licenses, and violated their rights.

    The 60-day extension allows those drivers whose licenses were set to expire on Jan. 5 to continue driving until March 6.

    “It’s one small positive step forward,” said Manpreet Kaur, the vice mayor of Bakersfield, home to many migrant truckers. “We were extremely relieved to see this within the community here in Bakersfield.”

    Bakersfield is a hub for trucking in the Central Valley, with a large concentration of the Punjabi Sikh community that was affected by the decision to revoke licenses. Kaur said truckers have been unfairly targeted in the political tussle between state policy and federal rules.

    Punjabi Sikhs are a pillar of the American trucking industry. An estimated 150,000 work in trucking, with the majority based on the West Coast.

    Commercial licenses for non-American drivers became a political flash point in 2025 after an undocumented Punjabi trucker was involved in an accident in Florida that resulted in the death of three people.

    A federal audit found that many commercial licenses issued to immigrant drivers were set to expire long past the duration of immigrant truckers’ legal stay in the U.S.

    Critics have contended that drivers shouldn’t be punished for clerical errors of the DMV.

    “I believe all 17,000 truckers will be able to take the [commercial driver’s license] test by March,” said Matt Cartwright, a transportation and personal injury attorney and former U.S. representative from Pennsylvania. “The safe drivers will have no problem passing.”

    The extension could be used to do more thorough screening, such as verifying status, confirming qualifications, and documenting the process so the public can trust the outcome and safety is ensured, said Tray Gober of LGR Law Firm.

    Trucking trade groups once complained about driver shortages and welcomed immigrant drivers. Now, the associations say the shortages no longer exist because of the freight recession and are supportive of the federal crackdown on foreign drivers. Some have backed the move to remove unqualified drivers who can’t read road signs.

    One new issue that might emerge from reapplication is whether, “by submitting to the new rules, immigrants with revoked licenses are giving up any right to sue for improper revocation,” said attorney Doug Burnetti, who has been closely following the policy changes.

    “I suspect that may be fact-specific and depend on each case, but if I were representing the federal government, I would argue that reapplication under the new rules waives any objections to the revocation under the old rules,” Brunetti said.

    On the other hand, he said, the truckers would argue they had no choice but to reapply to try to get their licenses back.

    “That’s an interesting question that will ultimately have to be resolved by a judge,” he said.

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    Nilesh Christopher

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  • California’s 1st snow survey of the season to measure snowpack so far after recent storms

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    California officials on Tuesday are set to conduct their first measurement of the state’s snowpack so far this season.The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) will be at the Phillips Station along Highway 50 in the Sierra to see how much snow the mountains have picked up after recent snowstorms. The water year, which began in October, had a dismal start until recently, when ski resorts reported several feet of fresh powder.| VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE | The snow survey begins at 11 a.m. Watch above when it beginsSnow is a major contributor to California’s water supply, so DWR’s monthly snow surveys serve a vital role in gauging how much water the state will receive from snow when it all melts into rivers and lakes.That includes Folsom Lake. Data from DWR show that the lake is currently at 136% of its average for this time of year and at 56% of its overall capacity.Across the Sierra, snowpack amounts as of Dec. 30 vary. DWR’s website indicates that the Northern Region is at 51% of average for this time of year. Meanwhile, the Central Region is at 72%, while the Southern Region is at 94%.The survey begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday.Years can vary for the state’s snowpack by the end of the season. Some years have had strong starts but finish below average if the weeks or months that follow stay dry. There have also been dry starts to the season that are balanced out by stronger storms later on.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. —

    California officials on Tuesday are set to conduct their first measurement of the state’s snowpack so far this season.

    The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) will be at the Phillips Station along Highway 50 in the Sierra to see how much snow the mountains have picked up after recent snowstorms. The water year, which began in October, had a dismal start until recently, when ski resorts reported several feet of fresh powder.

    | VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE | The snow survey begins at 11 a.m. Watch above when it begins

    Snow is a major contributor to California’s water supply, so DWR’s monthly snow surveys serve a vital role in gauging how much water the state will receive from snow when it all melts into rivers and lakes.

    That includes Folsom Lake. Data from DWR show that the lake is currently at 136% of its average for this time of year and at 56% of its overall capacity.

    Across the Sierra, snowpack amounts as of Dec. 30 vary. DWR’s website indicates that the Northern Region is at 51% of average for this time of year. Meanwhile, the Central Region is at 72%, while the Southern Region is at 94%.

    The survey begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

    Years can vary for the state’s snowpack by the end of the season. Some years have had strong starts but finish below average if the weeks or months that follow stay dry. There have also been dry starts to the season that are balanced out by stronger storms later on.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Commentary: After a year of insults, raids, arrests and exile, a celebration of the California immigrant

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    What comes next is a mystery, but I’d like to share a note of appreciation as 2025 fades into history.

    If you came to Greater Los Angeles from Mexico, by way of Calexico, Feliz Navidad.

    If you once lived in Syria, and settled in Hesperia, welcome.

    If you were born in what once was Bombay, but raised a family in L.A., happy new year.

    I’m spreading a bit of holiday cheer because for immigrants, on the whole, this has been a horrible year.

    Under federal orders in 2025, Los Angeles and other cities have been invaded and workplaces raided.

    Immigrants have been chased, protesters maced.

    Livelihoods have been aborted, loved ones deported.

    With all the put-downs and name-calling by the man at the top, you’d never guess his mother was an immigrant and his three wives have included two immigrants.

    President Trump referred to Somalis as garbage, and he wondered why the U.S. can’t bring in more people from Scandinavia and fewer from “filthy, dirty and disgusting” countries.

    Not to be outdone, Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem proposed a travel ban on countries that are “flooding our nation with killers, leeches and entitlement junkies.”

    The president’s shtick is to rail mostly against those who are in the country without legal standing and particularly those with criminal records. But his tone and language don’t always make such distinctions.

    The point is to divide, lay blame and raise suspicion, which is why legal residents — including Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo — have told me they carry their passports at all times.

    In fact, thousands of people with legal status have been booted out of the country, and millions more are at risk of the same fate.

    In a more evolved political culture, it would be simpler to stipulate that there are costs and benefits to immigration, that it’s human nature to flee hardship in pursuit of better opportunities wherever they might be, and that it’s possible to enact laws that serve the needs of immigrants and the industries that rely on them.

    But 2025 was the year in which the nation was led in another direction, and it was the year in which it became ever more comforting and even liberating to call California home.

    The state is a deeply flawed enterprise, with its staggering gaps in wealth and income, its homelessness catastrophe, housing affordability crisis and racial divides. And California is not politically monolithic, no matter how blue. It’s got millions of Trump supporters, many of whom applauded the roundups.

    But there’s an understanding, even in largely conservative regions, that immigrants with papers and without are a crucial part of the muscle and brainpower that help drive the world’s fourth-largest economy.

    That’s why some of the state’s Republican lawmakers asked Trump to back off when he first sent masked posses on roundups, stifling the construction, agriculture and hospitality sectors of the economy.

    When the raids began, I called a gardener I had written about years ago after he was shot in the chest during a robbery attempt. He had insisted on leaving the hospital emergency room and going back to work immediately, with the bullet still embedded in his chest. A client had hired him to complete a landscaping job by Christmas, as a present to his wife, and the gardener was determined to deliver.

    When I checked in with the gardener in June, he told me he was lying low because even though he has a work permit, he didn’t feel safe because Trump had vowed to end temporary protected status for some immigrants.

    “People look Latino, and they get arrested,” he told me.

    He said his daughter, whom I’d met two decades ago when I delivered $2,000 donated to the family by readers, was going to demonstrate in his name. I met up with her at the “No Kings” rally in El Segundo, where she told me why she wanted to protest:

    “To show my face for those who can’t speak and to say we’re not all criminals, we’re all sticking together, we have each other’s backs,” she said.

    Mass deportations would rip a $275-million hole in the state’s economy, critically affecting agriculture and healthcare among other industries, according to a report from UC Merced and the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

    “Deportations tend to raise unemployment among U.S.-born and documented workers through reduced consumption and disruptions in complementary occupations,” says a UCLA Anderson report.

    Californians understand these realities because they’re not hypothetical or theoretical — they’re a part of daily life and commerce. Nearly three-quarters of the state’s residents believe that immigrants benefit California “because of their hard work and job skills,” says the Public Policy Institute of California.

    I’m a California native whose grandparents were from Spain and Italy, but the state has changed dramatically in my lifetime, and I don’t think I ever really saw it clearly or understood it until I was asked in 2009 to address the freshman convocation at Cal State Northridge. The demographics were similar to today’s — more than half Latino, 1 in 5 white, 10% Asian and 5% Black. And roughly two-thirds were first-generation college students.

    I looked out on thousands of young people about to find their way and make their mark, and the students were flanked by a sprinkling of proud parents and grandparents, many of whose stories of sacrifice and yearning began in other countries.

    That is part of the lifeblood of the state’s culture, cuisine, commerce and sense of possibility, and those students are now our teachers, nurses, physicians, engineers, entrepreneurs and tech whizzes.

    If you left Taipei and settled in Monterey, said goodbye to Dubai and packed up for Ojai, traded Havana for Fontana or Morelia for Visalia, thank you.

    And happy new year.

    steve.lopez@latimes.com

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    Steve Lopez

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  • Indian truckers sue California’s DMV for revoking their licenses

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    Immigrant truck drivers have sued the California Department of Motor Vehicles for terminating the commercial driver’s licenses of thousands of drivers, alleging that the decision violated their rights and threatened their livelihood.

    California’s DMV gave a 60-day cancellation notice to 17,000 drivers on Nov. 6 after a federal audit found the licenses issued to immigrant drivers were set to expire after the time they were legally allowed to remain in the U.S.

    In the event of such clerical errors by the DMV, the suit alleges, California law requires the DMV to change the expiration of its own accord or to allow applicants to reapply for a corrected license.

    “The state of California must help these 20,000 drivers because, at the end of the day, the clerical errors threatening their livelihoods are of the CA-DMV’s own making,” said Munmeeth Kaur, legal director of the Sikh Coalition, a group fighting for the civil rights of Sikhs.

    The Sikh Coalition and Asian Law Caucus filed the class-action lawsuit on behalf of five commercial driver’s license holders, challenging the DMV’s decision to revoke licenses.

    Since November, the number of cancellation notifications has grown to more than 20,000.

    “If the court does not issue a stay, we will see a devastating wave of unemployment that harms individual families, as well as the destabilization of supply chains on which we all rely,” said Kaur.

    The Sikh Coalition also noted that the action was taken under pressure from the federal government. It said the California DMV has failed to provide recourse, and informed applicants that it’s not issuing or renewing non-resident commercial driver’s licenses.

    Punjabi Sikh truckers have emerged as a pillar of the American trucking industry. For years, many have sought asylum in the U.S. and entered the transportation industry.

    There are around 750,000 Punjabi Sikhs in the United States. Of those, about 150,000 work in the trucking industry, with the majority based on the West Coast.

    The issue of immigrant truckers became a political flash point earlier this year, when a Punjabi Sikh driver took an illegal U-turn at a turnpike that caused a crash in Florida that killed three people. The Trump administration swung into action and found seven states, including California, Washington and Texas, that had lax licensing rules.

    The crackdown has caused a wave of racism and racial profiling of Sikh truckers, many of whom sport turbans and beards as symbols of their faith, which is neither Hindu nor Muslim.

    Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy singled out California for issuing commercial driver’s licenses to what his department says are unqualified immigrant truckers that put lives on the road in danger. Many truckers quit the industry after the introduction of enhanced English proficiency tests, where highway inspectors check for language proficiency and highway traffic sign competency.

    Policy changes regarding noncitizen commercial licenses and English-language proficiency enforcement could remove more than 400,000 commercial drivers from the market over the next three years, according to J.B. Hunt, one of the largest trucking companies.

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    Nilesh Christopher

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