Politics

The U.S. Senate has voted largely along party lines to confirm former Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as the nation's Attorney General. The 70-year-old Sessions has been a vocal critic of marijuana decriminalization for much of his political career—calling legalization a “tragic mistake” and vigorously criticizing the Obama administration’s hands-off attitude toward marijuana enforcement.

With a historic assist from the vice president, the U.S. Senate today narrowly approved Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education after a series of tense hearings sparked protests and exposed bipartisan fear about her fitness to oversee the nation’s public schools.

In a pre-Super Bowl interview with FOX News host Bill O’Reilly, President Trump said “California is in many ways out of control” and that a potential weapon of his would be to seek to “defund” the state because of sanctuary status. State Democratic leaders pushed back, given that California pays more in than it receives back from Washington.

Los Angeles Democratic Senator Ricardo Lara introduced a bill to prohibit any state agency or institution from sharing information about any applicants, including undocumented immigrants.

California would be forced to allow out-of-state gun owners to pack concealed handguns if a bill with strong GOP backing clears Congress and is signed by President Trump. He has likened concealed-carry gun permits to drivers' licenses that should be honored across state lines.

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pact that involved 12 Pacific Rim countries to lower or eliminate tariffs and promote exports. He has also vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, a deal between the U.S., Mexico and Canada to remove trade barriers.

California officials have discerned a chilling signal that the Trump administration may be willing to halt the state’s unique authority to impose its own vehicle emission rules—a move that could undercut its pioneering effort to battle climate change. The threat arose during the confirmation hearing for Scott Pruitt, Trump’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) has introduced legislation that would further restrict who can possess a firearm near a California school. Assembly Bill 424 would prohibit school district superintendents or other school officials from granting written permission to individuals who wish to carry a firearm near school grounds. With a few exceptions, California law bans the possession […]

Despite his executive order pushing ahead with a border wall, nobody is seriously advocating a solid wall from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. A barrier already lines more than a third of the 1,900-mile southern border, and even President Trump suggests he'll leave nearly half of that without a wall. Nor are House Republicans promising to pay for much more.

In the 1970s, an ethnically diverse high school in Sacramento sought to quell tensions by training a mix of specially selected students how to resolve conflicts. Among the chosen was a son of Mexican immigrants named Xavier Becerra—a teenager who excelled academically, spent lunch hours playing poker, and seemed to possess a knack for defusing […]