Government & Elections News

On September 10, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was fatally shot by a sniper while speaking in Utah. The event was the first stop of TPUSA's "American Comeback Tour." On November 10, Turning Point concluded their tour at UC Berkeley. The campus was locked down beforehand by a phalanx of riot police. Despite the show of force, hundreds of demonstrators turned out to denounce TPUSA. Several arrests were made.

On October 24, youth from 50 middle schools, high schools, and colleges in California walked out of class in a coordinated statewide action demanding that oil and gas corporations be held financially accountable for the damage caused by their pollution. Students called on lawmakers to pass the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act, SB 684/AB 1243. While not passed this legislative session, students and climate advocates are working to pass it next year.

Big Oil won a major victory on September 13 when the California Legislature passed Governor Gavin Newsom’s bill, S.B. 237, as part of a controversial “climate” package that greenlights tens of thousands of new oil and gas drilling permits in Kern County over the next decade with no further environmental review. The bill passed as a last minute “gut and amend” measure at the end of the legislative session, truncating public participation.

On September 24, Bay Area poets and other writers organized a poetry reading outside of U.S. Senator Adam Schiff's office in San Francisco, calling on him and Senator Alex Padilla to support the Block the Bombs legislation, and to defend freedom of the press and protect Palestinian journalists. Arts activist David Solnit transformed the building's plaza into a mini auditorium with rows of folding chairs, and using the corporate offices as a background.

In recent weeks, actions have been organized at the Israel Consulate in San Francisco to protest the country's war crimes in Gaza. On September 12, "blood" flowed into the gutter after demonstrators used red paint to make bloody hand prints on an Israeli flag to protest the starvation and ongoing massacre with American bombs. Others drummed, banged on pots and pans, and blew horns. Some held photos of skeletal starving children.

The ever-present White House Peace Vigil tent, an iconic staple across from the executive mansion for the last 44 years, was removed by National Park Service Police on September 7 by order of Donald Trump. Trump, who claimed to have not previously known of its existence, when informed of its presence, labeled it an “eyesore” and ordered its removal as part of his erasure of homeless encampments in Washington D.C.

Over 100 members of Jewish Voice for Peace Sacramento and their allies staged a sit-in in the lobby of Kimpton Sawyer Hotel in Sacramento on August 27 as U.S. Senator Alex Padilla participated as a featured guest in Politico’s corporate funded inaugural California policy summit. The protest was part of a Jewish-led day of action across the state calling on both U.S. Senators from California to stop voting to arm Israel.

As the California Legislature returned to session after summer recess, climate activists organized multiple events at the state Capitol. On August 18, demonstrators unfurled large banners in the Capitol rotunda proclaiming “Newson Stand Up To Big Oil." On August 20, advocates representing a coalition of 140 organizations held a press conference on the Capitol lawn to call attention to oil industry-backed bills moving through the session this year.

On August 19, Santa Cruz County Supervisors introduced an ordinance that would streamline the destruction of RVs and other vehicles that are deemed illegally parked or abandoned on public streets, even if they are inhabited. Santa Cruz Homeless Union President Alicia Kuhl and other advocates warned the Board that the ordinance could increase street-level homelessness. The proposal was continued to a future date.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency injunction on August 18, blocking the Trump administration from handing Oak Flat over to a private mining company while three lawsuits challenging the land exchange proceed. Without the injunction, the public lands about 40 miles east of Phoenix were expected to be transferred to Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of multinational mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP.