Free Republic

Angelenos need leaders willing to stand up and speak out. Jane has never been afraid to do either

State employees are fighting back against Gov. Gavin Newsom ordering them off the couch and back into the office, arguing that by doing so thousands of additional cars will be on the road, hurting the state’s efforts to be carbon neutral. In a blistering exhaustion letter, the California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment (CASE) argued that any agency adopting Newsom’s Return-to-Office executive order (RTO) without first studying its environmental fallout is violating the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. The union blasted the mandate as a “discretionary project” under CEQA, which requires state and local...

A state worker union hopes to use a California environmental law notorious for obstructing the construction of new homes to block a very different kind of project: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s impending return-to-office order. On Wednesday, the union representing state attorneys and administrative law judges sent “exhaustion” letters to over 100 state departments, arguing that the return-to-office order will require more than 90,000 state workers to commute four days a week, which will negatively impact California’s environment.

SACRAMENTO, California — Gavin Newsom vowed Wednesday to tax any payouts that California residents receive from a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that Donald Trump secured in a settlement with his own Justice Department, as Democratic lawmakers in states across the country ramp up efforts to counter the president on the measure.

The Democrats have already taken a hit in the polls even two years before the 2028 presidential election. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has gained significant support compared to the previous poll and is now virtually tied with presumptive GOP nominee JD Vance at 35%, according to the Emerson College poll. While the vice president maintains a one-point lead, with 36% of voters likely to support him as the Republican nominee, he appears to have lost more than 15 points in support after polling at 52% in February of this year. Rubio, who has become the face of President Donald...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that his administration will seek to impose a 100 percent tax on any California residents who receive money from President Donald Trump’s newly created $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. Speaking to reporters, Newsom denounced the fund as a “slush fund” and pledged to block Californians from financially benefiting from it. “Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100 percent of those proceeds,” Newsom said during a press conference. “He pardoned all of those folks that were beating up cops and absolved them, providing them 1.776 billion dollars,” Newsom said....

A shelter-in-place order has been issued as crews with the Los Angeles County Fire Department battle a large two-alarm fire in an industrial building in South Gate Sunday. The fire was first reported around 2 p.m., with units arriving in the 18000 block of Industrial Avenue to find a one-story building fully engulfed in flames. Heavy smoke prompted crews to take a defensive approach to the blaze. Officials with the South Gate Police Department issued a shelter-in-place order for residents and businesses around Garfield Avenue and Imperial Highway.

Gavin Newsom has pleaded with Donald Trump for help in containing the Orange County chemical plant as officials warned there was still a risk of catastrophe. The California governor asked the president to issue a federal emergency declaration to bring in more support as the Garden Grove disaster continued into a fifth day. It comes as officials on Sunday revealed they had found a crack in the container that could be easing pressure in what they described as a “critically positive” moment. Meanwhile around 50,000 people have had their lives upended amid a mandatory evacuation zone in the immediate area,...

(The Epoch Times)—The head of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Sunday that a chemical storage tank in Southern California that has forced officials to declare an emergency and prompted evacuation orders for tens of thousands residents is likely to fail. Initially, officials said that 40,000 people were ordered to evacuate on Friday, namely in the Orange County city of Garden Grove. That number had risen to 50,000 by Sunday. Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the EPA, told CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday that the “most likely scenario” is a “low-volume release” of the tank, where officials...

Fire officials have released a clear and haunting view of what damage could look like if the toxic Garden Grove tank explodes, with its temperature increasing with each passing hour. OCFA Division Chief Nick Freeman said Friday that blast zones would be divided into severe, moderate, and light blast zones in a radius around the tank. The most severe blast zone will cause “severe structural damage and significant harm,” while the moderate zone will see structural damage and some harm. The lightest zone will see just some structural damage. In addition, an oblong circle above the tank is divided into...

An estimated 40,000 people in Orange County, California, have been ordered to evacuate the area over fears that a tank containing a toxic chemical may explode, officials said Friday. Authorities in Orange County said they’re unable to control the valves on a tank at an aerospace manufacturing facility in Garden Grove. “It fails or it blows up,” said Craig Covey, the Orange County Fire Authority incident commander at the scene. Initial evacuation orders were issued Thursday after a “vapor release” at the manufacturing site in Garden Grove. The situation seemed to be stable, but on Friday, the valve on a...

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) declared a state of emergency on Saturday evening as experts warned that the chemical tank that is overheating in Orange County could explode. 40,000 residents in Orange County, California, were evacuated on Friday amid a chemical leak at an aerospace facility. On Thursday, a valve overheated on a 34,000-gallon tank used to make plastics. Authorities said the tank, located in Garden Grove, could either explode or spill thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals. Several evacuation centers were opened; however, many residents are still refusing to leave their homes. On Friday evening, Orange County Fire Authority...

A Newport Beach family is living in fear after the man who murdered their grandmother 30 years ago may be considered for parole. Shannon Wadsworth, the victim's granddaughter, is speaking out, pleading for Gov. Gavin Newsom to block the release. "I'm terrified. My entire family is terrified," Wadsworth said. "He should not be on the streets; he's not safe. He even said in his parole hearing that he has the possibility to commit this crime again, a crime of sexual nature, and that says it all." In the 1990's, teenager James Dennis Lynch made headlines after pleading guilty to the...

California’s aggressive push for a $20 fast-food minimum wage was sold as a moral victory for workers, a bold stand against corporate greed that would lift families without consequence. Yet the reality unfolding at Carl’s Jr. locations across the state tells a different story—one of shuttered opportunities, fleeing staff, and franchise operators driven to bankruptcy. What began as political virtue-signaling has delivered economic pain that no amount of union rhetoric can disguise. Friendly Franchisees Corporation, a major operator running dozens of Carl’s Jr. restaurants, filed for Chapter 11 protection last month, citing the wage mandate as a primary driver of...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing a surprisingly intense and serious primary threat from challenger Spencer Pratt this election cycle, with Pratt focusing on the wildfires that destroyed much of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and using the general anger of Los Angelenos about the disastrous mismanagement of their city against the mayor. As part of that well-executed and high-energy campaign, he has been releasing very funny ads that feature the use of artificial intelligence to generate entertaining scenes that call out the mayor for her terrible policies and their even worse effects. Such is about what Mayor Bass freaked...

New York City and Chicago voters made the most injudicious decisions possible electing Zohran Mamdani and Brandon Johnson to be their mayors. Both democratic socialists are inept yet destructive, unserious yet dangerous, demagogues who spew venom and traffic in incendiary divisive rhetoric. Their deranged policies will bankrupt their cities, financially, morally and culturally. Will Los Angeles voters do the same? Actually, they already have. The question is, will they repeat their mistake and reelect Karen Bass? The current mayor is a Fidelista and a member of the Venceremos Brigade, a Cuban “enterprise that had a goal of encouraging the health...

SNIP The governor revealed the secret contingency plan to prevent two Republicans from advancing in the governor election — as polls show Trump-endorsed Steve Hilton near the top of the field in the packed race. Newsom alluded to “action efforts” behind the scenes to make sure Democrats aren’t locked out of the governor’s race, saying he “making my case” to “encourage that doesn’t happen.” Recent surveys show Democratic frontrunner Xavier Becerra and Hilton as favorites among registered voters, with billionaire Tom Steyer, Republican Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco and Democrat Katie Porter trailing a few points behind.

Gavin Newsom hasn’t launched his rumored White House bid, but already has one deep-pocketed Hollywood billionaire fully in his corner. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings is all in on Newsom for president in 2028 — gushing over the publicity-loving California governor as a Democrat who can unify the flailing party and beat a Republican successor to President Donald Trump. “Gavin is the candidate who can motivate both the left and the center,” Hastings told the LA Times. The comments come as Newsom not-so-subtly lays the groundwork for a presidential bid — raising millions through a national committee, Campaign for Democracy, and...

ALERT: Pro-LA Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt music video drops called ‘California Fried.’The video depicts Karen Bass, Gavin Newsom, and Nithya Raman scamming Californians.🎥: dxfilms | IG pic.twitter.com/YjLTBFlLT4— E X X ➠A L E R T S (@ExxAlerts) May 8, 2026

Just when the Democrats seem to be finished, Gavin swoops in with truckloads of diapers. he Democrat party is facing such a host of seemingly intractable problems -- structural, financial, legal, and ideological -- that it will be close to a miracle if it survives after this year’s midterms. The below-deck shuffles -- encouraging illegal alien votes, manipulating the census, making crooked voting almost impossible to check, and stuffing their pockets with illegal contributions through ACT Blue and pay-to-play schemes of USAID and NGOs -- are all suddenly being exposed and blocked. Empty PocketsJeff Childers has done a thorough job...