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Trump pledges to end birthright citizenship on first day in office

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:59 GMT

Former President Trump is returning to his calls to remove birthright citizenship, with his 2024 White House campaign announcing Tuesday he would seek to end it via executive order on his first day in office.Trump announced his plan on the 125th anniversary of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court case that established the constitutional right to birthright citizenship.The proposal echoes a longtime demand of immigration restrictionists and a measure Trump toyed with while in office, attracting criticism from both immigration advocates and legal experts.Most experts agree that a president does not have authority to end birthright citizenship through an executive order, primarily because the practice is enshrined in the Constitution.The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to those "born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof."The widely accepted interpretation of that amendment — that it applies to children born in the United States rega...

Man arrested on suspicion of groping teenager at Bay Area coffee shop

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:59 GMT

Rio Vista police on Friday arrested a 28-year-old Rio Vista man on suspicion of groping a teenager in a Highway 12 coffee shop.A spokesman for the Rio Vista Police Department, Solano County Sheriff’s Deputy Rex Hawkins, identified the suspect at Jesse Beatty.A Rio Vista Police Department social media post indicated that officers on Friday night responded to the coffee shop where the teenage victim works.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Monterey masseuse convicted of sexual battery of clients Crime and Public Safety | Former corrections officer charged with sexually assaulting 13 at California women’s prison Crime and Public Safety | JPMorgan Chase blames Virgin Islands for Jeffrey Epstein sex crimes Crime and Public Safety | Indian wrestlers march, demand arrest of abusive official Crime and Public Safety | California school teacher, 38, arrested on suspicion of sex with 16-year-old boy The vict...

Film about CZU Lightning Complex fire, salmon airs Friday on KQED

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:59 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — A documentary created by a UC Santa Cruz alum about endangered coho salmon and their struggle to survive in the Santa Cruz Mountains through the CZU Lightning Complex fire will air on the local Public Broadcasting Station KQED this Friday.The film, called “Southern Range: Salmon in the Santa Cruz Mountains,” came about through a collaboration with the director, Kyle Baker, who earned an MFA in social documentation in 2020, UCSC professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Eric Palkovacs, and Jonathan Hicken, executive director of the Seymour Center Marine Discovery Center.“This was a collaborative project from Day 1,” said Hicken. “Eric brought his expertise in fisheries science, I brought community connections, and Kyle brought the creativity to tell the story of our local salmon and the community-based efforts to help them.”The documentary will air on KQED at 8:30 p.m. Friday and at 8 p.m. June 21. The film will also air at 5 p.m. on June 9 on the KQED Plus channel.P...

Skelton: Newsom’s wishful thinking California budget math doesn’t add up

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:59 GMT

Gov. Gavin Newsom has sent the Legislature a proposed state budget that is unrealistic and spews red ink.That’s essentially the straight-shooting opinion of the most trusted numbers-crunching outfit in Sacramento: the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.By law, the annual budget must be balanced. But “balanced” is a subjective characterization based on guesswork. Often it’s rooted in wishful thinking and fudged calculations.The revised $307-billion budget proposal that Newsom recently submitted — known colloquially as the May Revision — is either too fat with spending or too thin on taxes, Legislative Analyst Gabriel Petek asserted.Newsom and the Legislature need to fix one — or both — before the June 15 deadline for passing a budget. That means cutting programs or raising taxes — or a little of both.“There is less than a one-in-six chance the state can afford the May Revision spending level across the five-year period,” the LAO cautioned. “This means that if the Legislature ad...

Two San Jose men arrested, Cowell’s Beach evacuated following firearm discharge

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:59 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — Two San Jose men were arrested following a firearm discharge that resulted in the evacuation of Cowell Beach the evening of Memorial Day.No beachgoers were injured during the discharge, Santa Cruz police wrote in a news release.At 6:10 p.m. Monday, the Police Department received reports of two suspects in dark clothing firing a handgun near the rocks at the west end of the beach, per the release. A further investigation found that they were shooting at an empty wine bottle they consumed earlier.Upon arrival, officers began evacuating the beach. They found the two suspects, who had previously hidden behind the rocks, at the end of the beach. The suspects were identified as Roy Miller, 43, and Kiiren Pumphery Jenkins, 31, both of San Jose. The two were detained without further incident.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Santa Clara County sheriff says inmate attacked deputies with jail-made knife Crime and Public Safety | One dead, anothe...

Aptos resident Mitch Haniger heating up at the plate for SF Giants

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:59 GMT

San Francisco Giants outfielder Mitch Haniger has started to not only make up for lost time, but a slow start on offense.“I’ve been working on some things and feeling good lately,” he said.The 32-year-old Aptos resident missed the first 22 games of the season with a Grade 1 oblique strain and made his regular-season debut for the Giants on April 24.Excitement to get 2018 All-Star on the field had been building since the free agent signed a three-year, $43.5 million deal with San Francisco in December. But the Giants were forced to wait to open their present.What the Giants were getting wasn’t a surprise, manager Giants Gabe Kapler said Tuesday.The Giants’ Mitch Haniger runs out a hit during the eighth inning of a game against the host Milwaukee Brewers Saturday. (Morry Gash – The Associated Press) “Our expectations dating back to the offseason were that he was going to be a good, quality major leaguer with the ability to be an All-Star caliber player at the plate,” Kapler said....

Flag burned at California school where some parents oppose Pride event

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:59 GMT

An LGBTQ+ flag placed in a plant pot outside of a classroom at Saticoy Elementary School was lit on fire, the flag was destroyed, and it is being investigated as a possible hate crime, according to LAPD.The school has been the focus of a group of parents who are objecting to an upcoming Pride Day assembly on Friday, June 2, at which the school plans to teach children about LGBTQ+ identities during a book reading.The fire incident at the school is being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department, said Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton of the Valley Bureau. “The investigation is ongoing. It is a vandalism hate crime. The hate crime is still significant but it is a misdemeanor,” he said on May 27.The blackened planter and burned flag were discovered by school personnel on Monday, May 22, at 6:30 a.m., Hamilton said. He did not know when the planter and flag were burned and there are no suspects, he said.Conservative parents with children enrolled at the school last week posted their ob...

Los Angeles wins $5 million settlement from biggest U.S. ghost gun manufacturer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:59 GMT

The nation’s largest manufacturer of ghost gun kits must pay millions of dollars in penalties and must conduct customer background checks and include serial numbers on its products sold throughout California, under a settlement won by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.The settlement includes $5 million in payouts, according to City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto’s office, which made the announcement Tuesday, May 30. That includes $4 million in civil penalties to be paid by the gun manufacturer, Polymer80, and $1 million in civil penalties leveled against the company’s two founders, Feldstein Soto’s office said.Under the settlement, Polymer80 can no longer sell ghost gun kits in California unless it includes serial numbers on its products and conducts background checks as required under federal law. Its dealers and distributors also are prohibited from selling unserialized gun kits in California, and the company can no longer provide customer support to individuals in the state.H...

Dodgers pitcher disagrees with team’s decision to reinstate gay ‘nun’ group for Pride Night award

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:59 GMT

LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw says he disagrees with the Dodgers’ decision to welcome a satirical LGBTQ+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at the team’s annual Pride Night.Kershaw told The Los Angeles Times on Monday that the team’s decision to honor the group after it rescinded its original invitation prompted him to approach the Dodgers about expediting the announcement that the team was bringing back Christian Faith and Family Day later this season.“I think we were always going to do Christian Faith Day this year, but I think the timing of our announcement was sped up,” Kershaw said. “Picking a date and doing those different things was part of it as well. Yes, it was in response to the highlighting of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (by the Dodgers).”Kershaw announced via Twitter last Friday that Christian Faith and Family Day will be held on July 30 when the Dodgers face the Cincinnati Reds. The last time the Dodgers held it was in 2019.Kershaw, who has been w...

Opinion: El Niño is back. What does that mean for overheated California?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:59 GMT

During the El Niño of 1983, Californians counted their blessings. The warm Pacific waters sloshing eastward certainly brought heavy spring rains and record snow. But the state largely escaped the flood risks being frantically managed farther east.That spring, engineers famously resorted to plywood to add just a few more inches to the 710-foot-high Glen Canyon Dam as they struggled to prevent the second-largest reservoir in the United States from being overtopped by El Niño-swollen waters. Back in California, a top flood official noted that it was “luck,” not preparation, that spared the state a similar fate.El Niño is the stuff of nightmares the world over: Widespread crop failures, famine, disease, floods, extreme heat, droughts, wildfires and even violent conflict have all been linked to the recurring climate anomaly. We have long known that climate variations alter our overall economic well-being. But by how much? Knowing the answer is essential to predicting the impact of global...