Tag Archives: California

California to file lawsuit over Trump border wall

A view of a section of the U.S.-Mexico border fence at El Paso, U.S. opposite the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico February 2, 2017. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

By Dan Levine

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California’s attorney general plans to file a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging President Donald Trump’s plan to construct a wall along the border with Mexico, the state AG’s office said, adding to the obstacles facing a key Trump campaign promise.

Trump has insisted Mexico would pay for building the wall, which experts said could cost about $22 billion and take more than three years to complete.

With Mexico refusing to pay, Trump has said since taking office in January that the wall will initially need U.S. funding but that he will find a way to make Mexico ultimately pay for it.

Democrats in the U.S. Congress, however, firmly oppose the border wall, and at least some Democratic senators would need to vote for its inclusion in a spending package.

Democratic attorneys general including California’s Xavier Becerra have sued the Trump administration on a range of issues.

The border wall lawsuit set to be filed on Wednesday will allege that Trump’s wall violates federal environmental standards, as well as constitutional provisions regarding the separation of powers and states’ rights, a Becerra spokesperson said.

Last month the Trump administration said it had selected four construction companies to build concrete prototypes for a wall, which will be will be 30 feet (9 meters) tall and about 30 feet wide and will be tested in San Diego.

(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Sandra Maler)

California lawmakers take anti-Trump stance as session ends

U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at Morristown municipal airport for a weekend at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster ahead of next week's United Nations General Assembly, New Jersey, U.S., September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

By Sharon Bernstein

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – California lawmakers voted to become a sanctuary state, tussled over hot-button environmental issues and urged other states to refuse to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s Election Integrity Commission as their legislative year ended early on Saturday.

The majority Democratic lawmakers headed back to their districts having positioned the state in opposition to conservative policies proposed by the Republican-dominated U.S. Congress and President Donald Trump on immigration, the environment and other issues.

“It’s a purposeful positioning,” said political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior fellow at the University of Southern California. “We have a different political path and a different ideological path than the Republican-controlled Congress and White House have.”

This year, California lawmakers have strengthened protections for undocumented immigrants, increased the gasoline tax and extended a program aimed at compelling businesses to reduce air pollution, all in opposition to federal policies.

Early on Saturday, lawmakers gave last-minute support to a bill barring local governments from forcing undocumented immigrants to spend extra time in jail just to allow enforcement officers to take them into their custody.

The bill, a compromise from a version that sought to severely restrict interactions between law enforcement and immigration officials, does allow communities to notify the federal government if they have arrested an undocumented immigrant with a felony record. It also allows enforcement agents access to local jails.

It came a day after a federal judge barred the U.S. Justice Department from denying public-safety grants to so-called sanctuary cities in retaliation for limiting cooperation with the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

The bill goes now to Democratic Governor Jerry Brown for his signature.

Trump issued an executive order in January targeting funding for cities that offer illegal immigrants safe harbor by declining to use municipal resources to enforce federal immigration laws. A San Francisco judge blocked the order.

Illinois’ Republican Governor signed a bill last month protecting people from being detained because they are the subject of an immigration-related warrant.

FOSSIL FUELS

Although California lawmakers have enacted several environmental protections this year, a measure aimed at weaning the state’s power grid entirely off fossil fuels by 2045 died for the year after lawmakers adjourned without voting on it.

California’s three investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric <PCG_pa.A>, Southern California Edison <SCE_pe.A> and San Diego Gas & Electric [SDGE.UL], said the bill does not protect customers from the cost of switching from fossil fuels.

Assemblyman Chris Holden, who held the measure in his Utilities and Energy Committee, said he would consider it again when the legislature returns in January for the second half of their two-year session.

The legislature also passed a package of bills aimed at increasing the availability of affordable housing in the notoriously expensive state, and approved a plan for spending $1.5 billion in income from the state’s cap-and-trade air quality program, which raises money by selling businesses limited rights to emit pollutants.

They passed a resolution condemning the election integrity commission, calling it an effort to suppress the voting rights of minorities and others, and voted to move up the state’s presidential primary from June to March.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Nichola Groom in Los Angeles and Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Andrew Bolton)

California university system sues Trump over roll back of ‘dreamers’ program

U.S. President Donald Trump stops to answer reporters' questions as he and first lady Melania Trump depart for a weekend retreat with his cabinet at Camp David, from the White House in Washington, U.S., September 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

By Mica Rosenberg

(Reuters) – A former top security official who helped put in place a program protecting people brought to the United States illegally as children, is suing the Trump White House as head of the University of California system over plans to roll back the policy.

Janet Napolitano, the former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama, said in a lawsuit filed on Friday that ended the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program, or DACA, violates the due process of about 800,000 beneficiaries, known as “dreamers,” who were granted permits that protected them from deportation.

“The University has constitutionally-protected interests in the multiple educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body,” the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Northern California said. “If these students leave the University before completing their education, UC will lose the benefits it derives from their contributions, as well as the value of the time and money it invested in these students.”

The lawsuit also argues Trump did not follow the proper procedures needed to cancel a program of this magnitude.

California has more DACA recipients than any other state, many are in their 20s and are current students.

“They’ve grown up here, they’ve gotten their educations here, many of them don’t even speak the language of the country to which they would be deported if this decision were allowed to stand,” Napolitano said on a call with reporters.

The legal challenge comes on top of a separate lawsuit filed earlier in the week by 16 Democratic Attorneys General saying the president’s decision to end the program was based in part on racial animus towards Mexicans, who are the largest beneficiaries.

Department of Justice spokesman Devin O’Malley gave the same comment about Napolitano’s lawsuit as he did in response to the lawsuit by the states. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in announcing his decision to end the program said it was “inconsistent with the Constitution’s separation of powers.”

Obama enacted DACA through an executive action implemented by the Department of Homeland Security after Congress failed to pass legislation.

“While the plaintiffs in today’s lawsuit may believe that an arbitrary circumvention of Congress is lawful, the Department of Justice looks forward to defending this Administration’s position,” O’Malley said in a statement.

Trump, who delayed the end of the program until March 5, shifted responsibility to a Congress controlled by his fellow Republicans, saying it was now up to lawmakers to pass immigration legislation that could address the fate of those protected by DACA. Trump’s move was criticized by business and religious leaders, mayors, governors, Democratic lawmakers, unions and civil liberties advocates.

Legal experts have said that court challenges to Trump’s actions could face an uphill battle, since the president typically has wide authority when it comes to implementing immigration policy.

(Reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York; Additonal reporting by Yehaneh Torbati; editing by Grant McCool)

Los Angeles fire spread halted, work to contain it continues

The La Tuna Canyon fire has burned 5,895 acres and is still at 10% contained in Burbank, California, September 3, 2017. REUTERS/Kyle Grillot

By Peter Szekely

(Reuters) – Fire officials said on Monday they had effectively stopped the uncontrolled spread of the largest wildfire in Los Angeles history, with a little help from cooler weather, but were still working to contain it.

Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said crews had cleared brush away from 30 percent of the perimeter of a fire that started four days earlier and has consumed more than 7,000 acres (2,800 hectares). But he stressed that firefighters were still largely at the mercy of the weather.

“There’s really no active fire left,” Terrazas told reporters. “That can change, though, with the wind. Our goal today is to continue to increase our containment percentage.”

Scattered rains, lighter winds, lower temperatures and higher humidity have helped more than 1,000 firefighters in the air and on the ground battle the blaze in the rugged northern edge of the city. The wildfire claimed four houses and caused minor injuries among six firefighters.

The La Tuna Fire, named after the canyon area where it erupted on Friday, forced the evacuation of more than 700 homes, as steady winds helped it tear through thick brush that has not burned in decades and temperatures hovered around 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on Sunday afternoon that 90 percent of the 1,400 people evacuated from their homes had returned and nearly all would be back by the end of the day. Officials also reopened a stretch of the 210 freeway that had been closed for days.

Terrazas said there was much work to be done, but stressed that officials had already mapped out the remaining 70 percent of the fire’s perimeter that firefighters and bulldozers need to clear to keep it fully contained.

“We know what we need to do now, we just have to do it,” he said.

Researchers believe the wildfire is the largest in terms of area in the city’s history, Terrazas said.

Los Angeles County, home to 10 million people and vast tracts of undeveloped mountainous land, has suffered much larger wildfires that have burned for weeks.

California Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday declared a state of emergency for the county, which will ease the path for state and federal help to fight the fire.

More than 400 miles (650 km) to the north, the so-called Ponderosa Fire has burned 4,000 acres, or 1,600 hectares, and destroyed 32 homes in Butte County since it started on Tuesday, prompting evacuation orders to residents of about 500 homes. The blaze was 64 percent contained on Sunday evening, up from 56 percent earlier in the day.

(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Los Angeles ‘turns corner’ on largest wildfire in city history

Water is dropped above homes in Sun Valley during the La Tuna Canyon fire over Burbank, California, U.S., September 2,

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A smattering of rain and easing temperatures helped more than 1,000 firefighters battling the largest wildfire in Los Angeles history gain the upper hand on the blaze on Sunday, but officials warned that danger remains.

“We’ve turned the corner, but this is not over,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told reporters. “With winds this strong, anything can happen.”

Shifting winds could cause burning embers to spread the fire once more through the rugged northern edge of Los Angeles, said Garcetti.

The nearly 5,900-acre (2400-hectare) La Tuna Fire, named after the canyon area where it erupted on Friday, has destroyed three homes and damaged one. More than 700 homes were evacuated as the blaze tore through thick brush that has not burned in decades.

Firefighters evaluate houses in a voluntary evacuation zone during the La Tuna Canyon fire in Burbank, California, September 3, 2017. REUTERS/Kyle Grillot

Of the 1,400 people evacuated from their homes, 90 percent had returned by Sunday afternoon and Garcetti said nearly all would be back before the day was over.

The wildfire is the largest in terms of acreage in the city’s history, Garcetti said. It was considered 30 percent contained by late Sunday night, up from 10 percent Sunday morning.

“We do not have this fire contained,” Garcetti said, “but we do have a good sense of, in the next day or two, how we can bring this fire to rest.”

The stretch of the 210 freeway, a major thoroughfare that has been closed for several days, will reopen either Sunday night or Monday morning, Garcetti said.

Los Angeles County, home to 10 million people and vast tracts of undeveloped mountainous land, has suffered much larger wildfires that have burned for weeks.

California Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday declared a state of emergency for Los Angeles County, which will ease the path for state and federal help to fight the fire.

Temperatures in the area have hovered around 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) in recent days. But the mercury was in the low 90s on Sunday, and the temperatures are expected to be moderate and the humidity higher in the coming days, positive signs for containing the fire, said Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas.

Garcetti said four firefighters had suffered dehydration or minor burns.

Flames above houses in Sun Valley during the La Tuna Canyon fire over Burbank, California, U.S., September 2, 2017.

Flames above houses in Sun Valley during the La Tuna Canyon fire over Burbank, California, U.S., September 2, 2017. REUTERS/ Kyle Grillot

More than 400 miles (644 km) to the north, the so-called Ponderosa Fire has burned 4,000 acres, or 1,620 hectares, and destroyed 32 homes in Butte County since it started on Tuesday, prompting evacuation orders to residents of about 500 homes. The blaze was 64 percent contained on Sunday evening, up from 56 percent earlier in the day.

 

(Writing by Gina Cherelus in New York and Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Editing by Mary Milliken and Clarence Fernandez)

 

California governor declares wildfire state of emergency

California governor declares wildfire state of emergency

By Keith Coffman

(Reuters) – California Governor Jerry Brown on Friday issued an emergency declaration for a wildfire burning in the northern part of the state, the same day the man accused of starting the blaze was charged with arson.

The so-called Ponderosa Fire has burned 3,715 acres (1,503 hectares) and destroyed 30 homes in Butte County, prompting authorities to issue evacuation orders to residents of some 500 homes in the area, officials said. It was 40 percent contained on Friday, up from 30 percent the day before.

The blaze is burning east of the town of Oroville, about 85 miles (137 km) north of the state capital of Sacramento.

The declaration will free up additional resources to battle the blaze, which erupted on Tuesday from a campfire that was started outside a designated area.

The man charged with starting the fire, John Ballenger, made his first court appearance in Butte County Superior Court on Friday, District Attorney Michael Ramsey said in a telephone interview.

Ballenger is charged with two counts of arson and was ordered held on a $1 million bond, Ramsey said. Ballenger could face up to seven years and eight months in prison if convicted.

Ballenger was appointed a public defender and is due back in court to enter a plea on Wednesday. The public defender’s office could not be reached for comment.

Ballenger was camping on property his family owns, Ramsey said.

“He had a campfire burning 24-7,” the district attorney said.

Meanwhile, another wildfire broke out on Friday, more than 400 miles (644 km) south of the Ponderosa blaze, in a north Los Angeles neighborhood.

The 2,000-acre (810 hectare) blaze triggered the closure of a section of the 210 Freeway as it tore through brush, and authorities also told residents of 200 homes in the area to evacuate because of approaching flames, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart.

In Montana, Governor Steve Bullock on Friday declared a state of disaster due to wildfires as dozens raged across tens of thousands of acres during one of the worst fire seasons in state history.

Bone-dry conditions, high winds and triple-digit temperatures pose “an imminent threat” to residents, Bullock said in the disaster declaration, which would allow the state to mobilize additional Montana National Guard troops and tap other state resources to combat the blazes.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Additional reporting by Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho, and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles,; Editing by Richard Chang and Nick Macfie)

Indigenous Peoples Day replaces Columbus Day in Los Angeles

(Reuters) – Indigenous Peoples Day will be celebrated in Los Angeles instead of the traditional Columbus Day after city leaders in the second largest U.S. city decided to recognize Native Americans instead of the Italian explorer.

Los Angeles joined several U.S. cities and states, including Minneapolis, Seattle, Alaska, Hawaii and Oregon that have replaced Columbus Day, a federal holiday celebrated on the first Monday in October to commemorate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus arriving in the Americas in 1492.

The Los Angeles city council voted 14-1 on Wednesday to make the change to commemorate indigenous, aboriginal and native people.

“The historical record is unambiguous and today is a moment where we took a step that is righteous, that is just, that is heeling and that is historically clear,” Councilman Mitch O’Farrell said after the vote.

Support for Indigenous Peoples Day has steadily risen in recent years, paralleling the growing perception that the wave of European settlement in the Western Hemisphere was genocidal to native populations.

The vote came after a contentious debate unfolded between Italian Americans and Native Americans over Christopher Columbus’ place in history versus that of Native Americans who were slain or driven from their land.

“Why don’t you stop picking on Christopher Columbus as though you’re picking on our people,” Beverly Hills resident John Giovanni Corda told a crowd of supporters and opponents of the measure during the meeting, according to the Los Angeles Times. “We never hurt you. We never wanted to hurt you.”

The federal government and about half of U.S. states give public employees paid leave on Columbus Day, according to the Council of State Governments. Schools and government offices are generally closed, but many private businesses remain open.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

Fast-moving wildfire destroys homes in Northern California

Fast-moving wildfire destroys homes in Northern California

(Reuters) – A fast-moving wildfire destroyed several homes and forced the evacuation of residents in Northern California on Tuesday, local media and fire officials said.

The fire started at 1.15 p.m. and burned 1,000 acres (405 hectares) in Butte County, about 85 miles (135 km) north of Sacramento, according to information on the Cal Fire website. At least nine houses were destroyed, local media reported.

Photos on social media showed the fire turning houses into ash as smoke billowed into the sky and flames ripped through trees and vegetation.

“My grandparents’ house is gone. Everything on their road burned and it feels like losing my grandma all over again,” said a Twitter user.

A mandatory evacuation order was placed on residents who live in the remote area. It is unclear how many residents were evacuated. Two shelters were opened for displaced residents, local media reported.

Cal Fire officials were not immediately available for comment.

Northern California is facing a heatwave over the next few days with temperatures expected to top 105 degrees Fahrenheit, the National Weather Service said.

Since the beginning of the year, wildfires in the U.S. West have burned more than 6.8 million acres, about 50 percent more than during the same time period in 2016.

More than 45,000 fires have burned so far this year across the region, 15 percent more than in 2016, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

California school children help build tiny homes for LA’s homeless

California school children help build tiny homes for LA's homeless

By Jane Ross

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Los Angeles man who has spent more than two years building tiny, portable homes to help house the city’s homeless population recruited a group of fourth and fifth grade children to aid his mission.

Elvis Summers, 40, has built dozens of compact one-room homes on wheels. For his latest construction, a 28-foot-by-8- foot home, he has teamed up with a group of more than 100 children, aged 9 to 11, from a local charter school.

Mariposa Robles, 10, sawed planks of wood, installed floor insulation and helped raise the plywood walls of a tiny house. Around 135 children have been involved with the project, working in shifts over a year.

“It’s so amazing seeing it all come together,” an excited Robles told Reuters.

Robles’ school, Santa Clarita Valley International Charter School in Castaic, California, reached out to Summers to help build houses and has raised almost $6,000 of a $19,00 target through crowd-funding website GoFundMe to finish the home.

Los Angeles’ homeless population is estimated at about 58,000, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

Even as American cities grapple with a chronic shortage of affordable housing, as well as budget constraints on social programs, many municipalities across the United States have also been clamping down on homeless encampments.

Summers said that because the tiny house is built on wheels from an old trailer, it is legally considered a recreational vehicle, “which allows more flexibility in where they can be placed.”

 

 

(Reporting by Jane Ross for Reuters TV)

 

San Francisco latest city to brace for protests

FILE PHOTO: Joey Gibson speaks during the Trump Free Speech Rally in Portland, Oregon, U.S. June 4, 2017. REUTERS/David Ryder

By Dan Whitcomb

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – San Francisco braced on Friday for a weekend of protests, including a rally by an Oregon-based group that local leaders labeled “white supremacist” as the city’s mayor urged residents to boycott the event.

The demonstrations planned for Friday, Saturday and Sunday across the Bay Area raised concern among San Francisco police and elected officials two weeks after right-wing activists, including neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, fought with anti-racism protesters in the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia.

A woman was killed at that “Unite the Right” rally when a man thought to have neo-Nazi sympathies drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters. Nineteen other people were injured.

The Saturday event is billed as a “free speech” rally, but critics say the Oregon-based organizers, Patriot Prayer, is a white nationalist group, pointing to plans that may include the far-right Oath Keepers to provide armed security. The group has decried racism and neo-Nazis.

Last weekend, 33 people were arrested in Boston as tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest a “free speech” rally featuring far-right speakers.

In San Francisco, city officials including Mayor Ed Lee had lobbied the National Park Service to deny a permit for Patriot Prayer to hold a free-speech event at Crissy Field, which is under federal control as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

When that permit was granted on Wednesday, Lee told residents of San Francisco to essentially boycott the rally.

“I ask our public and our residents of the San Francisco Bay Area to honor our request to not dignify people who are coming in here under the guise of patriot and prayer words to really preach violence and hatred,” Lee told a press conference.

The mayor urged locals to instead attend city-hosted events on Friday and Saturday that he said would focus on “inclusion, compassion and love rather than hate.”

U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, in a written statement, slammed the Patriot Prayer gathering as a dangerous “white supremacist rally.”

Left-wing counter-protesters, meanwhile, were planning a march to Crissy Field, where police were concerned that a confrontation could erupt between the two groups. Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson said in a video message posted on the group’s Facebook page that it was “absolutely not” white supremacist, pointing out that he is a person of color.

“What I’m trying to do is bring people together who believe in freedom, who believe in love, believe in peace and believe in free speech,” Gibson said.

The nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, does not classify Patriot Prayer in those terms and reported on its website that Gibson denounced white supremacists and “neo-Nazis” at a rally in Seattle earlier this month.

On Sunday, conservative activists planned a so-called “No to Marxism” rally in nearby Berkeley, an event that left-wing groups were also expected to protest. However, city of Berkeley officials on Thursday denied that group’s request for a rally permit, putting the event in jeopardy.

In April, supporters and opponents of U.S. President Donald Trump clashed in a Berkeley park, resulting in at least 20 arrests as well as bloodied faces and minor injuries.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; editing by Diane Craft)