For most American infants, the hepatitis B shot comes just before their first bath, in the blur of pokes, prods and pictures that attend a 21st century hospital delivery.
But as of this week, thousands of newborns across the U.S. will no longer receive the initial inoculation for hepatitis B — the first in a litany of childhood vaccinations and the top defense against one of the world’s deadliest cancers.
On Dec. 5, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s powerful vaccine advisory panel voted to nix the decades-old birth-dose recommendation.
The change was pushed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which has long sought to rewrite the CDC’s childhood vaccine schedule and unwind state immunization requirements for kindergarten.
California officials have vowed to keep the state’s current guidelines in place, but the federal changes could threaten vaccine coverage by some insurers and public benefits programs, along with broader reverberations.
“It’s a gateway,” said Jessica Malaty Rivera, an infectious disease epidemiologist in Los Angeles. “It’s not just hepatitis B — it’s chipping away at the entire schedule.”
Democratic-led states and blue-chip insurance companies have scrambled to shore up access. California joined Hawaii, Oregon and Washington in forming the West Coast Health Alliance to maintain uniform public policy on vaccines in the face of official “mis- and dis-information.”
“Universal hepatitis B vaccinations at birth save lives, and walking away from this science is reckless,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “The Trump administration’s ideological politics continue to drive increasingly high costs — for parents, for newborns, and for our entire public-health system.”
The issue is also already tied up in court.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court sent a lawsuit over New York’s vaccine rules back to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for review, signaling skepticism about the stringent shots-for-school requirements pioneered in California. On Friday, public health officials in Florida appeared poised to ax their schools’ hepatitis B immunization requirement, along with shots for chickenpox, a dozen strains of bacterial pneumonia and the longtime leading cause of deadly meningitis.
Boosters of the hep B change said it replaces impersonal prescriptions with “shared clinical decision-making” about whether and how to vaccinate, while preserving the more stringent recommendation for children of infected mothers and those whose status is unknown.
Critics say families were always free to decline the vaccine, as about 20% did nationwide in 2020, according to data published by the CDC. It’s the only shot on the schedule that children on Medicaid receive at the same rate as those with private insurance.
Rather than improve informed consent, critics say the CDC committee’s decision and the splashy public fight leading up to it have depressed vaccination rates, even among children of infected mothers.
“Hepatitis B is the most vulnerable vaccine in the schedule,” said Dr. Chari Cohen, president of the Hepatitis B Foundation. “The message we’re hearing from pediatricians and gynecologists is parents are making it clear that they don’t want their baby to get the birth dose, they don’t want their baby to get the vaccine.”
Much of that vulnerability has to do with timing: The first dose is given within hours of birth, while symptoms of the disease might not show up for decades.
“The whole Day One thing really messes with people,” Rivera said. “They think, ‘This is my perfect fresh baby and I don’t want to put anything inside of them.’ ”
U.S. surgeon general nominee Casey Means called the universal birth dose recommendation “absolute insanity,” saying in a post on X last year that it should “make every American pause and question the healthcare system’s mandates.”
“The disease is transmitted through needles and sex exclusively,” she said. “There is no benefit to the baby or the wider population for a child to get this vaccine who is not at risk for sexual or IV transmission. There is only risk.”
In fact, at least half of transmission occurs from mother to child, typically at birth. A smaller percentage of babies get the disease by sharing food, nail clippers or other common household items with their fathers, grandparents or day-care teachers. Because infections are often asymptomatic, most don’t know they have the virus, and at least 15% of pregnant women in the U.S. aren’t tested for the disease, experts said.
Infants who contract hepatitis B are overwhelmingly likely to develop chronic hepatitis, leading to liver cancer or cirrhosis in midlife. The vaccine, by contrast, is far less likely than those for flu or chickenpox to cause even minor reactions, such as fever.
“We’ve given 50 billion doses of the hepatitis B vaccine and we’ve not seen signals that make us concerned,” said Dr. Su Wang, medical director of Viral Hepatitis Programs and the Center for Asian Health at the Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey, who lives with the disease.
Still, “sex and drugs” remains a popular talking point, not only with Kennedy allies in Washington and Atlanta, but among many prominent Los Angeles pediatricians.
“It sets up on Day One this mentality of, ‘I don’t necessarily agree with this, so what else do I not agree with?’” said Dr. Joel Warsh, a Studio City pediatrician and MAHA luminary, whose recent book “Between a Shot and a Hard Place” is aimed at vaccine-hesitant families.
Hepatitis B also disproportionately affects immigrant communities, further stigmatizing an illness that first entered the mainstream consciousness as an early proxy for HIV infection in the 1980s, before it was fully understood.
At the committee meeting last week, member Dr. Evelyn Griffin called illegal immigration the “elephant in the room” in the birth dose debate.
The move comes as post-pandemic wellness culture has supercharged vaccine hesitancy, expanding objections from a long-debunked link between the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and autism to a more generalized, equally false belief that “healthy” children who eat whole foods and play outside are unlikely to get sick from vaccine-preventable diseases and, if they do, can be treated with “natural” remedies such as beef tallow and cod liver oil.
“It’s about your quality of life, it’s about what you put in your body, it’s about your wellness journey — we have debunked this before,” Rivera said. “This is eugenics.”
Across Southern California, pediatricians, preschool teachers and public health experts say they’ve seen a surge in families seeking to prune certain shots from the schedule and many delay others based on “individualized risk.” The trend has spawned a cottage industry of e-books, Zoom workshops by “vaccine friendly” doctors offering alternative schedules, bespoke inoculations and post-vaccine detox regimens.
CDC data show state exemptions for kindergarten vaccines have surged since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with about 5% of schoolchildren in Georgia, Florida and Ohio, more than 6% in Pennsylvania and nearly 7% in Michigan waved out of the requirement last year.
In Alaska and Arizona, those numbers topped 9%. In Idaho, 1 in 6 kindergartners are exempt.
California is one of four states — alongside New York, Connecticut and Maine — with no religious or personal-belief exemptions for school vaccines.
It is also among at least 20 states that have committed to keep the hepatitis B birth dose for babies on public insurance, which covers about half of American children. It is not clear whether the revised recommendation will affect government coverage of the vaccine in other states.
Experts warn that the success of the birth-dose reversal over near-universal objection from the medical establishment puts the entire pediatric vaccination schedule up for grabs, and threatens the school-based rules that enforce it.
Ongoing measles outbreaks in Texas and elsewhere that have killed three and sickened close to 2,000 show the risks of rolling back requirements, experts said.
Hepatitis is not nearly as contagious as measles, which can linger in the air for about two hours. But it’s still fairly easy to pick up, and devastating to those who contract it, experts said.
“These decisions happening today are going to have terrible residual effects later,” said Rivera, the L.A. epidemiologist. “I can’t imagine being a new mom having to navigate this.”
That was the Ventura football team’s mindset Friday night at Fullerton High.
The Cougars drove 99 yards in eight plays and scored on a 12-yard pass from Derek Garcia to Tristan Phillips on fourth and goal to pull within a touchdown with 2:40 left, but San Francisco St. Ignatius College Prep recovered the ensuing onside kick and gained a first down to run out the clock and hang on for a 42-35 victory in the CIF state Division 3-AA bowl game.
“You are true competitors,” Derek’s father and head coach Tim Garcia told his dejected players minutes later. “We fought, kept fighting, just came up a little short, but let’s not forget what you guys accomplished. You won the Channel League, you won CIF, you won regionals and are state runner-up.”
Ventura defenders Nathan Radwich and Tristan Phillips tackle San Francisco St. Ignatius College Prep receiver Ty Hicks in the first half Friday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Garcia, who is headed for Nevada Las Vegas, entered the game having thrown for 3,369 yards, 36 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He added to that impressive total by completing 15 of 26 passes for 208 yards and two scores.
James Watson had 10 carries for 152 yards and two touchdowns and Western Colorado-bound receiver Jack Cunningham, who entered with a Ventura Country record 116 catches for 2,041 yards and 26 touchdowns, had seven catches for 67 yards.
St. Ignatius (9-6) finished the season on a seven-game winning streak thanks in large part to senior quarterback Caedon Afsharipour, who threw a touchdown pass and ran for the winning score.
The Cougars (13-3) had their 10-game winning streak snapped. The lead changed hands five times in the first half.
Ventura quarterback Derek Garcia passes against St. Ignatius College Prep on Friday night.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
James Watson scored on runs of 13 and 31 yards on consecutive drives to give Ventura its first lead, 14-7, with 2:33 left in the first quarter.
Steve Malone broke loose for a 44-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter and scored on a 27-yard run to put the Wildcats up 20-14, but the extra point was blocked.
Tristan Savage’s one-yard run capped an eight-play, 69-yard drive that put Ventura back on top, 21-20, but St. Ignatius answered on a 61-yard touchdown run by Luke Tribolet and a two-point pass from Afsharipour to Hawkes Packard to take a 28-21 lead into halftime.
Packard caught a 65-yard touchdown pass to extend the North region winners’ lead to 35-21 on the first play of the second half.
Garcia hit Cunningham in stride for a 31-yard touchdown to pull the Cougars within 35-28 at the 3:49 mark of the third quarter. However, Afsharipour’s 27-yard touchdown scamper pushed the Wildcats’ lead back to two scores early in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve done it before a couple times this season … we’ve battled back and come out on top,” Derek Garcia said as reality set in that his high school career was over. “I tried to stay in the present. I’m done being a Ventura Cougar, but now I look forward to the next chapter.”
New York routinely issues commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants that may be valid long after they are legally authorized to be in the country, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday. He threatened to withhold $73 million in highway funds unless the system is fixed and any flawed licenses are revoked.
State officials said they are following all the federal rules for the licenses and have been verifying drivers’ immigration status.
New York is the fourth state run by a Democratic governor Duffy has targeted in his effort to make sure truck and bus drivers are qualified to get commercial licenses. He launched the review after a truck driver who was not authorized to be in the U.S. made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people in August. But the rules on these licenses have been in place for years.
The Transportation Department has said it is auditing these non-domiciled licenses nationwide, but so far no states run by Republican governors have been targeted. But Duffy said Friday that this effort is not political, and he hopes New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will take responsibility and work with him. He said it is about making sure everyone behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound truck is qualified and safe.
“Let’s hold hands and sing Christmas music and fix your system,” Duffy said. Instead, he said, the response appears to be trying to “dodge, divert and weave” without taking responsibility for the problems.
Widespread problems found in New York audit, feds say
Duffy said federal investigators found that more than half of the 200 licenses they reviewed in New York were issued improperly, with many of them defaulting to be valid for eight years regardless of when an immigrant’s work permit expires. And he said the state couldn’t prove it had verified these drivers’ immigration status for the 32,000 active non-domiciled commercial licenses it has issued. Plus, investigators found some examples of New York issuing licenses even when applicants’ work authorizations were already expired.
“When more than half of the licenses reviewed were issued illegally, it isn’t just a mistake — it is a dereliction of duty by state leadership. Gov. Hochul must immediately revoke these illegally issued licenses,” Duffy said.
New York has 30 days to respond to these concerns. State DMV spokesperson Walter McClure defended the state’s practices.
“Secretary Duffy is lying about New York State once again in a desperate attempt to distract from the failing, chaotic administration he represents. Here is the truth: Commercial Drivers Licenses are regulated by the Federal Government, and New York State DMV has, and will continue to, comply with federal rules,” McClure said.
Duffy has previously threatened to pull federal funding from New York if the state did not abandon its plan to charge drivers a congestion pricing fee in New York City and if crime on the subway system was not addressed. The Transportation Department also put $18 billion of funding on hold for two major infrastructure projects in New York, including a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey, because of concerns about whether the spending was based on unconstitutional diversity, equity and inclusion principles.
Previous efforts to restrict immigrant truck drivers
Immigrants account for about 20% of all truck drivers, but these non-domiciled licenses only represent about 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses. The Transportation Department also proposed new restrictions that would severely limit which noncitizens could get a license, but a court put the new rules on hold.
Duffy has threatened to withhold millions from California, Pennsylvania and Minnesota after the audits found significant problems under the existing rules, like commercial licenses being valid long after an immigrant truck driver’s work permit expired. That pressure prompted California to revoke 17,000 licenses. No money has been withheld so far from any state because, Duffy said, California has complied and the other two states still have more time to respond.
Trucking trade groups have praised the effort to get unqualified drivers and drivers who can’t speak English off the road, along with the Transportation Department’s actions last week to go after questionable commercial driver’s license schools. But immigrant advocacy groups have raised concerns these actions have led to harassment of immigrant drivers and prompted some of them to abandon the profession.
“For too long, loopholes in this program have allowed unqualified drivers onto our highways, putting professional truckers and the motoring public at risk,” said Todd Spencer, who is president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that he is nervous about the public response to his forthcoming autobiography’s candid details about his life and those around him.
“Just being honest — it comes with a cost,” said Newsom, who made the rounds at a Democratic National Committee meeting in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Newsom, who already acknowledged that he is considering a 2028 bid for president, said he didn’t hold back in the book. His co-writer, former Los Angeles Times reporter Mark Arax, told the governor that he wouldn’t be a part of the project unless Newsom was forthcoming.
“And then you read stuff and [wonder] ‘Oh, how’s this going to read?’” said Newsom, who expects that conservative commentators will attack him over some passages.
“This is not a politician’s book, it’s not a book that you would expect me” to write, he said.
“It’s all out there.”
Many of the turbulent and personally traumatic chapters of the California politician’s life are already well-documented. In 2007, Newsom, then mayor of San Francisco, acknowledged that he had an affair with the wife of a longtime aide.
Newsom’s mother, Tessie Newsom, ended her life in 2002 at age 55 through assisted suicide after a long fight with breast cancer.
The governor has also talked about growing up watching his mother struggle to make ends meet, and how oil executive Gordon Getty and his wife, Ann, gave him experiences his parents could not afford, including an African safari when he was a teen.
It’s the third book for Newsom and comes at a pivotal time. Not only is the California governor considering a White House run, he’s become a persistent foil to President Trump and vocal critic to his controversial policies, including the administration’s immigration raids in Los Angeles and failure to provide adequate federal assistance to California wildfire victims.
A promotional book tour would offer a chance to meet with voters in swing states and to appear on a range of media platforms. A memoir specifically allows the governor to reintroduce himself on his own terms at a moment when national interest in his political future is growing.
Newsom’s visit to the DNC meeting was one of his few public events since news broke that his former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, was arrested on federal corruption charges.
Williamson’s attorney McGregor Scott, a former U.S. attorney in Sacramento, told The Times in November that federal authorities had approached Williamson more than a year ago seeking help with some kind of investigation of the governor. Newsom has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Some aspects of the case described in the Williamson indictment match that of a controversial sex discrimination investigation that the state of California led into one of the world’s largest video game companies, Santa-Monica based Activision Blizzard Inc.
Newsom told The Times on Thursday that he doesn’t know whether the U.S. Department of Justice is looking into the state’s handling of the Activision case.
“I don’t know any details about it, but I’m aware of the subject matter, absolutely,” Newsom said.
In 2021, the state sued Activision, accusing it of discriminating against women and ignoring reports of egregious sexual harassment. One of the lawyers overseeing the case for the state was fired by the Newsom administration. Her chief deputy resigned and alleged that she was doing so to protest alleged interference from Newsom’s office in the investigation, a claim that the governor’s office denied.
Newsom’s visit to the Democratic National Committee meeting on Thursday was somewhat of a victory lap for the governor after passage of Proposition 50, the ballot measure that redrew California’s congressional maps to favor Democratic candidates in next year’s midterm elections.
The governor proposed the measure after President Trump asked Texas to redraw its congressional maps in an effort to keep Republican control of Congress.
Walking through the hallways of the InterContinental hotel, Newsom stopped every few yards for conversations with committee members at Thursday’s conference or to pose for photos. He also huddled with a group from Missouri, where Democrats are seeking to overturn new districts created by Republicans.
The governor told reporters that he would help fundraise for the Missouri Democrats’ ballot measure.
His forthcoming book, which will be published in February, is intensely personal, he said in a promotional video released this week. Many people see only his “stark white shirt, blue suit and, yeah, the gelled hair, and they think ‘Oh, I know this guy,’” he said in the video.
“This is a story about a kid who always felt like he wasn’t quite enough,” Newsom said in the video. “This is a truly vulnerable book, it was incredibly hard, even painful, to write.”
Newsom’s first book, “Citizenville, How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government,” came out in 2013 after he’d been elected lieutenant governor. He released a children’s book, “Ben and Emma’s Big Hit” in 2021 about a young boy’s love of baseball and attempts to overcome his struggles with dyslexia. The story was inspired by Newsom’s own history with dyslexia.
Last week, Newsom traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers and renew calls for billions in federal recovery aid after the Los Angeles fires.
On Thursday, Newsom announced he will deliver his final State of the State address Jan. 8 as he begins his final year as governor. Newsom has delivered his remarks in writing the last five years, breaking with the decades-old tradition of an annual in-person address to lawmakers in the state Capitol. His most recent written State of the State came unusually late, in September.
“Over the past seven years, we have tackled some of the state’s most significant problems and improved countless lives in this miraculous state, blessed and challenged by Mother Nature and enriched by ingenuity and hard work,” Newsom wrote to legislative leaders Thursday in calling for his address to be delivered in person during a joint session of the Legislature.
The midwestern state of Indiana has dealt a setback to United States President Donald Trump’s redistricting push ahead of the pivotal 2026 midterm elections, voting down legislation to redraw its congressional map.
Late on Thursday afternoon, Indiana’s state Senate voted 31 to 19 to reject the proposed congressional districts, despite a strong Republican majority in the chamber.
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Of the state Senate’s 50 seats, 39 are held by Republicans, and the state has voted consistently Republican in every presidential race since 1968, save for a single flip for Democrat Barack Obama in 2008.
The vote is likely to reinforce the sentiment that the Republican Party is fracturing under Trump’s leadership, as his poll numbers slump during the first year of his second term.
Trump was confronted with the results of the Indiana vote at an Oval Office signing ceremony shortly after it happened.
“Just a few moments ago, the Senate there rejected the congressional map to redistrict in that state,” one reporter said. “What’s your reaction?”
Trump responded by touting his successes in pushing other Republican-led states.
“ We won every other state. That’s the only state,” the president said, before referencing his three presidential bids. “It’s funny because I won Indiana all three times by a landslide, and I wasn’t working on it very hard.”
Trump then proceeded to denounce the Indiana Senate president, Rodric Bray, and threatened to support a primary challenge against the Indiana leader.
“He’ll probably lose his next primary, whenever that is. I hope he does,” Trump said.
“It’s, I think, in two years, but I’m sure he’ll go down. He’ll go down. I’ll certainly support anybody that wants to go against it.”
Fractures in the caucus
Currently, Indiana sends nine Congress members to the US House of Representatives, one for each of its nine districts. Two of those seats are currently occupied by Democrats.
Republican leaders in the state, however, had proposed a new map of congressional districts that sought to disempower Democratic voters in the state, clearing the way for conservative candidates to claim all nine seats in next year’s midterm races.
The proposed map was part of a nationwide effort by the Trump administration to defend Republican control in the US Congress.
Already, the partisan map had passed the lower chamber of Indiana’s legislature. On December 5, Indiana’s House of Representatives voted 57 to 41 to send the House Bill 1032 to the state Senate.
The bill had the backing of Indiana’s Republican Governor Mike Braun, who encouraged the state senators to emulate their colleagues in the lower chamber.
But even before the bill arrived in the state Senate, there were cracks in the Republican caucus. Twelve Republicans in the state House broke ranks to vote against the map.
And certain Republican state Senators likewise expressed reticence.
Some Republicans, like Indiana state Senator Greg Walker, had a history of opposing redistricting efforts. He was quoted in the Indiana Capital Chronicle as saying, “I cannot, myself, support the bill for which there must be a legal injunction in order for it to be found constitutional.”
Partisan redistricting has long been a controversial practice in US politics, with opponents calling the practice undemocratic and discriminatory.
Critics also pointed out that the Indiana proposal would force some voters in urban centres like Indianapolis to commute more than 200 kilometres for in-person voting.
Walker joined a total of 21 Republican state Senators, including Bray, in voting against the redistricting bill on Thursday.
A nationwide campaign
But the Trump administration had invested significant time and effort into swaying the vote.
In October, Vice President JD Vance travelled to the Hoosier State to try to convince wary Republicans. US House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly made personal phone calls to state leaders. And a day before the critical state Senate vote, Trump took to social media with a mixture of cajoling and pressure.
“I love the State of Indiana, and have won it, including Primaries, six times, all by MASSIVE Majorities,” Trump began in a winding, 414-word post.
“Importantly, it now has a chance to make a difference in Washington, D.C., in regard to the number of House seats we have that are necessary to hold the Majority against the Radical Left Democrats. Every other State has done Redistricting, willingly, openly, and easily.”
Currently, the US House of Representatives holds a narrow 220-member Republican majority, out of a total of 435 seats.
All of those seats, however, will be up for grabs in the 2026 midterm elections, and Democrats are hoping to flip the chamber to their control.
Starting in June, reports began to emerge that Trump was petitioning the state legislature in the right-wing stronghold of Texas to redistrict, in an effort to help conservative candidates sweep up five extra congressional seats.
Texas Republicans complied, and in August, the state legislature embraced a new redistricted map, overcoming a walkout from state Democrats.
Republicans in other states, including Missouri and North Carolina, have followed suit, passing new maps that seek to increase right-wing gains in the midterm races.
But Democrats have fired back. In November, California voters passed a referendum to suspend their independent districting commission and adopt a Democrat-leaning map created by state lawmakers.
Indiana, however, appeared poised to buck the redistricting trend. In Wednesday’s lengthy post, Trump warned that the state could put Republican power “at risk” if it failed to pass a new map.
He also called Bray and other Republican splinter votes “SUCKERS” for the Democrats.
“Rod Bray and his friends won’t be in Politics for long, and I will do everything within my power to make sure that they will not hurt the Republican Party, and our Country, again,” Trump wrote.
“One of my favorite States, Indiana, will be the only State in the Union to turn the Republican Party down!”
In the wake of Thursday’s defeat, Trump and his allies doubled down on their threats to remove the 21 Republican state senators who voted against the bill from office.
“I am very disappointed that a small group of misguided State Senators have partnered with Democrats to reject this opportunity,” Governor Braun wrote on social media, calling it a decision to “reject the leadership of President Trump”.
“Ultimately, decisions like this carry political consequences. I will be working with the President to challenge these people who do not represent the best interests of Hoosiers.”
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress clashed Thursday over President Trump’s use of the National Guard in American cities, with Republicans saying the deployments were needed to fight lawlessness while Democrats called his move an extraordinary abuse of military power that violated states’ rights.
Top military officials faced questioning over the deployments for the first time at the hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. They were pressed by Democrats over the legality of sending in troops, which in some places were done over the objections of mayors and governors, while Trump’s Republican allies offered a robust defense of the policy.
It was the highest level of scrutiny, outside a courtroom, of Trump’s use of the National Guard in U.S. cities since the deployments began and came a day after the president faced another legal setback over efforts to send troops to support federal law enforcement, protect federal facilities and combat crime.
“In recent years, violent crime, rioting, drug trafficking and heinous gang activity have steadily escalated,” said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the committee chairman. The deployments, he said, are “not only appropriate, but essential.”
Democrats argued they are illegal and contrary to historic prohibitions about the use of military force on U.S. soil.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., had pushed for the hearing, saying domestic deployments traditionally have involved responding to major floods and tornadoes, not assisting immigration agents who are detaining people in aggressive raids.
“Trump is forcing our military men and women to make a horrible choice: uphold their loyalty to the Constitution and protect peaceful protesters, or execute questionable orders from the president,” said Duckworth, a combat veteran who served in the Illinois National Guard.
Military leaders point to training
During questioning, military leaders highlighted the duties that National Guard units have carried out. Troops are trained in community policing, they said, and are prohibited from using force unless in self-defense.
Since the deployments began, only one civilian — in California — has been detained by National Guard personnel, according to Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of U.S. troops in North America. Guillot said the troops are trained to de-escalate tense interactions with people, but do not receive any specific training on mental health episodes.
“They can very quickly be trained to conduct any mission that we task of them,” Guillot said.
Republicans and Democrats see the deployments much differently
In one exchange, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, noted how former Defense Secretary Mark Esper alleged that Trump inquired about shooting protesters during the George Floyd demonstrations. She asked whether a presidential order to shoot protesters would be lawful.
Charles L. Young III, principal deputy general counsel at the Defense Department, said he was unaware of Trump’s previous comments and that “orders to that effect would depend on the circumstances.”
“We have a president who doesn’t think the rule of law applies to him,” Hirono said in response.
Republicans countered that Trump was within his rights — and his duty — to send in the troops.
Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana, a former Navy SEAL officer, argued during the hearing that transnational crimes present enough of a risk to national security to justify military action, including on U.S. soil.
Sheehy claimed there are foreign powers “actively attacking this country, using illegal immigration, using transnational crime, using drugs to do so.”
Senators also offered their sympathies after two West Virginia National Guard members deployed to Washington were shot just blocks from the White House in what the city’s mayor described as a targeted attack. Spc. Sarah Beckstrom died a day after the Nov. 26 shooting, and her funeral took place Tuesday. Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe is hospitalized in Washington.
Hearing follows court setback for Trump
A federal judge in California on Wednesday ruled that the administration must stop deploying the California National Guard in Los Angeles and return control of the troops to the state.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer granted a preliminary injunction sought by California officials, but also put the decision on hold until Monday. The White House said it plans to appeal.
Trump called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops in June without Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approval to further the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
The move was the first time in decades that a state’s National Guard was activated without a request from its governor and marked a significant escalation in the administration’s efforts to carry out its mass deportation policy. The troops were stationed outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where protesters gathered and were later sent on the streets to protect immigration officers as they made arrests.
Trump also had announced National Guard members would be sent to Illinois, Oregon, Louisiana and Tennessee. Other judges have blocked or limited the deployment of troops to Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, while Guard members have not yet been sent to New Orleans.
Klepper, Finley and Groves write for the Associated Press. AP writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.
FERNDALE, Calif. — Like many of California’s fairs, the one in Humboldt County is a cherished local institution, beloved for its junk food, adorable baby animals and exhibits of local arts and crafts. Rock star chef Guy Fieri, who grew up in town, even turns up to host the chili cook-off.
But along with its Ferris wheels and funnel cakes, the Humboldt County event shares something darker in common with a number of California’s 77 local fairs: It has been racked with fraud and mismanagement.
The fair’s former bookkeeper is due in federal court early next year after pleading guilty to stealing $430,000 from the fair, according to documents filed in federal court. Police had arrested her after catching up with her at a local casino.
Humboldt is hardly an outlier. A Los Angeles Times investigation has found that one-third of the state’s 77 fairs — hallowed celebrations of the state’s agrarian tradition — have been plagued by an array of problems. Workers from at least four fairs have been prosecuted in the last few years for theft, bribery or embezzlement, with more than $1 million stolen, according to a Times review of criminal court filings. State auditors have accused officials at dozens of other fairs of misspending millions more, according to a Times review. Ventura suffered a cash heist, Santa Clara a kickback scheme, and across much of California, public funds have been spent in violation of state rules, including on prime rib steaks and fancy wines while once-proud fairgrounds crumble into disrepair.
A great horned owl performs for visitors during the raptor show at the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Drawing on thousands of pages of court filings, audits and public records from more than three dozen counties, along with scores of interviews, The Times identified at least 25 fairs where prosecutors, state auditors or government officials have accused employees in the last decade of misusing taxpayer money, pressuring businesses for bribes or treating public resources as their own. At still more fairs, officials have been called out in government reports or lawsuits for glaring failures of good governance.
Collectively, the fairs bring in more than $400 million a year in revenue, and many fairgoers see them as priceless cultural events honoring California‘s agricultural heritage and their local communities.
But despite their crucial role, The Times found that the state and county leaders overseeing these fairs have often failed to step in — even when problems are glaring or have been denounced by auditors or judges. The state department of Food and Agriculture oversees 52 of the local fairs through district agricultural associations. An additional 22, plus the state fair and two citrus fairs, are in the state’s “network of fairs,” meaning they receive some state funding but are overseen by local governments and nonprofits.
“There needs to be more accountability,” said John Moot, a San Diego lawyer who represented a carnival company that has sued both the San Diego and Orange County fairs — both of which are overseen by the state.
Last year that carnival company, Talley Amusements, was paid $500,000 by the San Diego County Fair to settle a lawsuit that alleged fair officials had engaged in bid-rigging when they went to hand out a multimillion-dollar contract to run rides and games on the midway. A San Diego County judge wrote that the evidence he reviewed “supports an inference of ‘favoritism,’ fraud’ and ‘corruption’ as to the award of public contracts, although no such definitive findings are made herein.”
Local newspapers called on the state to do something. When asked about the case, California officials said only that they continue “to review the circumstances of this case to determine whether further guidance or compliance measures are warranted.”
State officials also took a tolerant stance toward problems that the California state auditor uncovered. In 2019, an audit found that top officials at the Kern County Fair and in the state had allowed “gross mismanagement to continue unchecked for years.” The audit revealed as well that the Kern district agricultural association’s board of directors, appointed by the governor, had feasted on lobster dinners and fine wines paid by fair funds but failed to provide effective oversight. Kern fair officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
County leaders and local nonprofits have not always been better stewards. Some have failed to notice or take action as fair officials stole money or allowed fairgrounds to fall into debt or disrepair — even when grand juries warned there were problems.
“Not surprised,” said David McCuan, a professor of political science at Sonoma State University who is well-versed in local fairs. “There are generations of farmers and generations of networks of neighbors, friends and family members [who run these fairs]. They help each other. How business is done is insular. It’s not open or transparent.” At the same time, he said, “fairs are big money.” Put all those things together, he said, and the conditions are ripe for mismanagement and corruption.
Although many county fairs operate without incident, scandals sometimes erupt from the most mundane of matters.
Last year, Shasta County agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a 9-year-old girl and her family after sheriff’s deputies seized her goat. The girl had raised the goat, a floppy eared brown and white guy known as Cedar, as part of the fair’s agricultural program, then changed her mind about watching a beloved animal turn into meat. But fair officials refused to allow her to back out; instead the county dispatched deputies across Northern California in pursuit of the animal, which was eventually butchered.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom said “the state recognizes the challenges facing some of California’s fairgrounds and takes concerns about governance and accountability very seriously.”
In a separate statement, the California Department of Food and Agriculture said that “the difficulties uncovered at some fairs” should not overshadow their larger contributions. “These institutions serve as vital community hubs that play a key role in emergency response, as they support local economies.”
Fairgrounds are becoming increasingly important in the state’s disaster planning. During many of California’s recent wildfires, local fairgrounds have served as staging areas for firefighters and other emergency responders. Displaced animals find refuge there. They’ve also served as crucial evacuation centers — about 600 people, for example, lived at the Butte County fairgrounds in Chico for months after the 2018 Camp fire. Fairgrounds have become so essential to disaster response that the state has recently awarded tens of millions of dollars to upgrade facilities such as showers and kitchens that could be used for evacuees.
Yet in many counties, fairgrounds are in a state of disrepair. The Times identified more than a dozen that are plagued by leaky roofs, corroded and unsafe electrical systems, faulty plumbing, dangerously dilapidated grandstands and other unsafe conditions. This is partly because of mismanagement, but also because state funding for fairs has declined in recent years. Fair finances have also been hard hit by the declining popularity of horse racing.
“I think back to how full the fair used to be,” said Jeannie Fulton, gesturing to Humboldt’s half-empty fairgrounds during the August celebration.
“County fairs are still really valuable, but they are mismanaged in a lot of ways. We all see the grounds just deteriorating,” added Fulton, who runs the Humboldt County Farm Bureau. “They need to be run better.”
Mindy Romero, director of USC’s Center for Inclusive Democracy, said fair management may not be the most pressing issue facing state leaders but “there should be some accountability … these people are in charge of large amounts of money, and public trust and public resources.”
A judge, left, tries to decide which Boer goat has the best qualities and features during the Boer goat competition with 4-H club members, right, at the Humboldt County Fair.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
County fairs are “supposed to be a place where everybody can come together, family and friends and you bring the kids … it’s these rituals and communities that we really need to take care of. If a community hears that their local fair is stealing it can make [people] even more distrustful of government,” she said.
‘Capricious abuse of power’
California’s first fair was held in 1854, in what is now downtown San Francisco. It was so popular that the idea quickly spread, to Humboldt County in 1861, to San Diego in 1880 and to Orange County in 1890. (Los Angeles didn’t get in on the tradition until 1922.)
In 1887, the state Legislature, anxious to harness and regulate the explosion of fairs, created district agricultural associations, mini state agencies that manage the fairgrounds in each county and are run by boards appointed by the governor.
California is a dramatically different place than it was in 1887, but the governance structure of fairs largely remains. The 52 district agricultural associations each put on a fair, guided by boards appointed by the governor.
The 25 other fairs in the state’s network of fairs follow a similar program. The goal is for fairs to pay for themselves through admission prices, contracts with vendors and other sources of revenue, but they also receive state funding. District agricultural associations get about $2.6 million a year from the state’s general fund; an additional $5 million from sales tax revenue at the fairs is handed out each year to all 77 fairs in the network.
Each of the fairs strives to reflect its particular community. In Nevada County, the rides and food vendors set up beneath towering pine trees, and a central attraction this year was a model-train exhibit showcasing the historic derailment of circus cars. The Los Angeles County Fair, one of the state’s biggest, is known for its preposterous combination of junk food: deep-fried Oreos and pickles; corn wrapped in Cheetos; chicken sandwiches with funnel cake buns. The Calaveras County Fair features a frog-jumping contest, a nod to Mark Twain’s famous short story.
In small rural counties, said Jeff Griffiths, an Inyo County supervisor who is president of the California State Assn. of Counties, the fairgrounds serve as a “social and cultural hub” for the community all year.
“They are our event space,” he said. “We don’t have SoFi Stadium. Concerts, car shows, dances, on and on, they all happen at the fairgrounds.”
Lavish expenditures have for decades been part of the mix. A 1986 state audit blasted the entire fair system, detailing state funds spent on parties, meals and expensive custom belt buckles, along with other misuses of state funds. These include improper contracting — a problem that continues to plague many fairs.
Five years ago, Ventura Flores was pleased when the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds hired his firm — 4 Diamond Security — to provide security as public health officials ramped up a massive COVID-19 testing and eventually vaccination operation at the fairgrounds. It was the middle of the pandemic, and 4 Diamond had little other work.
A performer with Animal Cracker Conspiracy high-fives Ryder Lang, 7, next to his friend Abigail Fielding, 6, both from San José, after entering the Santa Clara County Fair in San José.
(Nhat V. Meyer / Bay Area News Group)
When he got the job, however, the fair’s event’s director, Obdulia Banuelos-Esparza, informed Flores that he would have to slip her cash in secret if he wanted to keep his contract, according to a statement of probable cause produced by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office.
After he refused, Flores said, Banuelos-Esparza began to complain about the work his guards were doing, accusing them of shirking their duties and sleeping on the job. Flores said he doubted the accusations but also feared he would lose the job if he didn’t pay, according to the statement of probable cause.
Flores, who did not respond to emails and calls from The Times, told investigators that he began giving Banuelos-Esparza between $2,500 and $4,000 a month, continuing for more than a year until sometime in the fall of 2021, when he said he stopped paying her. Then fair officials, who had told him they would be renewing 4 Diamond’s contract for another six months, instead terminated it, according to the statement of probable cause.
The Santa Clara County district attorney began investigating the scheme in 2023, following a whistleblower complaint. In 2024, after reviewing Banuelos’ bank records, the district attorney charged her with extortion and bribery, issuing a statement that the fairgrounds should be “where our community goes for fairs, festivals, and fun. Not felonies.”
There had long been warning signs: A 2019 Santa Clara County grand jury report uncovered “financial reports lacking in accuracy and transparency, violations of local bingo regulations, questionable tax reporting practices” and other problems. The grand jury also called out “a relaxed level of scrutiny and oversight” by the county.
After Banuelos’ conviction, the district attorney released another statement, declaring the midway now “free of corruption.”
“Ride the Ferris wheel, see the farm animals, eat the food and have fun knowing our fair is safe,” he said.
Santa Clara’s fair is not the only one that has strayed from accepted contracting rules. State audits in recent years have called out more than a dozen fairs, including those in Santa Barbara and Turlock, for violating state policies by handing out money without signed agreements or competitive bidding.
In Fresno, officials required some vendors doing business with the Big Fresno Fair to also make donations to a foundation associated with the fair, according to a 2022 state audit. The foundation then purchased more than $21,000 in gift cards that it gifted to fair employees, along with more than $68,000, according to the audit.
In a statement, fair officials said that the fair and its board of directors “took the findings of the audit very seriously” and made corrective actions that satisfied the state. The statement added that the fair plays a vital role in the community: in addition to the fair itself, the fairgrounds host 250 events each year and are used during fires and other emergencies.
In San Diego, after Talley Amusements filed its 2022 lawsuit alleging bid-rigging, several fair officials testified in sworn depositions that Talley had actually won the bid, but that a top fair official had pressured them to change the scores to award the contract to a different company. One fair official also testified that she had shredded the original scoring documents.
Fair officials, however, admitted no wrongdoing, with a spokesperson in 2023 calling the allegations of bid-rigging “hogwash.” In a counterclaim filed in San Diego Superior Court, the fair accused Talley of submitting “a sham bid” that might have compromised public safety. In a statement, fair officials said that they agreed to settle the suit only because it was cheaper to do so than litigating it in court.
An ‘inside job’ safe heist
Every year, local fairs in California handle millions of dollars in cash — sometimes without the most basic of safeguards.
In the summer of 2022, a man working at the Ventura County Fair gave some accomplices a hot tip: A safe in the fair’s office was packed with more than half a million dollars in cash.
Alexander Piceno, who worked at the Ventura County Fair, was arrested and charged and pleaded guilty — along with three burglars — to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
(Ventura County District Attorney’s office)
On the night of Aug. 10, Alexander Piceno, 30, who worked for a company processing cash for the fair, left the front door to the state’s 31st District Agricultural Assn. unlocked. He also left instructions on how to open the office safe, according to prosecutors. Two burglars walked in, loaded up $572,000 in paper bills (which weighed upward of 50 pounds), and jumped in a car headed back to Los Angeles.
Police quickly realized they were dealing with an inside job, and four conspirators including Piceno were later arrested and charged, and pleaded guilty to felonies, according to the district attorney. Most of the money, however, was never recovered; prosecutors said they seized $6,100 and a used pickup truck purchased with proceeds from the crime.
The Times, reviewing state audits, grand jury reports, lawsuits and criminal filings, found allegations of theft or inappropriate use of public resources at more than a dozen fairs, including those in San Joaquin, Monterey,Yolo, Inyo, Fresno and Tulare counties.
In Orange County, according to a 2018 state audit, officials at the 32nd District Agricultural Assn. caught an employee embezzling more than $9,000 in ticket sales but failed to report the crime to the state as required. The audit also noted that fair officials had spent more than $220,000 on catering without explaining a clear business purpose. In a statement, fair officials said that “issues cited” in the audit “have been addressed” and “new policies are in place regarding meals.” The statement added that all audits since have been “free of any issues.”
September 2022 photo of fairgoers on the opening day of the Tulare County Fair.
(Ari Plachta / Sacramento Bee)
In several cases, including in Stanislaus County, public money went for fancy meals for the board members who are supposed to be watching over the fair’s operations. State audits sometime read like restaurant menus, with references to prime rib, salmon, ribeye steak and fine wine. It is one of many perks board members enjoy, which also often include free tickets for themselves and friends to concerts, dinners and the fair itself.
State auditors also found plenty of gifts to staff, including bowling nights and credit card charges (with and without required receipts) for flowers, gift cards and even clothes.
One employee at the Stanislaus fair spent thousands of dollars on clothes, which he told state auditors he bought for himself and members of the maintenance staff to wear during fair events. But the audit also found that other members of the maintenance staff members “do not recall receiving these items.”
‘The fair got off scot-free’
September 2017 photo of turkeys competing in a race during the annual Kern County Fair in Bakersfield.
(Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images)
In Kern County, the state’s 15th Agricultural Assn. has put on a fair every year since 1916, except for two years during the Great Depression and in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Held in Bakersfield, in the heart of California’s farm belt, the fair has an operating budget of about $10 million and welcomes around 350,000 people each year, according to officials.
To pull it off, the fair has a permanent staff of about 20, and hires about 500 temporary employees during the season. But investigators from the state auditor’s office found that some of these workers appeared far from wholly committed to their fair duties.
In a 2019 audit, investigators found that several employees maintained second jobs — which they performed not in their spare time, but while clocked into their posts at the fair. “Several witnesses told us that Employee A and the other employees left work for almost the entire day nearly every day for weeks or even months at a time,” the audit said.
The fair’s board of directors and chief executive had their own issues, auditors found, among them a taste for expensive dinners and bottles of fine Cabernet, paid for with fair credit cards despite rules against it. In addition, auditors found that at least one of the dinners, which included six board members gabbing together across a table, may have violated the state’s open meeting law that forbids a quorum of a governing body without public notice. Over a three-year period, the audit found, the Kern County fair “spent $132,584 on credit card purchases for which [it] had no supporting receipts.”
Auditors reserved some of their harshest criticisms for the lack of oversight by state officials that they said had allowed all of these “improper governmental activities.”
The audit reported that the department’s Fairs and Expositions branch did not conduct a single compliance audit of the more than 50 fairs under its purview from 2011 to 2017.
The audit generated a series of outraged headlines in newspapers around the state, many of them focused on the fine food and wine that board members and the CEO, Michael Olcott, had feasted upon. Olcott did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The audit’s release did not bring about many substantive changes in the leadership at the Kern County Fair. Six years later, the CEO remains in his post, as do most of the board members who oversaw the fair back then. In a statement, state officials said they “worked with the fair’s leadership to implement corrective measures, including stronger financial controls, enhanced segregation of duties, and updated board and staff training on state contracting and accounting policies.” Officials also said they continue to “monitor the fair’s progress through periodic reviews and ongoing technical assistance.”
After the audit, the Kern County district attorney opened a case against the fair’s maintenance supervisor, accusing him of recycling scrap metal from the fair and pocketing the proceeds. The case is set to go to trial next year. The maintenance supervisor, Joe Hebert, maintains his innocence. He said that he is being scapegoated.
“Recycling scrap metal was part of my job and I had permission to do it,” Hebert said. “I could walk away and plead to a misdemeanor and I’m not going to do it,” he said.
Mark Salvaggio, a former Bakersfield City Council member who served on the Kern County fair board for several years ending in 2014, said he was outraged at the outcome of the audit. “The fair got off scot-free,” he said.
After the state auditor released its Kern County report, the California Department of Food and Agriculture threw its own auditing team into high gear. The division has released more than 15 audits since 2020 — after years of doing few or none.
A series of blistering reports have been issued, followed in some cases by radical changes in personnel.
In a statement, officials said they are “committed to ensuring transparency and accountability at California’s fairs.” Officials noted that audits check for compliance with state policies, and that the oversight program has been reestablished after being “drastically reduced” because of funding cuts during the Great Recession.
But some local officials say the audits, although they may be exposing examples of misspending, sometimes unfairly tarnish fair officials who often struggle to run vital community events with little training in government accounting and contracting rules.
“This is a very unique business that isn’t found anywhere else in state government,” said Corey Oakley, the CEO of the Napa Valley Expo. “We have live animals, corn dogs, flowers, drag queens, horse racing, tractors, destruction Derby …”
Griffiths of the California Assn. of Counties said he thinks the state should either fully fund fairs and “make them viable, or they should turn them over to local communities so we can run them.”
“They have to follow state requirements, but there is none of the benefit of state funding that comes with that,” he said. Meanwhile, he added, “the deferred maintenance on these things is outrageous. They’re falling apart.”
‘I pray we can keep this alive’
Bella Gantt uses her feet as she performs her blindfolded archery show for visitors at the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale. Gantt is the only person in the world who performs a blindfolded archery show using her feet.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
In Humboldt, where the fair is in the state’s network of fairs but not directly overseen by the state, Fair Board President Andy Titus said he is desperate to make sure his local fair survives. His is the oldest continuously operating festival in the state but is reeling from the double blow of embezzlement and the loss of horse racing. The fairgrounds are also in tough shape; in 2023 the fair had to perform emergency repairs to make its grandstands safe enough for people to sit in them.
“I’ve loved this fair since I was a little kid,” said Titus, a local dairy farmer who said he grew up showing animals at the fair and now helps his children do the same. “I pray we can keep this alive.”
The fairgrounds sprawl across a flat coastal plain near the Victorian-era town of Ferndale. A few miles away, the cliffs of California’s Lost Coast rise up and white-capped waves pound into miles of empty beach. In a county with more trees than people, many residents say their yearly visits to the fair help them gather as a community in a part of California known for its isolation.
Nina Tafarella stole more than $430,000 from the Humboldt County Fair, according to a federal criminal complaint, and has pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges.
(Humboldt County Sheriff )
But the beloved fair has not been well-run for some time, according to federal district court records in San Francisco. At the beginning of 2021, it was in “total chaos,” as one manager would describe to an FBI agent.
The organization was 15 years behind on auditing its books, and the state was threatening to cut off its funding. The fair also lacked a bookkeeper, a secretary and other assistance. Even the office itself was in disarray, with “approximately a year worth of backlogged mail and files on the floor,” an interim manager would later tell the FBI, according to an agent’s report of his interview with her filed in federal court.
The manager turned to Craigslist for a bookkeeper who could help make sense of the disorder, and found Nina Tafarella.
At this point in her life, Tafarella was recovering from an addiction to prescription painkillers, was drinking heavily and was in a state of stress and occasional seeming mania, according to a sentencing memo her attorney filed in federal court. She was also deep in the grips of a compulsive gambling problem, which got so bad that she started lying to her friends about how much time she was spending at casinos.
But she was cheerful and helpful and she was charging only about $35 to $40 an hour for her time, far less than a certified public accountant might have cost the fair. She was hired.
It all came crashing down at a nearby dance studio. Tafarella had also worked there and had stolen a little more than $20,000. But unlike the fair, the owner of the studio noticed and filed a police report.
After learning of that on Nov. 8, 2022, the fair called in an outside financial expert, who took a quick look at the books and discovered the ghost payroll scheme. Fair officials shut down Tafarella’s access to their bank accounts and by Nov. 15, when Tafarella was next due at work, an FBI agent was at the fair offices.
She was arrested and later pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud.
“Everybody was shocked,” Titus said. “She was always very friendly when you saw her.”
In filings to the judge overseeing her sentencing, Tafarella said she has now stopped drinking and gambling and that it “makes me sick” to think about what she has done. Still, in asking for a reduced sentence, her lawyer also argued that if the fair had been better run, it might have been able to protect itself from Tafarella’s schemes.
“Remarkably, the fair association’s own witnesses admitted that the Board was not financially savvy and had little to no idea about the state of the fair’s finances,” Tafarella’s lawyer wrote. Instead, “they solely entrusted Ms. Tafarella, who was suffering from visibly anxious, drinking too much, acting erratically, and reliably to be found at the casino, with the fair association’s finances.”
Titus, whose job at the fair is volunteer, said he has been working almost around the clock ever since to try to save the operation, which saw smaller crowds this year, partly because the lack of horse racing.
“It’s sad,” said Robin Eckerfield, a 72-year-old educator from Fortuna, who said she goes to the fair every year to sample the food, look at the crafts and catch up with old friends. She couldn’t help but notice the reduced offerings this year, a result of the fair’s dire circumstances.
The crowds were small enough that even on the day of the famous chili cook-off, celebrity chef Fieri could walk through the fair mostly unmobbed.
Fieri, who said he got his start as a chef with a pretzel cart at the fairgrounds as a kid, said he returns whenever he can to support it.
While handing out the trophies, Fieri delivered an impassioned speech to the paltry but enthusiastic crowd about the importance of supporting the annual event.
“We all love the fair,” he told the small crowd. “This is our fair. We have to keep it going. We have to keep it alive.”
A San Francisco supervisor has proposed increasing the city’s film and television tax credit to lure more productions to the Bay Area.
Board President Rafael Mandelman introduced legislation Tuesday that would create a tiered rebate system based on local spending on items like San Francisco resident wages, services or goods.
To qualify, most productions must spend a minimum of $500,000 in the city and shoot at least five days of principal photography there. Those productions also get a 100% rebate on city agency fees, including permits and police services.
Then, under the new proposal, those projects could get 10% back on the first million dollars spent in San Francisco, then 20% on any qualified local spending beyond that, said Manijeh Fata, executive director of the San Francisco Film Commission.
“As localities across the state compete to attract more film production, San Francisco must stay in the game,” Mandelman said in a statement. “Strengthening our film incentive program will keep jobs in San Francisco and help ensure this important economic activity doesn’t bypass us.”
The legislation is expected to go to a committee hearing next month, with a final vote potentially at the end of January or early February, Fata said.
Though San Francisco’s production incentive was established in 2006, the program has been “underutilized,” said Supervisor Connie Chan, who is co-sponsoring the legislation.
“I support this legislative update so we can ensure the original intent and benefits of the program can be fully materialized,” she said in a statement. “I expect the film rebate program to deliver robust job opportunities for workers, creative promotion of our City through films that will boost tourism and increase sales tax revenue with film industry spending.”
California now allocates $750 million annually to the program, up from $330 million. Legislators also broadened the type of productions eligible to apply for the credit.
WASHINGTON — As he shook President Obama’s hand and pulled him in for what he thought was a private aside, Vice President Joe Biden delivered an explicit message: “This is a big f——— deal.” The remark, overheard on live microphones at a 2010 ceremony for the Affordable Care Act, caused a sensation because open profanity from a national leader was unusual at the time.
More than 15 years later, vulgarity is now in vogue.
During a political rally Tuesday night in Pennsylvania that was intended to focus on tackling inflation, President Trump used profanity at least four times. At one point, he even admitted to disparaging Haiti and African nations as “ shithole countries ” during a private 2018 meeting, a comment he denied at the time. And before a bank of cameras during a lengthy Cabinet meeting last week, the Republican president referred to alleged drug smugglers as “sons of b——-s.”
While the Biden incident was accidental, the frequency, sharpness and public nature of Trump’s comments are intentional. They build on his project to combat what he sees as pervasive political correctness. Leaders in both parties are seemingly in a race now to the verbal gutter.
Vice President JD Vance called a podcast host a “dips—t” in September. In Thanksgiving remarks before troops, Vance joked that anyone who said they liked turkey was “full of s—-.” After one National Guard member was killed in a shooting in Washington last month and a second was critically injured, top Trump aide Steven Cheung told a reporter on social media to “shut the f—- up” when she wrote that the deployment of troops in the nation’s capital was “for political show.”
Among Democrats, former Vice President Kamala Harris earned a roar of approval from her audience in September when she condemned the Trump administration by saying “these mother———- are crazy.” After Trump called for the execution of several Democratic members of Congress last month, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said it was time for people with influence to “pick a f——— side.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the administration cannot “f—- around” with the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who on Monday announced her Senate campaign in Texas, did not hold back earlier this year when asked what she would tell Elon Musk if given the chance: “F—- off.”
The volley of vulgarities underscore an ever-coarsening political environment that often plays out on social media or other digital platforms where the posts or video clips that evoke the strongest emotions are rewarded with the most engagement.
“If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at the social media companies,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said Tuesday night at Washington National Cathedral, where he spoke at an event focused on political civility. “It’s not a fair fight. They’ve hijacked our brains. They understand these dopamine hits. Outrage sells.”
Cox, whose national profile rose after calling for civility in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination in his state, approved an overhaul of social media laws meant to protect children. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the state law.
Tough political talk is nothing new
Tough talk is nothing new in politics, but leaders long avoided flaunting it.
Recordings from Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration, for instance, revealed a crude, profane side of his personality that was largely kept private. Republican Richard Nixon bemoaned the fact that the foul language he used in the Oval Office was captured on tape. “Since neither I nor most other Presidents had ever used profanity in public, millions were shocked,” Nixon wrote in his book “In the Arena.”
“Politicians have always sworn, just behind closed doors,” said Benjamin Bergen, a professor at the University of California-San Diego’s Department of Cognitive Science and the author of “What the F: What swearing reveals about our language, our brains, and ourselves.” “The big change is in the past 10 years or so, it’s been much more public.”
As both parties prepare for the 2026 midterm elections and the 2028 presidential campaign, the question is whether this language will become increasingly mainstream. Republicans who simply try to imitate Trump’s brash style do not always succeed with voters. Democrats who turn to vulgarities risk appearing inauthentic if their words feel forced.
For some, it is just a distraction.
“It’s not necessary,” said GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who is retiring next year after winning five elections in one of the most competitive House districts. “If that’s what it takes to get your point across, you’re not a good communicator.”
There are risks of overusing profanity
There also is a risk that if such language becomes overused, its utility as a way to shock and connect with audiences could be dulled. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has talked about this problem, noting that he used swear words in his early routines but dropped them as his career progressed because he felt profanity yielded only cheap laughs.
“I felt like well I just got a laugh because I said f—- in there,” he said in a 2020 interview on the WTF podcast with fellow comedian Marc Maron. “You didn’t find the gold.”
White House spokesperson Liz Huston said Trump “doesn’t care about being politically correct, he cares about Making America Great Again. The American people love how authentic, transparent, and effective the President is.”
But for Trump, the words that have generated the most controversy are often less centered in traditional profanity than slurs that can be interpreted as hurtful. The final weeks of his 2016 campaign were rocked when a tape emerged of him discussing grabbing women by their genitals, language he minimized as “locker room talk.” His “shithole” remark in 2018 was widely condemned as racist.
More recently, Trump called a female journalist “piggy,” comments that his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, defended as evidence of a president who is “very frank and honest.” Trump’s use of a slur about disabled people prompted an Indiana Republican whose child has Down syndrome to come out in opposition to the president’s push to redraw the state’s congressional districts.
On rare occasions, politicians express contrition for their choice of words. In an interview with The Atlantic published last week, Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., dismissed Harris’ depiction of him in her book about last year’s presidential campaign by saying she was “trying to sell books and cover her a—.”
He seemed to catch himself quickly.
“I shouldn’t say ‘cover her a—,” he said. “I think that’s not appropriate.”
The Nigerian military has, on Monday morning, allegedly opened fire on unarmed protesters in Adamawa State, North East Nigeria, killing eight people, seven of them women.
According to the locals who spoke to HumAngle, the tragedy happened after a 24-hour curfew was imposed by the police in Lamurde to stop a communal clash in the community. Not satisfied with the decision, some women from Lamurde stood on the route to BaShaka, a community around the Lamurde axis, waving their leaves and chanting songs in protest. Hours later, HumAngle learned, members of the Nigerian military deployed to secure the area allegedly opened fire on them.
“When the soldiers came, they met the women standing on the highway, blocking the access road. The soldiers didn’t say anything to the women. They just opened fire. These women had nothing on them but leaves, and who attacks women during battle?” Morison, an eyewitness who also lost his son in a previous episode of the clash, said.
After the gunshots broke out shortly after the soldiers arrived at the scene, seven women and one man were found dead at the spot. The rest fled with bullet wounds. One of the survivors, who is currently receiving treatment at the Numan General Hospital, recounted the harrowing incident to HumAngle.
“When the soldiers arrived in their vehicle, they first fired gunshots in the air, and while we began to disperse, one particular officer knelt with a gun in hand and aimed at us, then he opened fire at us. He killed them all,” she said.
She escaped with a gunshot wound in the hand. The other women are receiving treatment at the female surgical ward in Numan General Hospital, while some have been referred to the Moddibo Adama Teaching Hospital in Yola. A total of 16 people, mostly women, are currently receiving treatment at the Numan General Hospital.
The soldiers left the scene after the incident, and later that day, locals crept out and carried the bodies, transporting them to the morgue in Numan Local General Hospital. HumAngle saw the bodies at the morgue today. The seven women and one man were wrapped in white clothes and placed on a local mat. They were later placed in a vehicle and conveyed back to their hometown in Lamurde for a mass burial.
HumAngle gathered that the clash began Sunday night and by Monday morning had intensified. Homes were razed, properties destroyed, and many died, while several others were injured that morning. So far, the cause of the fresh clash is yet to be determined, but locals blame it on past grievances over land.
On Tuesday at dawn, a group of protesters consisting of men and women dressed in black from the Numan community stormed the Numan–Lamurde highway to protest in solidarity over the killing of the women.
What the military is saying
In a statement issued via X and its other social media handles, the Nigerian Military denied killing the women.
“While moving to secure the Secretariat, some women blocked the road to deny troops passage to the Secretariat, while armed men suspected to be fighting for Bachama extraction fired indiscriminately within the community. Troops then created a passage and proceeded to the Local Government Secretariat ( LGS) to secure the area. At this point, no woman was shot or injured. Otherwise, troops would not have been allowed to find any passage through the crowd,” a part of the statement read.
The military further blamed the death of the women on the unprofessional handling of automatic weapons by the local militias, whom they described as ‘not proficiently trained to handle such automatic weapons.’
Eyewitnesses like Morisson allege the military is shielding itself from accountability, and while the Bachama community in Lamurde and Numan is aggrieved over the killing of the women, Hyginus, the Tshobo community leader, says his people are in a dire situation as the security forces that have been deployed to the local government have camped in Lamurde town, leaving villages vulnerable.
“We are just here. We don’t know what will happen next,” he said.
The deceased have been laid to rest in a mass burial in Lamurde amidst hushed discussions of retaliation from their kinsmen.
In September, HumAngle reported how a land dispute tore apart both communities, who are just a kilometre apart despite sharing the same resources. In the clash, walls were torn, homes were burnt, valuables like motorcycles were set ablaze, and animals were slaughtered and left to bleed in the compounds where they were found.
Speaking about the current incident, Hyginus Mangu, the leader of the Tshobo community, says he doesn’t know what caused the incident.
“We just saw houses being set ablaze in Wammi 2 from Sunday night, and by Monday, it intensified,” he told HumAngle.
The community leader explained that by Monday, three villages inhabited by Tshobo locals in Lamurde were completely burnt after being looted. The villages are Wammi 2, Bashaka, and Sabon Layi.
In Rigange, a Bachama-dominated community, Morrison Napwatemi, a resident of the area, explained that the clash resulted in the deaths of many natives, including his son.
He explained that despite the intervention of the Adamawa State Governor in the past month, the fresh clash hints that the dispute is far from over. Even though the community is still under curfew, Morrison said there is a lot of tension in the land as locals are aggrieved.
“It’s a terrible situation. It’s not something one would want to talk about,” he said.
In Tshobo communities, the community leader explained that locals have currently rallied under a shade for safety, while some have climbed the mountains bordering Gombe.
“Right now, we have no food, water, or security. We don’t know what will become of us later,” he said.
While he doesn’t know the exact number of casualties so far, Hyginus said they have recorded many deaths. He fears his tribe might be wiped out as the clash is getting more deadly.
Prepare for lots of tears this weekend at the CIF state championship football games in Orange County.
“No doubt,” Ventura High quarterback Derek Garcia said.
Seniors are playing in their final high school football games. Others will never play again unless it’s intramural football. And others are heading off to college in a matter of days as scholarship athletes, so win or lose, change is coming, which will challenge emotions when reality sets in.
“It’s been a great feeling all week knowing this will be my final high school game because most of the time you go in it’s up in the air,” Garcia said. “Win and you keep going or lose and you go home. It’s a great feeling we made it this far and we’re in the last possible game to play. We’re ready to go.”
Garcia has been playing for his father, Tim, Ventura’s head coach, for years. Now it will end on Friday in a Division 3-AA final against San Francisco St. Ignatius at 8 p.m. at Fullerton High before heading off to Nevada Las Vegas.
“It’s hard sometimes, but it’s been able to bring us so many memories and so many great times together,” Garcia said. “It’s been an awesome journey and wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Some of the teams in state championship games are playing in their 16th game in a long, memorable season.
“It’s been cool to still be playing,” Garcia said.
On Jan. 18, he moves into his UNLV dorm, driving his truck and relying on his parents to help him move. But will his mom let him leave the family nest?
“We’ll see when the day comes,” he said.
Yes, it’s that time for tears from football players and their parents.
There’s a tripleheader on Saturday at Saddleback College that should produce memorable games.
Open Division
De La Salle (12-0) vs. Santa Margarita (10-3), 8 p.m.
A Northern California team has not won in the state’s highest division since 2015. De La Salle’s speed could produce some big plays against the state’s best defense, particularly if 100-meter record holder Jaden Jefferson gets room to run. But Santa Margarita has its own big-play weapon in Trent Mosley, who had 10 catches for 292 yards two weeks ago against Corona Centennial. The pick: Santa Margarita.
Division 1-A
Oxnard Pacifica (15-0) vs. Fresno Central East (13-1), 3:30 p.m.
This is a battle of junior quarterbacks. Pacifica’s Taylor Lee has has passed for 3,742 yards and 51 touchdowns. East has passed for 4,298 yards and 56 touchdowns. If you like offense, this could be the most entertaining game. The pick: Pacifica.
Division 2-A
Rio Hondo Prep (15-0) vs. Sonora (14-0), 11:30 a.m.
This is the game where small schools finally get the spotlight. Both love to run the ball, so the game might get completed in less than two hours. Sonora rushed for 340 yards in its regional final. Rio Hondo Prep had 263 yards rushing and attempted one pass. The pick: Sonora.
Division: 3-AA
Ventura (13-2) vs. San Francisco St. Ignatius (8-6), 8 p.m., Friday, at Fullerton High
Garcia has passed for 3,360 yards and 36 touchdowns and has rushed for 750 yards and 12 touchdowns. The Cougars also have Oregon-bound linebacker Tristan Phillips. St. Ignatius is on a six-game winning streak after getting more consistent play at quarterback. The pick: Ventura.
Dec. 9 (UPI) — A suspect has been arrested and the campus secured following a shooting that killed one and left another hospitalized Tuesday afternoon at Kentucky State University in Frankfort.
The Frankfort Police Department responded to an emergency call reporting an active aggressor at the KSU campus at 3:35 p.m. EST, WKYT reported.
Two students were shot, with one deceased and the other hospitalized in critical condition, ABC News reported.
Officials with the Frankfort police said the campus remained on lockdown until further notice as of 4:35 p.m.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced that he is aware of the shooting and a suspect was arrested.
We are aware of a reported shooting at Kentucky State University in Frankfort. At this time, we are aware of some injuries. We will share more information as available. Law enforcement are on scene, and a suspect has been arrested. Let’s pray for all those affected.— Governor Andy Beshear (@GovAndyBeshear) December 9, 2025
The shooting occurred near the residential Witney M. Young Jr. Hall and was due to a personal dispute, according to the Frankfort Police Department.
“At this time, there is no ongoing threat to the campus community,” university officials told students in a statement.
University officials told CNN they are “in the process of gathering accurate and complete information” before providing media with an official statement.
Frankfort is located 40 miles northwest of Lexington, and KSU has more than 2,200 enrolled students and 450 faculty and staff.
The university is a historically black university that was founded in 1886.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Opponents of Missouri’s new congressional map submitted thousands of petition signatures Tuesday calling for a statewide referendum on a redistricting plan backed by President Trump as part of his quest to hold on to a slim Republican majority in next year’s elections.
Organizers of the petition drive said they turned in more than 300,000 signatures to the secretary of state’s office — more than the roughly 110,000 needed to suspend the new U.S. House districts from taking effect until a public vote can be held sometime next year.
Referendum votes in Missouri are automatically set for the upcoming November election, unless the General Assembly approves an earlier date during its regular session that begins in January. Missouri’s candidate filing period runs from Feb. 24 through March 31, but districts can still be changed after the deadline, as occurred when the legislature last approved districts in 2022.
The signatures also need to be formally verified by local election authorities and Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who has argued the referendum is unconstitutional. But if the signatures hold up, the referendum could create a significant obstacle for Republicans who hope the new districts could help them win a currently Democratic-held seat in the Kansas City area in the November election.
“At the end of the day, these are going to have to get counted, and people are going to vote on this,” said Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians, which sponsored the referendum drive.
Redistricting typically happens once a decade, after each census. But the national political parties are engaged in an unusual mid-decade redistricting battle after Trump urged Republican-led states to reshape House voting districts to their advantage. The Republican president is trying to avert a historical tendency for the incumbent’s party to lose seats in midterm elections.
Each House seat could be crucial, because Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to win control of the chamber and impede Trump’s agenda.
Redistricting is spreading through states
Texas was the first to respond to Trump’s call by passing a new congressional map that could help Republicans win five additional seats. The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way last week for the new districts to be used in the 2026 elections.
Republicans could gain one seat each under new maps passed in Missouri and North Carolina and have an improved chance at taking two additional seats under a new Ohio congressional map. In Indiana, senators are considering a proposal this week that also could help Republicans win two additional seats.
Democrats scored a victory in California, where voters in November approved a new Democratic-drawn congressional map that could help the party win five additional seats. Democrats could gain a seat in Utah under new congressional districts imposed by a judge.
But Republicans are challenging both states’ measures in court. And Utah lawmakers are meeting in a special session Tuesday to consider delaying the candidate filing deadline to allow more time for the legal challenge.
Virginia Democrats have also taken a first step toward mid-decade redistricting, with additional votes expected in the new year.
Missouri referendum sparks intense battle
People Not Politicians has raised about $5 million, coming mostly from out-of-state organizations opposed to the new map. National Republican-aligned groups have countered with more than $2 million for a committee supporting the new map.
Republicans have tried to thwart the referendum in numerous ways.
Organizations supporting the Republican redistricting have attempted to pay people up to $30,000 to quit gathering petition signatures, according to a lawsuit filed by Advanced Micro Targeting Inc., a company hired by People Not Politicians.
Hoskins, the secretary of state, contends he cannot legally count about 100,000 petition signatures gathered in the one-month span between legislative passage of the redistricting bill and his approval of the referendum petition’s format, but can only count those gathered after that.
Hoskins also wrote a ballot summary stating the new map “repeals Missouri’s existing gerrymandered congressional plan … and better reflects statewide voting patterns.” That’s the opposite of what referendum backers contend it does, and People Not Politicians is challenging that wording in court.
Meanwhile, Republican Atty. Gen. Catherine Hanaway filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Hoskins and the General Assembly asserting that congressional redistricting legislation cannot be subject to a referendum. Although a federal judge dismissed that suit Monday, the judge noted that Hoskins has “the power to declare the petition unconstitutional himself,” which would likely trigger a new court case.
Missouri’s restricting effort already has sparked an intense court battle. Lawsuits by opponents challenge the legality of Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s special session proclamation, assert that mid-decade redistricting isn’t allowed under Missouri’s constitution and claim the new districts run afoul of requirements to be compact, contiguous and equally populated.
It’s been more than a century since Missouri last held a referendum on a congressional redistricting plan. In 1922, the U.S. House districts approved by the Republican-led legislature were defeated by nearly 62% of the statewide vote.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident rather than a mass shooting event.
Published On 10 Dec 202510 Dec 2025
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A shooting at Kentucky State University in the United States has left one person dead and another in critical condition, police said. The suspected shooter, who is not a student, has been taken into custody.
The Frankfort Police Department said on Tuesday that officers responded to reports of “an active aggressor” and secured the campus, which was briefly placed on lockdown. Authorities said there was no ongoing threat.
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Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident rather than a mass shooting event.
“Today there was a shooting on the campus of Kentucky State University. Two individuals were critically injured, and sadly, at least one of them is not going to make it,” Beshear said in a post on X.
“This was not a mass shooting or a random incident… the suspected shooter is already in custody, which means that while this was frightening, there is no ongoing threat,” he said.
“Violence has no place in our commonwealth or country. Please pray for the families affected and for our KSU students,” he added.
The shooting that took place today at Kentucky State University appears to be an isolated incident – not a mass shooting. The suspect has been arrested, and there is no ongoing threat. Two individuals were critically injured, and I am sad to share that one has now passed away.1/2 pic.twitter.com/4G1BgJNVQj
Earlier on Tuesday, a stabbing at a central North Carolina high school left one student dead and another injured, authorities said.
Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough said officers at North Forsyth High School in Winston-Salem responded shortly after 11am local time (16:00 GMT), following reports of a dispute between students.
“We responded to an altercation between two students,” Kimbrough said at a news conference, adding that “there was a loss of life”.
In an email to families and staff, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Don Phipps confirmed that one student died and another was injured.
Sheriff’s office spokesperson Krista Karcher later said the injured student was treated at a hospital and released.
Kimbrough declined to take questions at the news conference, citing an ongoing investigation, and did not provide details about the potential charges.
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein called the incident “shocking and horrible” in a post on X, saying he was praying for the students involved and their loved ones.
The stabbing that took place at North Forsyth High School is shocking and horrible. I am praying for all students in the community and their loved ones.
North Carolinians need to be safe wherever they are — especially in school. I have spoken with Sheriff Kimbrough to offer my…
Anti-incumbent fever. The Year of the Woman. Coattails and skirt-tails. Yes, the pundits are in a lather with prognostications of a blitzkrieg this year against the powers-that-be in American politics. But will this sortie swoop down on Orange County’s long-entrenched state Legislators?
Don’t count on it, say the region’s Republican hierarchy. They insist the hefty contingent of GOP incumbents in Orange County is just too powerful. Even some leaders of the second-fiddle Democrats, who hold only one state elected office in Orange County, say privately that they don’t expect to make much headway against the GOP.
But such behind-the-scenes sentiments haven’t stopped most Democratic challengers–as well as Libertarians and other third-party candidates–from mounting spirited grass-roots campaigns and espousing the optimistic view that in this wacky political season, anything could happen.
These Democrats suggest they could benefit by hitching a ride on the coattails or skirt hems of their party’s candidates at the top of the ticket. Some of the challengers also predict the Democrat’s surge in voter registration, which saw the party begin to close the GOP’s huge lead, may signal the beginnings of change in the political climate of Orange County.
The Democrats also predict that the electorate’s grumpy feelings about the Legislature–fueled by the nationally embarrassing budget stalemate over the summer–will spark an anti-incumbent wildfire that could hurt GOP candidates in Orange County.
“I think this is the year,” enthused Jim Toledano, an Irvine attorney running against longtime Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) in the 70th District, where Republicans outnumber Democrats nearly 2 to 1. “I get a feeling voters will be picking and choosing this year. And an awful lot of them will be going anti-incumbent.”
Republican officials just aren’t buying it. They admit that anti-incumbency could shave a few points off the usual electoral landslides their candidates enjoy, but say the GOP isn’t taking any chances. The Republicans, after all, still enjoy a hefty edge in fund raising and party registration in nearly all the districts.
“We don’t see any upsets, but this is not a good year to be resting on your laurels,” said Greg Haskin, Orange County’s Republican executive director. “Most of our Republican incumbents are taking it very seriously and working hard to get reelected.”
A look at Orange County’s races for the Assembly:
67th Assembly District
Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) had to engage in a tumultuous primary campaign to defeat colleagues Tom Mays (R-Huntington Beach) and Nolan Frizzelle (R-Fountain Valley) after redistricting put all three in this coastal Orange County district anchored by Huntington Beach.
Although the five-term assemblywoman heads toward election day with a 51.5% to 35.4% registration advantage for the GOP, Democrat challenger Ken LeBlanc is bullish on his chances.
“I’m doing everything I can to position myself for lightning to strike,” LeBlanc said. He is tapping into the 700 volunteers working out of the Democratic Party’s west Orange County office. LeBlanc also notes that much of the newly reapportioned district is new to Allen. In the meantime, LeBlanc has tried to characterize himself as a maverick, “not your usual liberal Democrat.”
LeBlanc also makes a fuss over money funneled to Allen during the primary by education and labor groups that have traditionally supported Democrats. It has prompted an unusual charge: LeBlanc, the Democrat, has tried to tie Allen to powerful Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.
“Doris made a deal with Willie obviously,” LeBlanc contends. “If Doris wants to sell herself to the highest bidder, she can do that.”
Allen bristles at such accusations, saying Brown had nothing to do with the contributions, which she contends were sparked by her support of education.
“There was never a deal with Willie, never a discussion,” she said. “In fact, Willie was mad that they were putting money into a Republican district.” Allen also said LeBlanc “hurts himself worse than he helps himself” by making such charges.
She hopes to return to Sacramento and work on finding “a balance between the economy and environment.” Her big effort in recent years has been to outlaw the use of gill nets by commercial fishermen.
Libertarian Brian Schar, an aerospace engineer, says meaningful budget reform needs to start with public schools and supports the proposed voucher system allowing parents to more easily send their children to private schools. Like other Libertarians, he wants to cut taxes and regulations to help improve the state’s business climate.
68th Assembly District
Curt Pringle, Orange County’s former assemblyman, is back.
After one term in the Legislature, Pringle was defeated by Democrat Tom Umberg in an unruly 1990 race. Reapportionment shifted Pringle into a new district, and here he is again in the 68th.
His Democratic opponent, Linda Kay Rigney, is running a campaign long on hustle and short on cash. Nonetheless, Rigney sees signs of hope. The central county district–anchored by Garden Grove, Westminster and Anaheim–isn’t nearly as lopsided as some (it’s 46.2% Republican and 42.2% Democratic). With no other candidate in the race, Rigney hopes the 11% who aren’t followers of the major parties will vote for her.
Moreover, she thinks the area’s residents, irked by the lingering recession, will be ready to revolt against the GOP hierarchy. She also expects to gain votes in this political “Year of the Woman” and perhaps even ride the hems of Feinstein and Boxer.
A longtime Democratic activist and school instructional aide, Rigney hopes to take “drastic measures” to spur the economy by streamlining the regulatory process and reforming workers compensation.
Pringle, 33, has mostly focused on his desire to work at reducing the size of government. Like other Republicans, he wants to roll back regulations to “bring the economy out of the doldrums.”
He also wants to overhaul the worker’s compensation system to outlaw stress disability claims and make cuts “in every area of the budget.” Noting that many politicians “shy away” from talking about cuts in education, Pringle stressed that the problem isn’t a lack of money but a bloated education bureaucracy.
69th Assembly District
With a Democrat majority, this district is an anomaly in the GOP bastion of Orange County. Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove) enjoys a 54% to 36% registration edge over the Republicans.
But local Republicans would like nothing better than to unseat Umberg, and they feel they’ve got just the candidate to do it–Jo Ellen Allen, a conservative former associate professor of political science and champion of “traditional family values.”
Both sides are armed for war. Allen has raised about $200,000 so far, while Umberg has amassed $300,000. There’s even been a few early skirmishes.
Allen has made a point to regularly blast Umberg for his vote in 1990 to retain Willie Brown as speaker of the Assembly, a post the San Francisco Democrat has held for a dozen years to the ever-increasing irritation of frustrated Republican politicos.
Umberg’s campaign, meanwhile, has been quietly making a fuss over Allen’s role for the past decade as president of the California chapter of Eagle Forum, a conservative group headed by Phyllis Schlafly, the right-wing national celebrity most prominent for her stand against the proposed equal rights amendment and other feminist causes.
David Keller, the Libertarian candidate, wants to privatize the public school system and many other government services. He also would work to abolish the South Coast Air Quality Management District as well as agencies such as the Iceberg Lettuce Commission and the state Arts Council. Keller favors a flat-rate personal income tax for the state and wants to reduce sales taxes. He also wants to legalize drugs, saying that “the drug war is diverting police and court resources from real crime, serious crime.”
70th Assembly District
Like other Republican incumbents, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson enjoys a decided registration advantage (56.1% GOP to 29.7% Democratic), but challenger Jim Toledano remains confident.
Toledano and his volunteers have been walking precincts for more than two months. He has also raised more than $50,000 and figures he will capture GOP voters who supported Costa Mesa Mayor Mary Hornbuckle, who gave Ferguson a rough fight in the Republican primary.
He contends the state has “systematically shortchanged education,” turning a “first-rate education system into one that hasn’t done the job.” Business, in turn, has suffered because of a dearth of well-educated workers, he said.
The Democrat is also talking tough.
“Gil Ferguson has an extreme right-wing ideological agenda that he pushes at every opportunity,” Toledano said. “He is focused on winning ideological points on the right and not in dealing with problems.”
Ferguson scoffs at Toledano’s critique. Although the challenger insists he would vote to oust Democrat Willie Brown as speaker of the Assembly, Ferguson isn’t buying it.
“He’s a typical Democrat opponent,” Ferguson said. “They distort your record and say bad things about you. But they never tell the constituents that they’re going to go up to Sacramento and join Willie Brown.”
Ferguson said he’s happy to run on his record, noting that he worked to get an independent Caltrans district office in Orange County and served on a blue-ribbon task force that successfully pushed a highway funding measure that fueled the current freeway building binge.
Libertarian Scott Bieser, meanwhile, is running as a protest candidate to give voters who are “fed up with Republicans and Democrats” another choice. He wants to cut government by about 80%, comparing politicians’ thirst for tax dollars to “a person addicted to a drug.”
71st Assembly District
Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Santa Ana) has a bigger registration advantage than any Republican in the state (58% to 29.2% for the Democrats). But he’s not taking chances in this unpredictable political year.
Conroy is running on his record–he managed to get 24 bills signed into law since he won a special election for the seat last year. They’ve included a domestic violence bill, a law making it a crime to deface veterans’ memorials and legislation repealing the tax on white canes for the blind.
His Democratic opponent, Bea Foster, hopes to parlay her many years of activism in community politics into votes. She helped push through Orange County’s TINCUP campaign finance reform measure, was active in the unsuccessful effort to incorporate north Tustin and helped block plans for extension of the Garden Grove Freeway into the Tustin hills.
Foster wants to see the state’s health care system improved and boost funding for education, saying “one of our gold mines is going down the drain.” She also wants to push for retraining of aerospace workers and others out of jobs because of the economy.
72nd Assembly District
Like many other heavily Republican districts, this race could turn into a coronation for powerful Assemblyman Ross Johnson. The former Assembly minority party leader enjoys a 55.6% to 37.7% registration advantage over the Democrats in his district. Moreover, Democratic challenger Paul Garza Jr. is running a low-key campaign.
Johnson hopes to fundamentally restructure state government, cutting regulations and spending fewer tax dollars. He wants to rework the welfare system, shifting the emphasis to helping people become “fully functioning, productive members of society.”
Garza, a public affairs consultant and former Orange County Democratic Party executive director, supports abortion rights, wants to see the state’s health care system revamped to improve care for all and wants the welfare system reformed to provide education and vocational skills.
Libertarian Geoffrey Braun favors school vouchers, wants the state’s workers’ compensation system revamped and backs campaign finance reform, saying that big political contributions are undermining the ability of government to truly serve the people.
73rd Assembly District
Up until a few weeks ago, this race appeared headed toward a historic intraparty showdown. But then Republican nominee Bill Morrow and the opponent he defeated in the primary, Laguna Niguel Councilwoman Patricia C. Bates, made up and held a peace powwow with GOP officials.
Democrat Lee Walker isn’t holding back the punches, calling Morrow an “ultra-conservative, right-wing Christian” who is “out of the mainstream of Republicanism.”
Walker, a college professor who has modeled himself as the “education candidate,” also has blasted Morrow for raising more than $275,000 in contributions, much of the money from powerful Sacramento politicians and political action committees. “I could call him Mr. Pac-Man because he’s got so many PACs giving him money,” Walker said.
Morrow counters that “people who contribute to my campaign do so because they know I stand for certain principles that are consistent with their own beliefs” and stressed that he has received many small-dollar contributions from the general public.
Trump has vowed to unleash AI competitiveness, but removing state oversight riles members of his Republican Party.
Published On 8 Dec 20258 Dec 2025
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United States President Donald Trump has said he will sign an executive order creating “one rulebook” for artificial intelligence (AI) development.
The announcement on Monday via Trump’s Truth Social account represented the US president’s latest effort to remove AI barriers, a priority of his administration that has raised concerns related to oversight of the transformative technology.
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Trump said the so-called “one rule executive order” would override state approvals of AI, although the legality of such a presidential action remained unclear.
“There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI,” he said. “We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS.”
“THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS! AI WILL BE DESTROYED IN ITS INFANCY!” Trump added, employing his typical use of all-capital letters.
The announcement comes as the White House has pushed for provisions creating a federal AI framework to be added to this year’s defence budget.
The initiative has divided members of Trump’s Republican Party, which has traditionally strongly supported the rights of states and a smaller federal government.
Opponents included Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, formerly a staunch supporter of Trump, who has broken with him on several issues.
“States must retain the right to regulate and make laws on AI and anything else for the benefit of their state,” she wrote in November.
State lawmakers from across the political spectrum have also warned against federal actions that would override state policies.
“In recent years, legislatures across the country have passed AI-related measures to strengthen consumer transparency, guide responsible government procurement, protect patients, and support artists and creators,” they wrote in a letter to Congress in November.
“These laws represent careful, good-faith work to safeguard constituents from clear and immediate AI-related harms. A federal preemption measure on state AI laws risks sweeping these protections aside and leaving communities exposed,” they said.
Trump has maintained close ties with AI and tech leaders since taking office in January.
He has already signed an executive order calling for the removal of “barriers” to AI innovation. He has also published a so-called AI action plan and an AI “Genesis Mission”.
He compared the latter to the Manhattan Project programme, which led to the creation of the world’s first nuclear weapons.
