Yousef Baig

How fear of Trump's immigration blitz is changing life in California farm towns Tax receipts are down almost 30% in one California farm town, where immigrants are afraid to go out and some longtime workers are weighing self-deportation. People panicked when probation agents in gr...

In Central Valley towns where coffers rely on undocumented workers, second-quarter tax revenues plummeted this year. What happens to an already stressed California ag industry if they don't come back? Masterfully written, as always, by @nigelduara.bsky.social calmatters.org/economy/2025...

The Activation Blizzard civil rights settlement and Williamson's alleged interference is more egregious than a bunch of crusty lobbyists and power players taking money from a careless politician.

F.B.I. Letters Send Shivers Through California’s Political Inner Circle

The thing is, skimming campaign accounts is a bland, if not common, form of corruption. The players just make this interesting.

The bigger problem in the Capitol is the lobbyists themselves and the outsized power they deploy to kneecap or flat out kill good policy www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/u...

The clip of Trump waving off Mamdani, saying basically “it’s chill bro, just say I’m a fascist” is so hilarious and depressing in one full swing. Embodied the Pedro Pascal laugh cry gif.

China strides into US-sized gap at climate talks In the Biden era, countries interested in clean energy “were motivated to buy things from the U.S.,” an African official says. But now Beijing has few rivals.

"It won’t be long before we have a queue of American governors begging BYD to set up electric car factories in the States."

As the US slams the door on climate, China makes it very clear at COP30 that it's open for business.

www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

Commentary: Newsom's former chief of staff is accused of misusing campaign money, lying to get a COVID loan and calling personal purchases, like designer goods and a luxurious vacation, business expenses. bit.ly/4r0EN9P

📝 Dan Walters
📸 Fred Greaves

Federal court blocks new Texas congressional map for 2026 The decision is a major blow for Republicans, in Texas and nationally, who pushed through this unusual mid-decade redistricting at the behest of President Donald Trump.

Breaking: Federal court blocks Texas from using new congressional gerrymander in 2026 midterms.

I can share this with right editor. But that sort of inflammatory characterization of the story is way off base, and misunderstands the coverage value for general audiences or our media partners. I welcome critiques of reporting but questioning ethics? I also expect better from plugged-in readers.

A commission-written press release? Unless you have specific examples from the story you can point to, I have a hard time seeing how this reporting doesn’t give the average Californian a good snapshot of the commission, it’s checkered past and what to make of the new batch of appointees.

One California city’s idea to tackle the housing crisis: Take the stairs For champions of more housing development, ditching the extra staircase has become a buzzy cause in fighting California's housing crisis.

I wrote about how Culver City became the first municipality in California (and likely the last for now) to ditch the ubiquitous two staircase requirement for mid-rises. As YIMBYs turn to impediments to construction beyond zoning, Culver City is an early test case.

calmatters.org/housing/2025...

this is so well said by elias and really what i was trying to get at in my story earlier this week. those emails just feel like the final nail in the coffin re: 'the ruling class'

The Epstein emails are another gross reminder of how a lot of old, rich white men are just rizzless weirdos that want to live out fantasies they think they’re entitled to because of money and power.

a boxer is talking to another boxer in a boxing ring . ALT: a boxer is talking to another boxer in a boxing ring .

When we play Texas

‘Unlawful coercion’: Trump can’t withhold funds or demand payment from UC, federal judge rules A federal judge ruled Donald Trump cannot demand that UCLA pay a $1.2 billion settlement that would have restricted academic freedoms.

NEW:

‘Unlawful coercion’: Trump can’t withhold funds or demand payment from UC, federal judge rules.

The judge has previously sided with UC scholars several times since June in halting Trump’s termination of science and health research funding. The latest ruling is arguably the most sweeping yet.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's AI agent to automate spying Claude Code carried out 80-90% of the attack on its own, according to Anthropic.

State hackers are officially using American built AI for cyber ops. And ironically Anthropic is one of the few actually supportive of regulations that could prevent more of this in the future www.axios.com/2025/11/13/a...

The levels of cope we’re seeing in conservative media these days show you just how low this movement has to go in order to survive.

The COP30 logo at the central building is visible ahead of the COP30 Brazil Amazonia 2025 in Belém, Brazil, on Nov. 3, 2025. Photo by Wagner Meier, Getty Images. Quote: “The reason I’m here is the absence of leadership coming from the United States — this vacuum, it’s rather jaw dropping.” Gov. Gavin Newsom, in São Paulo, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Investors’ Symposium. He is leading a California delegation to the United Nations’ 30th Conference of Parties this week in Belém. Quote: “The reason I’m here is the absence of leadership coming from the United States — this vacuum, it’s rather jaw dropping.” Gov. Gavin Newsom, in São Paulo, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Investors’ Symposium. He is leading a California delegation to the United Nations’ 30th Conference of Parties this week in Belém.

California likes to think of itself as a nation — and this week, it’s acting like one. Gov. Gavin Newsom, top state officials and legislators are leading a delegation to the United Nations’ 30th Conference of Parties this week in Belém. bit.ly/3LVPo5N

📸 Wagner Meier

Colorado River talks hit crunch time. What's at stake for California water? Western states in the Colorado River basin are racing a federal deadline to hash out how to share the overtapped river. As the clock ticks down, two questions looms large: Just how real is this deadli...

Today's the day! Or ... is it? The Trump administration's deadline looms for Colorado River negotiators to at least agree to make a deal. So -- how real is this deadline, really? And what does it mean for California?

calmatters.org/environment/...

Why Elon Musk Got the Most Ridiculous Pay Package in the History of Humanity Did Tesla just make Musk the world’s first trillionaire? Almost certainly not. But that’s not what his colossal new deal is really about.

I wrote about Elon's corny new stunt contract and why the media spent the last five days doing free PR work for him

What Climate Change Will Do to America by Mid-Century Many places may become uninhabitable. Many people may be on their own.

President Trump is pursuing a policy of climate-change acceleration. His actions are fueling global warming—and may leave places in the United States uninhabitable by mid-century, Vann R. Newkirk II writes.

How the Trump Administration Is Giving Even More Tax Breaks to the Wealthy The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service are issuing rules that provide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief to big companies and the ultrarich.

Under the Trump administration, the Treasury Department and IRS are issuing rules that provide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts to big companies and the ultrarich. Here's how.

'We feel alone': L.A. fire survivors call for California's insurance commissioner to resign “We feel alone, we feel forgotten,” one L.A. fire survivor said as she called for Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to step down. The elected Democrat counters that his reforms need time to work.

Los Angeles County fire survivors, frustrated about delayed and denied insurance claims, want CA insurance regulator Ricardo Lara to resign. They also accuse him of being too cozy with the industry. Would his exit make a difference in the state's insurance market?

calmatters.org/economy/2025...

A.I. Sweeps Through Newsrooms, but Is It a Journalist or a Tool?

There are a lot of unsettling ways newsrooms are incorporating AI into their journalism, but it’s nice to see my guy Ryan Sabalow’s stellar Digital Democracy reporting and the work @calmatters.org is doing in this space highlighted as one of the positive use cases www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/b...

The Forgotten War in Sudan CFR President Michael Froman discusses the latest from the civil war in Sudan with Michelle Gavin, senior fellow for Africa policy studies.

CFR President Michael Froman discusses the latest from the civil war in Sudan with CFR Africa expert Michelle Gavin.

Read their full conversation ⬇️

If Trump’s EPA abandons climate policy, could California take over on greenhouse gases? California, the state that helped define U.S. clean-air policy, is once again considering how far it can go without Washington’s permission.

NEW: A provocative idea, if Trump’s EPA abandons climate policy, could California take over on greenhouse gases? calmatters.org/environment/...

California lawmakers sent millions to their districts while making budget cuts elsewhere Millions went to pet projects even as lawmakers made deep budget cuts. Here’s how they sent money back home to help get re-elected.

As shady and unsurprising as this is, even in deficit times, I’m equally as disturbed that incoming Senate President Monique Limon seems to have a bad habit of sneaking in giveaways & state law exemptions for the wealthy few in her district calmatters.org/politics/202...

Tech Billionaire Marc Andreessen Bet Big on Trump. It’s Paying Off for Silicon Valley. The Trump administration’s gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been good for venture capitalists like Andreessen, who previously accused the agency of “terrorizing” fintech startup...

The Trump administration’s gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been good for venture capitalists like Marc Andreessen, who previously accused the agency of “terrorizing” fintech startups and crypto companies. ⁦

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi will retire from Congress at the end of her term The San Francisco representative, who’s best known for her political prowess and leader of national Democrats, won’t run for reelection.

The only people sad about this news are all the retail traders who make money by mirroring Pelosi’s stock portfolio calmatters.org/politics/202...

A sneak peek at the cover of next week’s issue, which celebrates Zohran Mamdani’s historic win. #NewYorkerCovers
https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/451hFM

Did Prop. 50 pass? Find out if Prop. 50 passed and see how redistricting could shift congressional representation in California and nationwide

In case you’re wondering 👉🏽 www.didprop50pass.com