Juliet Williams

CalMatters exclusive: @mayacmiller.bsky.social has confirmed the identity of another co-conspirator, Alexis Podesta. Her attorney says she isn't charged and is cooperating with investigators. calmatters.org/politics/202...

🗓️ Planning your week ahead? Don't forget to get your ticket for our "Election Preview 2026" with top @CA_Dem, @CAGOP pollsters & strategists. Wednesday, 12-1 pm @UCCenterSac. Tickets 🎟️: sacpressclub.org/events/upcom...

Hi Bluesky 👋

Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP

It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history

I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵

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.

calmatters.org/politics/202...

Don't miss this! Next Wednesday's @sacpressclub lunch @UCCenterSac 12-1 pm w/ CA's top political pundits & pollsters talking #Prop50 and what's ahead in the 2026 elections. Tickets🎟️🎟️🎟️: sacpressclub.org/events/upcom...

Gov. Gavin Newsom smiles during a rally about redistricting at the Democracy Center of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on Aug. 14, 2025. Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters. Text: Breaking: Prop. 50 passes in California The gerrymandering plan has significant stakes far beyond California’s borders

Breaking: It’s a yes for Prop. 50. California voters approved the measure to temporarily suspend the state’s nonpartisan citizens redistricting commission until 2030. bit.ly/3WAJfhI

📝 @mayacmiller.bsky.social& @jeannereporter.bsky.social
📸 Ted Soqui

Censorship or protection? Inside California’s ‘hardest’ fight of the year over antisemitism In the fight over preventing antisemitism in schools, no one disputes the need to protect Jewish students. Lawmakers and critics diverged sharply on how to do it.

The story behind the long, messy legislative fight this year over a bill meant to address teaching about antisemitism in California schools. @bystellayu.bsky.social and @mzinshteyn.bsky.social:

California Votes: Proposition 50 - October 14, 2025 - Capitol Weekly Join Capitol Weekly, CalMatters, and the University of California Student and Policy Center for: . California Votes: Proposition 50 Should Californians support mid-decade redistricting? . October 14, ...

Proposition 50 would require CA to use new congressional district maps. On October 14, proponents from each side will offer arguments in a debate moderated by @wordsmith24.bsky.social of Capitol Weekly & @jwilliamsjourno.bsky.social of @calmatters.org
capitolweekly.net/events/calif...

A barn in rural Modoc County on Sept. 4, 2025. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters HED: These rural Californians want to secede. Newsom’s maps would pair them with Bay Area liberals

Gavin Newsom's Democratic redistricting plan would merge conservative rural Modoc County with liberal Marin County, angering ranchers. https://cal.news/46cOw4J

📷 Miguel Gutierrez Jr.

Which of these 2025 bills will Gavin Newsom sign? California lawmakers sent Newsom hundreds of bills to sign or veto by Oct. 12. Here's a look at some of the most high-profile ones.

California lawmakers pushed through hundreds of bills in the final days of the Legislative session. Here are some we're watching for Gov. Newsom's action:

California Democrats end legislative session with climate deal – and infighting The session stretched into Saturday, prolonged by last-minute backroom deals on climate and energy, sparking deep frustration among some lawmakers.

Well, that's a wrap on this year's legislative session. Kudos to my @calmatters.org colleagues, who were all over every move.

Your neighborhood could get seven-story buildings if it's near a train station A bill California lawmakers approved allows dense apartments near transit stations, overriding local zoning to address the housing crisis.

The passage of this bill, nearly a decade in the making, slaps a symbolic bow on what has already been a banger of a year for controversial and ambitious housing production legislation in California.

calmatters.org/housing/2025...

Politics palate cleanser

Congratulations @akoseff.bsky.social! We will miss you.

California’s top Democrats rush key policies in secret talks Major climate and energy reforms hang in the balance as California leaders talk in private to reach last-minute deals. The secrecy leaves little time for the public to weigh in.

Negotiations that could have a major effect on California's air quality, gas supply, transportation networks and the future of Medi-Cal are all taking place behind closed doors, with virtually no input from the public. @bystellayu.bsky.social

The secret negotiations that could reshape California's climate policy Lawmakers, oil industry leaders and environmental justice groups are meeting behind closed doors to try to reach a deal to extend California’s landmark cap-and-trade program.

California lawmakers are scrambling to finalize a last-minute deal that would extend the state’s landmark greenhouse gas reduction program – known as cap and trade – through 2045. https://cal.news/4ptq6LU

Why Republicans are avoiding their favorite target in California’s redistricting fight Gavin Newsom wants the campaign for Proposition 50 to be a battle between him and Donald Trump. The GOP says it needs another way to win over voters.

Gavin Newsom is their biggest foil, but California Republicans are shying away from making him the center of attention in their campaign against Proposition 50.

Will officials finally address California's shocking prison cell temperatures? After years of complaints from inmates and advocates, California is finally embarking on a plan to cool some cells. But it’s only a test, and there’s no indication the state will take broad action.

@jeannereporter.bsky.social's story on soaring temperatures in California prisons and the new, tiny, step toward addressing them will make you exasperated and sad for the people affected.

Newsom deploys 'crime suppression' teams statewide while mocking Trump's threats The governor is making the first move in his battle with Trump over crime, sending CHP officers into six California cities.

Beating Trump to the punch in California?

How Newsom’s California redistricting plan might impact your vote Here's how your vote could change in 2026 if voters approve Gov. Gavin Newsom's congressional redistricting proposal.

Find out if your vote could be affected by Newsom's redistricting plans with these cool maps comparing before & after. Great work by @jeremiak.com & @akoseff.bsky.social!

Former Assembly Speaker-elect Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, right, walks hand in hand with her spouse, Jennifer LeSar, to the rostrum of the Assembly where she took the oath of office as Assembly Speaker at the Capitol in Sacramento, on May 12, 2014. Atkins is running for governor in 2026, while her spouse runs consulting firms that do business with the state. Photo via AP Photo Hed: This candidate for California governor has a potential conflict of interest in her own home

If she were elected governor, former Senate leader Toni Atkins would oversee contracts with her spouse's many consulting firms. cal.news/4mBgKeI

📸 AP

Redistricting rebuttal: Texas Democrats cheer Newsom’s map-drawing plans A half dozen Texas Democrats met with Gov. Gavin Newsom, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats in Sacramento as they draw new House seats for California.

Half a dozen Democratic lawmakers who fled Texas to stop a Republican-led redistricting scheme met Friday with top California Democrats as they draw their own new congressional lines
calmatters.org/politics/202...

California's second-in-command drops bid for governor in 2026 Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis says she'll instead seek to become state treasurer in 2026. Kounalakis was trailing in a fielded crowd of Democrats seeking to become governor

“At this moment, I believe I can make the greatest impact by focusing on California’s financial future,” @eleniforca.bsky.social said in a statement
calmatters.org/politics/202...

Next Democratic president should expropriate Trump's wealth to pay for scraping all this Temu shit off the walls of the White House.

Could California prevent more blackouts by joining a Western power market? The state built a clean grid. Now lawmakers are eyeing opening its market to states that rely on coal. Critics say it’s a risky bet.

Huge props to @gauchoesque.bsky.social and @jeannereporter.bsky.social for giving me the layperson's understanding of a proposed shared power network in the West: calmatters.org/politics/202...

Kamala Harris announces she won't run for California governor Conjecture about whether Harris would run for governor began almost immediately after she lost the November election to President Donald Trump.

The time for a decision has finally come. Let the governor's race begin!

They worked with the U.S. in Afghanistan. Now Trump could return them to the Taliban Afghans who fled the Taliban and resettled in California have lost legal protections and financial support in President Trump's second term.

Powerful story today by @akoseff.bsky.social on the Afghans in California who are caught in legal limbo as the Trump administration changes policies:

Spokane ICE protesters, including Stuckart, arrested by federal agents Federal agents on Tuesday morning arrested and searched the homes of multiple people who took part in a June 11 mass protest against immigration enforcement in Spokane.

Spokane politician arrested by feds at his home for protesting ICE kidnapping of two immigrants at check-in appointment.

"Former Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart … was indicted by a federal grand jury and [will] be charged with conspiracy to impede or injure law enforcement."

YES