Free Republic

Rep. Eric Swalwell’s campaign spent thousands of dollars after the election on childcare expenses for the California Democrat, raising potential ethics concerns for a lawmaker who has been accused in the past of using his campaign war chest as a "personal piggybank." According to campaign finance records, the Swalwell campaign spent at least $20,000 on "childcare" from Nov. 8, three days after the election, to March 31. The payments went to two of the Swalwell family’s longtime babysitters as well as a Washington, D.C.-area Spanish language immersion preschool where tuition is around $3,000 per month. The payments raise potential ethics...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) celebrated Wednesday as his state became the world’s fourth-largest economy — albeit one that cannot fix homelessness or protect its citizens from devastating wildfires. Newsom’s office cited data indicating that California had surpassed Japan and that only the U.S., China, and Germany had larger economies, in terms of total output. He boasted in a press statement: California isn’t just keeping pace with the world—we’re setting the pace. Our economy is thriving because we invest in people, prioritize sustainability, and believe in the power of innovation. And, while we celebrate this success, we recognize that our...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is spending $500 million to put an additional 1,000 electric school buses on the road as federal cuts and freezes paused efforts in other states to replace aging diesel-fueled fleets that are more polluting. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Wednesday that 1,000 zero-emission school buses and related charging infrastructure will be provided to over 130 rural, low-income and disadvantaged school districts. The state grants add about 500 more charging stations for school buses to more than 200 stations already in operation in districts. The expansion contrasts efforts in other states that were hampered by the...

https://californiaglobe.com/fr/california-reparations-bill-passed-in-assembly-judiciary-committee/

Jeffrey Ferguson, 74, was convicted for the 2023 killing of his wife Sheryl, 65, in their Anaheim Hills home.. A Southern California judge was convicted Tuesday of second-degree murder for the fatal shooting of his wife during an argument. Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, 74, was on trial for the 2023 killing of his wife Sheryl, 65, in their Anaheim Hills home. Ferguson took the stand in his defense and admitted to shooting his wife but claimed it was an accident. Jurors reached their decision Tuesday afternoon after deliberating since the day before. He was also found guilty...

Homelessness keeps rising, homeless taxes keep rising and the money disappears. In Los Angeles County, spring is in the air and so are higher taxes. Beyond the usual punishing ritual of April 15, county residents also now face some of the highest sales taxes in the country. Sales taxes in the area have shot up from 9.75% to as high as 11.25% to fund still more services for the ‘homeless’. The permanent sales tax increase is supposed to raise $1 billion a year to replace the stolen billions spent by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Families will pay even...

A federal raid at a Home Depot store in Pomona [California] has sparked concern as families and community members said a group of day laborers were taken into custody Tuesday. Immigrant rights advocates held a demonstration outside the store, protesting the targeting of those they described as innocent civilians. “Our people should not be living in fear,” one speaker said. Video of the incident showed vehicles appearing to belong to Border Patrol surrounding the store’s parking lot Tuesday morning. The people who were taken into custody were transported to an undisclosed location. A man named Carlos spoke in Spanish as...

WASHINGTON -- Four House Democratic lawmakers have traveled to El Salvador to call attention to the plight of a man the Trump administration deported to a Salvadoran prison and has refused to help return — even after the Supreme Court ruled that it was the government's duty to do so. Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California arrived in the Central American nation on Sunday to investigate the condition of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had lived in the United States for more than a decade. The Trump administration deported...

An Oakland woman was sentenced to four years in federal prison for leading a drug trafficking service that supplied methamphetamine and other drugs to “students and young professionals,” officials for the U.S. attorney’s office said. Natalie Marie Gonzalez, 31, pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. She was indicted in October 2023 along with three co-defendants for her role in managing an “on-demand drug trafficking delivery service” around the Bay Area known as “The Shop,” officials said. According to prosecutors, the delivery service had a menu of drugs for sale and required a $300 minimum...

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) has won the special election for Oakland mayor in a close contest over “moderate” Loren Taylor, giving “progressives” hope and defying efforts by Democrats to shift their party to the center. Lee, 78, defeated Taylor, 47, thanks to late-arriving postal ballots, after Taylor led on Election Night. She will take the helm of a city suffering from poor left-wing governance in the wake of a corruption scandal involving former mayor Sheng Thao, also a “progressive.” Oakland had recently begun to emerge from the shadows of San Francisco — its wealthier, glitzier neighbor across the Bay —...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Monday the city faces a $800 million deficit, plans on laying off 1,647 staff, is seeking a state bailout and has “identified new revenue.” Bass blamed the Trump administration and the economy for falling revenue. “Cities like ours are going through challenging economic times across the nation,” said Bass. “Turmoil and uncertainty from Washington and a slowing economy are causing lower revenue projections.” With 61,455 employees, 1,647 layoffs equate to a workforce reduction of 2.7%. With just over $8.3 billion paid out in payroll last year, the city pays its employees an average of...

A glamorous city known for sprawling mansions, boutique shops and glamor is at risk of becoming 'the next Detroit,' according to experts. Los Angeles is being rocked by an exodus of big budget TV and film production companies — long considered the backbone of the local economy. Detroit was once the center of America's auto production, but fell into decline when factories began to shut, triggering a major housing crisis. Now, some fear LA faces a similar threat. FilmLA reports that on-location production in the city fell by 22.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same...

San Francisco’s most divine drag-and-debauchery tradition returned in full technicolor this Easter Sunday as the Hunky Jesus Contest took over Mission Dolores Park, drawing hundreds to bask in sun, sequins and sacrilege.

This is a constitutional crisis and Donald Trump must release Kilmer now.

On April 15, 2025, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) appeared at a rally in the Dignity Health Arena in Bakersfield, Calif. This was one of a series of rallies in their nationwide “Fighting Oligarchy” campaign. Trump supporters, Republicans and patriots showed up in front of the auditorium to give them a warm welcome.

San Francisco Democrats — who have produced some of the most left-wing politicians in America, and some of the most astonishing examples of poor “progressive” governance — want to move the party to the center. That, at least, is the claim made by some local party activists in the pages of Politico on Monday: Leaders of the local party argue the famously liberal city has, in recent years, exported one bad political idea after another, leading Democrats astray and ceding power in Washington to Donald Trump and the GOP. They cite “defund the police,” symbolic resolutions about foreign conflicts like...

A Southern California mayor is under fire for wanting to eliminate his city’s homeless population by giving them “all the fentanyl they want” — a shocking remark he reinforced by calling for a federal “purge.” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris shared his controversial views during a Feb. 25 city council meeting when a resident took issue with the city’s attempt to address the homeless crisis by “enclosing” the unhoused at an abandoned golf course near a residential neighborhood. “What I want to do is give them free fentanyl,” Parris said as he interrupted the woman’s comments, according to footage of...

L.A.'s fragile urban canopy was dealt a vicious blow this weekend when a chainsaw-wielding vandal cut down a number of shade trees along South Grand Avenue and other areas of downtown, according to media posts and photos uploaded to Reddit and Instagram. The Los Angeles Police Department told The Times it had no information about the tree destruction, and an email and phone call to the city's Urban Forestry Division went unanswered Sunday.

(The Center Square)—A new California bill would prioritize illegal immigrants for taxpayer-funded disaster aid, warned California Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego. AB 262, authored by Assemblymember Jessica Caloza, D-Los Angeles, would require California to “prioritize local agencies that are not eligible under [federal law] due to their inability to meet the minimum damages threshold” of $1 million to unlock federal disaster funds. “You are carving out the authority for state funding to go to illegal immigrants,” said DeMaio. “The bill would allow the director of emergency services to prioritize funds for people who not here legally.” Caloza responded by saying...

California has been losing population for the last two years due to high taxes and regulations. Up until now, most of the people leaving the state are just average people seeking greener pastures.Now the entertainment industry is starting to flee the state for many of the same reasons. What happens to Los Angeles when there is no more Hollywood? It’s a huge part of the city’s identity. (snip) None of this is going to change if they keep electing the same kind of leaders. Why do none of them understand this?