KQED's The California Report

It’s election day and polls are now open across the state. If you haven’t had a chance to cast your ballot yet and are planning to do so today, we’ve got all the information you need.

The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s request to block California from processing thousands of ballots.

Reporter: Laura Fitzgerald, KQED

A coalition of community groups in California is standing ready to protect voters’ rights at the polls. It’s because of increasing worries that the Trump administration will interfere with the election. Reporter: Keith Mizuguchi, The California Report

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There’s been a lot of debate this election over Prop 40 and whether California’s billionaires should pay a new tax to fund health care. Meanwhile, another California billionaire has put a measure on the ballot asking taxpayers to bankroll his own brand new medical lab.

Reporter: April Dembosky, KQED

A San Francisco judge is holding a hearing this morning over the US Justice Department’s appeal of a ruling that barred the department from demanding that election officers remove possible noncitizens from voter rolls. The case is one of many involving the federal government’s claims that thousands of noncitizens are registered to vote in California. The hearing comes just weeks after 28 green card holders were charged with crimes including voter fraud.

Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED

In Congressional District 13, Incumbent Adam Gray is campaigning as a moderate Democrat. That comes despite the latest redistricting effort from Prop 50, and more chatter around progressive voters.

Reporter: Rachel Livinal, The Merced FOCUS

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The Trump administration is following through on its threat to criminally investigate California election officials over alleged noncitizen voting.

Reporter: Laura Fitzgerald, KQED

Latino voters helped President Donald Trump return to office. Now, politicos are looking to California’s 58th Assembly District in Riverside to see if they’ll flip again. The district is traditionally democratic and heavily Latino. But in 2024, they swung for Trump … and Republican Leticia Castillo won the state assembly seat … by riding in on his coat tails.

Reporter: Anthony Victoria, KVCR

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Dolores Huerta is being remembered across the country as an iconic leader of the United Farm Workers and a pioneering feminist and civil rights advocate. But she was rooted right here in California. And when she died Wednesday at the age of 96, she was at home in Bakersfield.

Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED

Elected officials in Kern County, where Dolores Huerta lived and worked are remembering her legacy.

Reporter: Amaray Alvarez, KVPR

The CEO of California's High Speed Rail Authority has abruptly resigned from the job.

The Monterey County Jail is back to regular operations after a three-hour lockdown Tuesday, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were present in the parking lot.

Reporter: Ellie Prickett-Morgan, KAZU

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Farmers and ranchers have long been a reliable Republican voting bloc, but that may shift this midterm election as federal policies drive discontent among these communities. How is this playing out in the heart of California’s agricultural production?

Reporter: Izzy Bloom, KQED

California has tentatively agreed to pay $10 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of incarcerated women at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla.

A federal judge in Los Angeles is expected to rule today in a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration, over ballots in next week’s midterm election here in California. Federal officials have been seeking to prevent the state from processing the ballots of voters who they believe are not citizens.

Reporter: Laura Fitzgerald, KQED

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Proposition 40 proponents say the tax would help backfill federal Medical cuts. But as Governor Newsom weighs a presidential run, is he also looking ahead to how it might play to donors and voters?

Guest: Marisa Lagos, KQED

A federal court has rejected a Trump administration demand that it force California officials to set aside the ballots of 20,000 registered voters, who the Department of Justice alleges are not citizens.

Proposition 38 would allocate more than $8 billion for health research grants. That's something supporters say is critical, at a time when the Trump administration has tried to claw back funding. But CalMatters has been digging into concerns about how that money would be distributed, with roughly $4 billion going to a single institution.

Reporter: Mikhail Zinshteyn, CalMatters

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As immigration sweeps expand the number of detainees filling the nation's detention centers, the amount of people who manage to be released is also growing. That means a steady stream of people are finding themselves in places they don't know, including Kern County, which is home to four ICE detention facilities, the highest concentration of any county in California. A grassroots movement there has risen to help people find their way back home.

Reporter: Soreath Hok, KVPR In a rare Sunday hearing, a panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals questioned the timing and constitutionality of the Department of Justice efforts to intervene in California's midterm election. The three judge panel seemed skeptical of the DOJ's demand to hold aside 20,000 ballots, over concerns about the citizenship of voters.

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Flooded highways. Inundated airport runways. Water-filled neighborhoods. Beaches washed away. All of these impacts, and more, could take place this winter as El Niño continues to unfold. Several new reports this week suggest that El Niño’s effects this winter — flooding from temporarily high seas and potential storms — foreshadow a future shaped by human-caused climate change.

Reporter: Ezra David Romero, KQED News

Proposition 5 Would Revise Rules on Recall Elections

Right now, voters are asked two things when there’s a statewide recall: Whether an official should be removed from office, and who should replace them. If Prop. 5 passes, voters would only decide whether or not to remove the official. The vacancy would be filled later through a special election or an appointment.

Reporter: Melody Yan, KALW

How to "Vote Naked" in California

With voting for the Nov. 3 election underway, a Santa Cruz elections official is highlighting her term for a safe, secure way to return your ballot that might make you blush. At an elections event in Santa Cruz, county Clerk Tricia Webber ran through some ballot return options before blurting out a personal favorite: “Or, they can vote naked."

Reporter: PK Hattis, KAZU

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The election is less than two weeks away. And Senator Bernie Sanders has been endorsing progressive candidates in races big and small across the country. In California’s Inland Empire, he endorsed Joz Sida, who’s running for the mayor of Fontana. But the endorsement hasn't given Sida much traction.

Reporter: Anthony Victoria, KVCR

California is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit from the Trump administration, that seeks to set aside 20,000 mail-in ballots. It’s alleging those were sent to noncitizens.

A highly contagious strain of bird flu has reappeared in California. Two cases have been reported this month.

Reporter: Kerry Klein, KVPR

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Tens of thousands of state government workers are expected to walk off the job Wednesday for a one-day strike. The issues: wages and benefits. Union-represented employees at libraries, hospitals and agencies such as Caltrans, CalFire and the Department of Motor Vehicles have never walked out of their jobs before, but leaders with the SEIU Local 1000 say they're fighting bad-faith bargaining practices from the Newsom administration.

Reporter: Lynn La, Calmatters

Californians will vote on Proposition 45 in November. That measure would make significant changes to the state’s landmark environmental review process.

Reporter: Jake Gotta, KPBS

Bakersfield is not usually a destination for big political names – except when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was still in Congress. But this year’s midterm election has changed that. California's 22nd congressional district, which covers parts of five San Joaquin Valley counties, has become one of the most hotly contested congressional seats in the country.

Reporter: Amaray Alvarez, KVPR

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For many Californians, a mobile home is the only home they can afford. But owning comes with a catch: They still rent the land underneath and the state’s rent cap doesn’t cover them. That leaves mobile homeowners vulnerable to big rent spikes. Cities and counties can set their own limits. But across the state, only about 1 in 5 do. In the East Bay city of San Pablo, Linda Jackson is hoping her neighbors will come out to support a measure her city has on the ballot.

Reporter: Madi Bolanos, The California Report

California leaders are pushing back against the Trump administration’s actions. The Trump administration is ramping up its fight against California elections. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that 28 state residents, who it says are green-card holders not citizens, illegally registered to vote in U.S. elections. The charges are part of an escalating campaign to highlight illegal voting by immigrants, which the president says is "rampant." Attorney General Rob Bonta says true voter fraud should be punished, but as these arrests show that it’s exceedingly rare.

Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED

In Northern California, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were spotted outside of a polling center in Yuba City on Monday morning , according to the immigrant rights group NorCal Resist.

Reporter: Gerardo Zavala, CapRadio

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Gas prices in California continue to be the highest in the nation. So it's no surprise that prices at the pump are a hot topic in the state’s closest elections for Congress. But the war in Iran has given California Democrats a rare opportunity to turn the tables on the issue.

Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQED

A surge in immigration arrests is underway in the Central Valley. Advocates say detained immigrants are being denied access to legal counsel, and dozens are disappearing into the detention system.

Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED

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This year, Silicon Valley has poured money into California’s legislative races at levels far above past elections. One district where that money looms large is Assembly District 12 in Marin and Sonoma counties, where two Democrats are facing off.

Reporter: Izzy Bloom, KQED

The Trump administration filed a lawsuit against California on Thursday, aiming to block the state from counting the ballots of around 20, 000 voters.

Reporter: Laura Fitzgerald, KQED

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed his 100th lawsuit against the Trump administration. It's challenging the Immigration and Customs Enforcement practice of making immigration arrests inside state courthouses.

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The Trump administration this week is threatening to take legal action against California unless election officials verify the citizenship of some people on the state’s voter rolls.

Reporter: Laura Fitzgerald, KQED

Report after report says a Super El Niño could slam the west coast with rain and snow. So what can skiers expect on the slopes? To help answer that question, we're joined by KQED outdoor reporter Sarah Wright, who's been talking with experts and joins us now.

Reporters: Madi Bolanos, Sarah Wright

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California voters will soon decide who should be the next insurance commissioner. Two Democrats are in the race, former San Francisco supervisor, Jane Kim, and state Senator Ben Allen. Kim is offering the boldest out-of-the-box policy idea, a publicly run nonprofit guaranteed disaster insurance for all program.

Guest, Danielle Venton, KQED

California lawmakers say a surge in immigration raids in the Golden State could suppress the vote come November.

Reporter: Anthony Victoria, KVPR

An ICE officer was charged this week with felony assault in Fresno, after he attacked two residents.

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In a small town on the fringes of the Bay Area, a former software engineer wants to create a new kind of neighborhood — one that’s built around an event center where Silicon Valley thinkers could gather and share ideas. There’d be a hotel and an amphitheater and maybe even a K-6 school. But as the project nears final approval, it’s facing a new wave of backlash from some residents who have concerns about its impact on the environment.

Reporter: Adhiti Bandlamudi

A state lawmaker is calling for oversight hearings into lockdowns that were imposed at a San Diego County correctional facility during last month's intense heat wave. Assembly Public Safety Committee Chair Nick Schultz says he was "gravely concerned" about the well-being of incarcerated people at the Donovan Correctional Facility.

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At the height of the summer heat wave last month, Donovan State Prison in San Diego County went into lockdown. Several incarcerated people say officials at the prison confined them to their cells even as temperatures soared indoors. It highlights a statewide crisis and advocates and lawmakers have been sounding the alarm for years.

Reporter: Kori Suzuki, KPBS

More than a dozen homes in Long Beach have been red-tagged after Tropical Storm Rachel battered the Southern California Coast over the weekend.

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California now has a statewide guide for teaching about Native American history and culture. In the community of Bonsall in San Diego County, a high school teacher is weaving the curriculum into his history class.

Reporter: Katie Anastas, KPBS

Central Valley leaders are trying to assuage the anxieties of their constituents, who are worried about a reported ICE crackdown in the area.

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The USS Abraham Lincoln returns to San Diego today after an intense, months-long deployment to the Middle East. The aircraft carrier spent more than 260 days at sea without a port call, and there have been multiple reports of low morale for the crew.

Guest: Andrew Dyer, KPBS reporter

Chico State students rallied yesterday against sexual assault on college campuses. It's part of a nationwide outcry following rape allegations at Cornell University in New York.

In the San Joaquin Valley, leaders of a faith-based nonprofit in the San Joaquin Valley announced a new initiative yesterday that trains residents to become “poll chaplains.” Rachel Livinal with The Merced FOCUS reports the “poll chaplains” aim to de-escalate tensions at polling places.

Reporter: Rachel Livinal, The Merced FOCUS

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In Los Angeles, a new crop of cafes is taking the artisanal coffee experience to the next level. People are turning their homes into coffee speakeasies, serving specialty brews out of their kitchens and backyards. Despite - and perhaps because of their low-profile, these DIY businesses are all the buzz.

Reporter: Betsy Shepherd, KCRW

Researchers are calling on OpenAI to keep kids under 18 off of ChatGPT — at least for now.

Reporter: Rachael Myrow, KQED

A state agency has found that Los Angeles Unified School District risks running out of money by the end of next school year.

Reporter: Mariana Dale, LAist

Californians will vote on Proposition 43 this November. That measure would make it harder to impose or increase local taxes.

Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQED

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