California in Focus

(The Center Square) – Despite a Trump administration executive order defunding gender ideology in public education, Los Angeles Unified School District materials instruct elementary children how to be transgender activists, warn parents that failing to support "gender-affirming care" could endanger their children, and the district allows students to socially transition at school without parental n...

(The Center Square) – U.S. senators from Florida and Wisconsin are starting an investigation into the devastating Palisades Fire in Los Angeles. The blaze burned 23,448 acres between Jan. 7 and Jan. 31, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It resulted in 12 deaths and the destruction of 6,837 buildings, including homes, schools and businesses, in the coastal Paci...

(The Center Square) – The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has responded to California’s lawsuit accusing the county of not acting to address poor conditions in its jails. The department said late Monday afternoon that it has been “fully engaged, cooperative and transparent with the California Department of Justice” since Sheriff Robert Luna took office in December 2022.  Support this podca...

(The Center Square) – New California Highway Patrol teams will work with local law enforcement to fight crime in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley and Southern California’s Inland Empire. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the CHP teams in the state’s major cities during a week that also saw Attorney General Rob Bonta reveal an agreement to reform the Torr...

(The Center Square) – California continues to have America's second-highest unemployment rate, according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report. California’s unemployment rate was 5.5% in July. The only place with a worse rate was Washington, D.C., at 6%, the bureau said. The nation's capital also had the highest unemployment rate in June at 5.9%, with California in the second worst...

(The Center Square) – Republicans are calling for 35 inland counties to secede from California and create a new state. The GOP announced the plan Wednesday as their response to Democrats’ congressional redistricting efforts. “I want to take a step back from all of the chaos we had and talk about the forgotten people of California,” Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher said, presenting a map du...

(The Center Square) – The Trump administration terminated a federal grant that provided funding for sex education classes in California. The federal government terminated the Personal Responsibility Education Program, or PREP, after California refused to remove lessons on gender ideology as part of its program.  Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4...

(The Center Square) - Less than 1% of aid recipients from the official charity of the office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass reported receiving the earned income tax credit, leading Republican leaders to wonder why so much of the charity’s aid is going towards non-working households. According to a report from Loyola Marymount University studying the impact of the mayor’s “We Are Los Angeles” evic...

(The Center Square) - President Donald Trump condemned the possibility of building low-income housing in the Pacific Palisades, and the City of Los Angeles’s slow issuance of rebuilding permits for the fire-ravaged community. "You see what’s happening now, they didn't get their permits," said President Trump at a press conference Monday. “This is among the most beautiful areas — was — in the count...

(The Center Square) - The budget of a little-known California agency ballooned to over 68 times its original size over the last decade, but few people have taken advantage of the ScholarShare Investment Board scholarships that the agency funds, an investigation by The Center Square found. Since the 2015-2016 fiscal year, SIB's budget grew from $2.9 million to $198 million as the state created a un...

(The Center Square) - A California bill nearing the governor’s desk would create “Climate Resilience Districts” to in part finance income-restricted “affordable” housing in disaster-impacted areas such as the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, similar to the “Resilient Rebuilding Authority” bill put on hold in July. According to the bill’s analysis by the State Assembly Committee on Local Government,...

(The Center Square) - Since California Gov. Gavin Newsom took office in 2019, state debt payments on unemployment benefits have gone from zero to nearly $600 million this year, and could soon result in annual payroll tax increases of nearly $500 per employee, according to an analysis by The Center Square. These payments to the federal government will soon reach $1 billion per year to pay back $20...

(The Center Square) — A controversial California bill that would have created a powerful “Resilient Rebuilding Authority” for the Los Angeles fires was put on temporary hold by state Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, in response to widespread community concerns. “I appreciate the input of the folks who have weighed in about the bill, and along with legislative colleagues have decided that it would b...

(The Center Square) - The California Senate and now a key Assembly committee have passed a bill that would allow cities to charge businesses up to $650 for returning shopping carts stolen from them. The measure, Senate Bill 753, was introduced at the urging of the city of San Jose, which faces major homelessness and budget crises.  Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foun...

(The Center Square) - The California Senate passed a bill to authorize a Los Angeles County “Resilient Rebuilding Authority" that could use public funds to "purchase lots at a fair price for land banking," and "create open space." The bill would also allow municipal bodies to use property taxes to fund low-income housing and public transit. Senate Bill 549 now has a hearing in the state Assembly s...

(The Center Square) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom says new state data shows two-thirds of the state’s energy came from “clean” energy sources in 2023. Energy prices for the state’s three largest providers averaged 36.6 cents per kilowatt hour in the first quarter of 2025, or more than double the national average of 17.5 cents per kilowatt per hour. “As the federal government turns its back on inn...

(The Center Square) — Six months after the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires, California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled $101 million in funding Tuesday for “multifamily low-income housing development” that will “contribute to a more equitable and resilient Los Angeles." The priority is for “geographic proximity to the fire perimeters of the Eaton, Hughes, and Palisades fires.”  Support this podcas...

(The Center Square) — The Los Angeles park at the heart of a federal horse-mounted raid Monday has long been a hotbed of criminal activity. The international MS-13 gang originated nearby, and decades of reporting noted the park’s centrality in the sale of fake identification to illegal immigrants and its function as the city’s largest open-air drug market.  Support this podcast: https://secure.ane...

(The Center Square) — A federal judge ruled the city of Los Angeles is failing to meet its court-ordered agreement to provide another 12,915 new beds for the homeless by 2027. U.S. District Court Judge David Carter ordered the selection of a third-party monitor and quarterly, in-person court hearings on the status of the city's programs.  Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-ne...

(The Center Square) — The U.S. Department of Justice Monday filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles’ sanctuary city policies, citing the supremacy clause regarding the preemption of federal statutes over state and local law in the U.S. Constitution. According to Los Angeles City Council members, one in 10 Los Angeles residents may be an illegal immigrant.  Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.c...

(The Center Square) - A Los Angeles area politician serving as vice mayor and recently appointed to lead at UCLA allegedly posted a video urging Hispanic street gangs to participate in resisting federal authorities, whom she called the “biggest gang there is.” “I wanna know where all the cholos are at in Los Angeles. 18th Street, Florencia, where’s the leadership at,” said a woman who appears to b...

(The Center Square) — The state-funded Legislative Analyst’s Office found California had “no job creation” in the fourth quarter of 2024, citing federal data that shows the state lost approximately 80,300 jobs between January and December of 2024. The LAO’s report also noted that jobs estimates have overestimated job growth by 25,000 jobs per month.  Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com...

(The Center Square) - Los Angeles’ $19.7 million response to the June protests and riots was almost entirely spent on police, highlighting the growing cost of police overtime amid an enduring officer shortage. According to a new report from government transparency group Open The Books, the city of Los Angeles spent $1.1 billion on overtime in 2024, or more than the city’s nearly billion dollar bud...

(The Center Square) - The California Legislature passed a record $325 billion preliminary budget, with final details remaining to be hammered out before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. This record budget comes as polling finds a growing majority of Californians now support having lower taxes, in return for fewer government services.  Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/fran...

(The Center Square) - California Gov. Gavin Newsom held a formal address Tuesday to the state, blaming President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard late Saturday night after two days of riots and destruction for Sunday and Monday’s more violent escalation. At approximately the same time, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ordered a curfew for downtown Los Angeles, warning that violators will be ar...