Stories

Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 19, 2026

Seven Weeks Before the Midterms, California Makes It a Felony to Seize Ballots or Block a Mail Ballot's Delivery — Newsom Signs Thirteen Bills Saying Trump "Won't Stop Until He Can Exert Dictatorial Control Over Your Free Vote," While the Secretary of State Calls the Package "a Shield Against Multiple Attacks"

On September 19, 2026, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of thirteen election bills at the Democracy Center of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, framing them as California's answer to federal interference in the November midterms. The package creates new felonies for seizing ballots, election records or voting equipment before certification (AB 282), for directing workers to interfere with the delivery or return of a mail ballot (SB 259) and for theft of election materials (SB 1418); restricts law-enforcement activity near polling places; requires election officials to notify the attorney general and secretary of state of any warrant or subpoena touching election records (AB 1664); expands ballot drop-off hours and language access; and tightens rules on AI-generated and deceptive campaign content. The signing followed the Justice Department's orders to states to preserve 2024 election records, its notices to two chief election officers that they were "under investigation," and its plan to send roughly 1,000 federal monitors to the midterm polls. Republican legislators argued existing law already criminalized ballot theft, and the state sheriffs' association objected that one bill gave the attorney general too much power.

“California is meeting the moment and with this package of bills, erecting a shield against multiple attacks against our elections. No one should doubt the degree of our resolve in protecting our democracy. This legislative package ensures that California voters will not be silenced or intimidated.”
Shirley N. Weber (D-CA) · Sep 19, 2026

The Park Service Has Spent More Than a Year Working to Hand a Quarter-Mile Strip of Yosemite to a Las Vegas Developer — and California’s Two Senators Answer That the Park “Is Not for Sale”

NOTUS reported on August 28, 2026 that since the spring of 2025 the National Park Service has been working, at the direction of Trump political appointees at the Interior Department, to cede a roughly quarter-mile strip of land inside Yosemite National Park to a company controlled through a web of limited-liability companies by Kingsbarn Realty Capital, a Las Vegas-based real-estate and investment firm run by Jeff Pori. The New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Hill matched the reporting the same day. In 2024 Kingsbarn bought 83 acres of undeveloped land immediately outside Yosemite's western boundary, roughly five miles from one of the park's groves of ancient sequoias. The parcel has no direct road connection to Highway 120, the park's main thoroughfare. The exchange under discussion would give Kingsbarn a strip of park land to build that connection; in return the company would buy land of equal value elsewhere in California and turn it over to the Park Service. Interior floated paying for the exchange out of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, money Congress set aside for conservation on public lands. Sen. Jeff Merkley, a member of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, objected and kept the deal off the subcommittee's endorsed project list. Career Park Service staff told NOTUS the directive was unprecedented and that Interior leadership pushed them to move faster. Ceding park land to a private party runs against roughly 150 years of practice in which national park boundaries have expanded, not contracted. Don Neubacher, a former Yosemite superintendent, said the transfer is "basically illegal" and warned that the specific area is habitat for Pacific fishers and great gray owls. Cicely Muldoon, another former superintendent with 40 years in the Park Service, said the agency's "basic purpose in the national parks is to preserve these places unimpaired for future generations." The Interior Department denied the reporting, calling it a story built on "anonymous allegations to manufacture a political narrative." Lanny Davis, a Democratic lawyer who identified himself as counsel to Kingsbarn, confirmed after publication that the company was pursuing the exchange and said he — not Trump — had brought the proposal to Interior, framing it as "a pro-environmental decision." California's two Democratic senators and the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee all came out against the deal within hours. Padilla's office said it was working with Senate Appropriations staff to block it.

“Yosemite is one of California’s natural wonders. The courts struck this project down once, but this administration appears hell-bent on moving forward. We will fight this again.”
Adam Schiff (D-CA) · Aug 28, 2026

A Progressive State Senator Beats Roughly $5 Million in AIPAC-Aligned Spending to Win Eric Swalwell’s Old Seat — and Aisha Wahab Becomes the First Afghan American Elected to Congress

The Associated Press called California's 14th District special election for state Sen. Aisha Wahab on Thursday, August 20, 2026, two days after polls closed, with Wahab leading fellow Democrat Melissa Hernandez 53 percent to 47 percent with more than 95 percent of the vote counted. Wahab will serve the remainder of former Rep. Eric Swalwell's term, which runs through January 2027; Swalwell resigned in April 2026 amid sexual misconduct allegations he denies. Wahab becomes the first Afghan American elected to the U.S. Congress. She had already been the first Afghan American to hold elected office in the United States, winning a Hayward City Council seat in 2018, and the first Muslim woman and first Afghan American in the California Legislature. The race drew unusually heavy outside money for a special election. The United Democracy Project, the super PAC aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, spent roughly $2.5 million against Wahab in the final weeks alone, with reported totals across AIPAC-aligned entities running to about $5 million or more. Wahab, who has called Israel's conduct in Gaza a genocide and supports ending U.S. military aid to Israel, made the spending itself a campaign issue and described the advertising as "$5m of lies." Hernandez, the president of the BART Board of Directors and a former mayor of Dublin, conceded and said she hopes for a different outcome in November, when the two are set to face each other again for the full two-year term under a newly redistricted map. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) congratulated Wahab on what he called a "decisive victory." Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Pete Aguilar had earlier lobbied Wahab against running.

“Congratulations Aisha Wahab on your decisive victory. I look forward to working with you on Medicare for All, a living wage, and ending the war in Iran.”
Ro Khanna (D-CA) · Aug 21, 2026

Interior Finalizes the Deepest Colorado River Cuts on Record — 1.25 Million Acre-Feet a Year, With Arizona Absorbing 760,000 — as Lake Mead and Lake Powell Fall to Levels Not Seen Since 1963

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed the Record of Decision and the 2027–2028 Operating Guidelines for the Colorado River on August 21, 2026, ordering the Lower Basin states to cut 1.25 million acre-feet of water use a year — Arizona 760,000, California 440,000, Nevada 50,000 — and adopting a ten-year decision framework through 2036. Combined storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead is now lower than at any time since Powell began filling in 1963, after a record-low 2025–26 snowpack. Arizona Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, who had warned three weeks earlier that the draft framework could place an "unfair burden" on their state, welcomed the final plan and said every basin state now needs to do its part. Gov. Katie Hobbs said the plan saved Arizona from cuts that "would have crippled our economy" while protecting Upper Basin reservoirs at Lake Mead's expense. Gov. Gavin Newsom called it "a necessary step." Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, the only Republican governor among the three Lower Basin states, was the harshest, saying the federal government is "positioning to short Nevada" — the state with just 1.8 percent of the river's allocation.

“We are grateful for the Seven Basin States, the thirty Basin Tribes, Mexico, and many other basin stakeholders who have provided the feedback and voluntary arrangements necessary for the development of the 2027-2028 Operating Guidelines.”
Doug Burgum (R-ND) · Aug 21, 2026

San Diego County Votes 3-2 to Throw ICE and Border Patrol Off Its Firing Ranges — the Elected Sheriff Bans ICE but Keeps CBP, and the Acting ICE Director Calls It "Political Obstruction"

On August 18, 2026, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to terminate the agreements that let U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection train at the San Diego Regional Firearms Training Center on Alta Road in Otay Mesa — a county-owned facility a few miles from the Mexican border — and at a Navy facility the county leases. The proposal came from Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Terra Lawson-Remer, who framed it as a refusal to let county property underwrite federal immigration raids. Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe provided the third vote; Republican Supervisor Jim Desmond voted no, arguing that badly behaved agents are an argument for more training, not less. Separately and on the same day, Sheriff Kelly Martinez — an independently elected officer who controls the range's day-to-day operations — announced she was barring ICE from sheriff's training sites and firearms qualifications, but would continue to allow CBP access, citing the harm to cross-border communities if the roughly 1,700 CBP officers who qualify there had to go elsewhere. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott called the board's vote "unprecedented." On August 20, Acting ICE Director David Venturella issued a statement saying the agency "will not allow political obstruction" to keep its officers from training.

“ICE will not allow political obstruction to prevent our officers and agents from receiving the training they need to safely and effectively enforce the laws of the United States and carry out President Trump's mandate to restore integrity to our immigration system.”
David Venturella (R) · Aug 20, 2026

Aug 20, 2026· Updated

Four Armed ICE Agents Show Up at a Sacramento Immigration Law Firm With a List From Washington and Ask to Tour the Offices "For Beds" — Then Threaten to Come Back at 3 A.M. and Breach the Windows

On the morning of Friday, August 14, 2026, at least four armed ICE officers arrived in a convoy of vehicles at the Morris Law Group, an immigration law firm in the North Natomas neighborhood of Sacramento. Staff say the agents told them they had a list from Washington, D.C. that named the building's address as the primary mailing address for a large number of people they planned to arrest, and asked to tour the office looking for beds. The firm serves as a mailing address for clients working through the asylum and citizenship process — a standard arrangement in immigration practice, and the reason its address appears repeatedly in federal records. Employees turned the agents away for lacking a judicial warrant. According to the firm, the agents stayed in the parking lot for roughly an hour, and one threatened to return at 3 a.m. and breach the windows to force entry. The Department of Homeland Security's account is that officers approached "an unmarked door" they believed was a target address and left once they realized it was a law firm — an account the firm disputes, noting its signage and the length of the standoff. California's two senators announced investigations. Adam Schiff called the attempted warrantless entry unconscionable; Alex Padilla said he does not put anything past the administration. Sacramento City Council member Lisa Kaplan, whose district includes the firm, called it a direct assault on the rule of law. On August 27, 2026, Schiff and Padilla formally demanded a federal investigation into the operation.

“The attempt by ICE to target an immigration law firm with an illegal search in District 1 is a flagrant abuse of power meant purely for harassment and intimidation and a direct assault on the rule of law.”
Lisa Kaplan (D-CA) · Aug 20, 2026

Trump Claims California Primary Is Being "Stolen"; AG Bonta Calls Claims "Unhinged"

Following California's June 3, 2026 primary elections, President Trump repeatedly posted on Truth Social claiming Democrats were "stealing" the vote as mail ballots continued to be counted — a normal process in a high-mail-vote state. The US Attorney's office in California opened "multiple" election fraud investigations at Trump's urging with no specific evidence provided. California AG Rob Bonta called Trump's claims "truly embarrassing, unhinged, wild-eyed, dangerous, reckless, desperate," and Gov. Newsom's press office mocked the president. Analysts warned the episode previewed midterm election denial tactics.

“Truly embarrassing, unhinged, wild-eyed, dangerous, reckless, desperate. What's your evidence for the bold claim you've made? He has none. Every count, recount, hand count, audit and court case has demonstrated there is no widespread voter fraud. Trump has basically taken the position that if he wins or the person that he supports wins, the election was fair. If he lost or the person he supported lost, it was rigged. And that's just not right. The danger is the action that follows the lie.”
Rob Bonta (D-CA) · Jun 9, 2026

Apr 13, 2026· Updated

Sexual Assault Allegations Against Gov. Candidate Eric Swalwell

A CNN investigation on April 10, 2026 reported that four women described sexual misconduct by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), including a former staffer who said he raped her when she was too intoxicated to consent. Swalwell, a candidate for California governor, called the allegations "flat false." Within hours, House Democratic leadership called on him to end his campaign, Sen. Adam Schiff and Sen. Ruben Gallego withdrew endorsements, his campaign chair resigned, the Manhattan DA opened a probe, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi urged him to drop out. On April 13, Swalwell dropped his governor bid and announced he would resign from Congress, saying he was taking "responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make" while still denying the most serious allegations.

“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I've made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make. I am aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against me. Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong. But it's also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress.”
Eric Swalwell (D-CA) · Apr 13, 2026