Californians understand we’re facing a crisis in housing. Our cities are ready to be partners in solving it. But process matters. Transparency matters. And when legislation that dramatically reshapes how California reviews and approves housing developments is rushed through without public input, it undermines trust and risks long-term consequences.

That’s why the California Contract Cities Association (CCCA), which represents 80 cities across Southern California and over 7.5 million residents, was sounding the alarm on how Assembly Bill 130 was pushed through the Legislature. Let me be clear: we were not opposed to AB 130 in its entirety, nor did we oppose the notion of CEQA reform. Our member cities broadly support responsible efforts to streamline housing approvals and reduce red tape that delays desperately needed homes.

What we opposed, firmly was—the last-minute insertion of sweeping CEQA reform language drawn from Assembly Bill 609 (Wicks) into AB 130, a budget trailer bill. This maneuver effectively circumvented the legislative process, bypassing public hearings, stakeholder consultation, and committee deliberation. It was a textbook example of governance done in the shadows.

These CEQA provisions in question were no minor adjustment. They will significantly expand California’s infill exemption by allowing housing developments on parcels of up to 20 acres to skip environmental review under CEQA, so long as they meet certain criteria.For cities and local governments, this change will alter how entire neighborhoods are developed, how infrastructure is planned, and how community voices are heard. But rather than allow AB 609 to proceed through the normal policy process where lawmakers, city officials, housing advocates, environmental experts, and the public could weigh-in, the bill’s language was inserted into AB 130 at the eleventh hour, days before the 2025–26 budget deadline. To make matters worse, the budget itself was made contingent on passage of this policy change through a “poison pill” clause: if the CEQA trailer bill didn’t pass, the state budget would effectively be nullified.

That now sets a dangerous precedent.

As an organization that has worked for more than 65 years to advocate for collaborative governance, CCCA believes that structural changes of this magnitude demand stakeholder engagement. Local governments sit on the frontlines where housing policy meets community reality. They are the ones responsible for implementing these laws. Yet, they and millions of Californians they serve were given no meaningful opportunity to review or shape the policy before it became law.

We recognize the frustration surrounding CEQA. Yes, the law has sometimes been misused to delay needed housing. But it has also protected communities from environmental harm, given residents a voice in development, and ensured thoughtful planning for infrastructure, public safety, and sustainability. To strike the right balance, we need deliberation, data, and public trust.

The Democratic Party’s eight months of internal debate, recriminations and soul searching that followed Donald Trump’s win and Kamala Harris’ loss in last year’s presidential duel got another jolt last month, when an otherwise obscure 33-year-old state legislator finished first in New York City’s mayoral primary.

Many Democratic leaders have concluded that Trump’s win was rooted in the image of their party reflecting priorities of college-educated coastal elitists rather than everyday issues affecting blue-collar families, such as inflation, crime and immigration.

The remedy, many concluded, lies in turning a bit to the right, downplaying such issues as climate change and paying more attention to bread-and-butter concerns.

However, the surprise primary win in New York by declared “democratic socialist” Zohran Mamdani, making him the favorite to become mayor of the nation’s largest city, creates a new wrinkle in the Democrats’ post-election debate.

Mamdani stressed the cost of living and other working class issues, promising that if elected he would make life easier for New Yorkers. He’s advocated for rent freezes, increases in minimum wages and having the city open its own grocery stores to drive down food costs.

Mamdani’s emergence as a new party leader with a pronounced left-of-center campaign resonates a continent away in California, a one-party state whose dominant Democrats are often divided along ideological lines, pitting Mamdani-like progressives against business-oriented moderates.

In the main, progressives have been losing ground to the mods, even in the San Francisco Bay Area, the bluest region in a deep-blue state. Daniel Lurie’s recent election as mayor of San Francisco, on pledges to balance the city’s deficit-ridden budget and crack down on street crime, is one indication of that trend. The recall or rejection of other Bay Area progressive officeholders in recent elections is another.

As the political website Politico noted recently, “Zohran Mamdani’s rise in New York enraptured progressives across the country. But for activists in San Francisco, it’s a sobering reminder of just how far they’ve fallen in this onetime bastion of progressivism.”

The conflict is also very evident in the state Capitol, with the political arc of Gov. Gavin Newsom a pithy example.

While running for governor in 2018 Newsom — the former mayor of San Francisco — paddled his political canoe to the left, embracing such leftist iconic causes as single-payer health care.

However, over the next six years Newsom slowly drifted rightward in policy terms, calling for tougher attitudes toward encampments of homeless people, dispatching Highway Patrol officers to fight street crime and, most recently, opposing transgender women competing in women’s sports.

Newsom even dropped his advocacy of single-payer health care in favor of wider coverage by the state’s Medi-Cal program, then sought to cut back on that coverage to close a state budget deficit this year.

Last year’s election also indicated that while California is a blue state, it’s nowhere close to embracing the democratic socialist program. Not only did Trump do surprisingly well against Kamala Harris in California’s presidential voting, but voters passed Proposition 36, an anti-crime measure that most Democratic leaders, including Newsom, opposed as a regression from criminal justice reforms.

Last week’s passage of two Newsom-backed bills to overhaul the California Environmental Quality Act over the opposition of major environmental groups was another indication that, if anything, California’s politics are drifting slowly rightward.

Dan Walters is a CalMatters columnist.

ANAHEIM — Nolan Schanuel now knows the feeling of coming through with a big swing, and coming through with a big take.

The Angels first baseman drew a bases-loaded walk to drive home the winning run in their 6-5 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday night, giving him a walk-off walk to go with a walk-off hit last month.

“It’s just as exciting,” Schanuel said, comparing the two. “It’s awesome.”

The victory was full of clutch moments for the Angels (44-46), who needed a palate-cleanser after losing three one-run games in a frustrating weekend in Toronto. They were 4 for 30 with runners in scoring position against the Blue Jays, and could have won each of the games with a late hit.

“The last series, we weren’t getting those big hits, but we were still getting runners on the base and still having the opportunities, which I think is important,” said catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who had a couple of clutch hits on Monday. “We were in every game right till the end in Toronto. We’re still going to fight to the last out and and today we were able to prevail, which is a huge step for us.”

The Angels overcame deficits to take the lead in the second and sixth innings, but each time the Rangers came back, sending the game to the bottom of the ninth with the score tied.

Luis Rengifo led off the bottom of the ninth with a double, his second hit of the game. An out later, Kevin Newman punched a single into left, sending Rengifo to third. The Rangers intentionally walked Zach Neto to load the bases for Schanuel. They then brought in left-hander Hoby Milner to face the left-handed hitting Schanuel.

Schanuel quickly fell into an 0-and-2 hole after two foul balls. He took a couple of pitches in the dirt and then fouled one off, working the count full. The final pitch was a couple of inches outside. Schanuel excitedly tossed his bat toward the dugout as the Angels celebrated their first walk-off walk since 2008.

“First two pitches, I was swinging early, and then after that, I kind of had to take a deep breath, calm down and kind of let him come to me,” Schanuel said. “You don’t want to get too amped up. Try to slow everything down a little bit, because as a hitter, you’ve still got to get your pitch. That’s just kind of what I did.”

Prior to Schanuel’s clutch walk, the Angels came up with a few big hits, starting with d’Arnaud’s two-run homer against two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom in the second inning, which put the Angels ahead, 3-2.

“If you watch the replay, I got lucky and got a pitch to hit,” said d’Arnaud, who was deGrom’s primary catcher when they were with the New York Mets.

The Angels worked deGrom hard and got him out of the game after just five innings, trailing 4-3. One of their more productive innings was one in which they didn’t even score. They saw 35 pitches from deGrom in the third, and the last one was a bases-loaded 3-and-2 pitch to Jorge Soler which was called a strike even though it was barely outside.

(The frustration from that pitch bubbled over a few innings later, when interim manager Ray Montgomery was ejected after arguing a called third strike on Mike Trout.)

Once deGrom was out, the Angels were able to take the lead against the Rangers’ bullpen.

Rengifo singled in the sixth and scored on d’Arnaud’s two-out double, tying the score. LaMonte Wade Jr., who slumped in his first weeks with the Angels and now barely plays, then lined a single into center to knock in d’Arnaud with the go-ahead run.

The Angels needed another rally because they gave up that lead in the eighth.

Sam Bachman seemed to have the final out of the inning on a strikeout, but the ball got away from d’Arnaud far enough that he couldn’t throw out Jake Burger at first. Bachman then gave up a game-tying double to Josh Smith.

The Angels took Bachman off the hook in the same way that they bailed out starter Yusei Kikuchi on a night when he wasn’t sharp. Kikuchi gave up a two-run homer to Corey Seager in the first inning, and he needed 31 pitches to get the first three outs of the game.

In the third, Kikuchi gave up three hits and a walk, allowing another two runs. Third baseman Chad Stevens got a glove on two of the hits, with dives to each side, but he couldn’t make either play.

Kikuchi still managed to tack on two more scoreless innings after that, getting through five innings on 97 pitches.

“I didn’t have my best stuff,” Kikuchi said through his interpreter, “but the team really picked me up today. Big win overall.”

MILWAUKEE — Sunday was one of the best days of Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s baseball career as he was named to the MLB All-Star team for the first time.

Monday was one of the worst.

Yamamoto gave up five runs and failed to get out of the first inning – thanks in part to a throwing error by shortstop Mookie Betts – in the shortest start of his two-season MLB career, sending the Dodgers on their way to a 9-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

The loss was the Dodgers’ fourth in a row, matching their longest losing streak of the past two seasons.

They have been outscored 38-7 during this skid while dropping parts from the lineup over the past week – Max Muncy, Tommy Edman, Teoscar Hernandez and Kiké Hernandez are all sidelined with injuries. The leftovers lineup has put up a .215 batting average during the four-game losing streak.

“Shoot, I don’t think there’s a team in baseball that’s at full strength,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I just feel that with the guys we have, we just have to play better. We’ve got to pitch better, we’ve got to defend better, we’ve got to take more competitive at-bats. And we’re just not doing any of those things right now.

“Yeah, you look back four or five days ago, things were more positive. But, this is a time for us to kind of look at ourselves and be better.”

Yamamoto was probably better than the debris from his outing would indicate, but he got in trouble from the start against the Brewers. He gave up a leadoff double to Sal Frelick and walked the next batter.

After a fly out and a ground out, though, Yamamoto was one pitch away from escaping with no damage. He got to a 2-and-2 count on Andrew Vaughn with three consecutive sliders then a fastball for a called strike. His fourth slider of the at-bat was up over the plate and Vaughn hammered it into the right field seats for a three-run home run.

The homer came in Vaughn’s first at-bat with the Brewers after being acquired in a trade with the Chicago White Sox and then getting promoted from Triple-A.

“That particular situation, Will (Smith) was calling it and I was following his signs,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter. “I think the (first) three sliders I threw were located pretty good. But that last one, I elevated it. It got away from me.”

Roberts wasn’t happy with the pitch sequencing during what proved to be the pivotal at-bat of the game, saying, “I think we went to the well one too many times” by throwing four sliders in five pitches to Vaughn.

“I mean, he hits in-zone spin really well, medium-speed. And he sees four of them in an at-bat, and the last one wasn’t a good one,” Roberts said, clearly frustrated. “You hate to say one pitch cost a game, which I don’t believe it does. But in that sense right there, that homer and then the walk and the error and the pitch count, he’s just stressed too much for me.”

The stress continued for Yamamoto when he gave up a single to Isaac Collins and walked Brice Turang. He looked like he was ready to escape the inning yet again when Caleb Durbin bounced a ground ball to Betts. But Betts’ throw to first base was in the dirt and Freddie Freeman couldn’t scoop it out. One run scored on the play and another scored when Andrew Monasterio dropped a bloop single into right field.

“I just made a bad throw, man, and there’s no excuses,” Betts said.

As far as his error extending the inning for Yamamoto and ultimately forcing Roberts to pull Yamamoto from the game, “I don’t care about the inning,” Betts said. “I just can’t make that – I can’t make an error right there. I don’t care if it’s nobody on, ninth inning, regardless of the situation, I need to make that play.”

That came on Yamamoto’s 41st – and final – pitch of the inning. Roberts pulled him after facing nine batters and retiring just two.

“My stuff wasn’t the best. But also at the same time, my stuff wasn’t too bad,” Yamamoto said. “I fell behind and ended up having a lot of baserunners. I was trying to locate my slider down and away (to Vaughn). However, it got away and then he hit it out.”

Yamamoto’s early exit turned Monday into an unplanned ‘bullpen game’ and the Dodgers’ relievers handled it well for awhile. Jack Dreyer and Lou Trivino combined to retire 10 batters in a row after Yamamoto left, but Will Klein gave up two runs in the fifth inning and Julian Fernandez (pitching in his first major-league game since 2021) served up a two-run home run to Christian Yelich in the seventh.

None of that mattered. The Dodgers’ offense stayed silent for the fourth consecutive game, managing just five hits in six innings against Brewers left-hander Freddy Peralta, himself an NL All-Star selection. They avoided a shutout with Esteury Ruiz’s two-out RBI single off of Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby – literally off him. Ashby deflected Ruiz’s ground ball back to the mound into right field.

“We haven’t hit very good. That’s pretty much it. We were just playing well, and it’s just a part of the season. It’s just not going to be perfect every day,” Betts said.

“You can’t replace All-Stars (like Muncy and Teoscar Hernandez). You can’t replace guys that have won MVP in postseason (Edman). You can’t replace those type of things. The next man has to step up and do what he can do. But I mean, you can’t replace those guys. You can only just have someone come step up and do their best.”

STANTON — A 15-year-old boy was fatally shot and another teen was critically injured in an attack in Stanton, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department announced Monday.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to the shooting just before 2 p.m. Saturday in the 11000 block of Court Street, between Beach Boulevard and Rancho Alamitos High School, according to Sgt. Gerard McCann.

Deputies found 15-year-old Samuel Louie Vidal of San Bernardino and another boy about 13 to 14 years old and authorities rushed them both to a hospital, McCann said. Vidal was pronounced dead and the other boy was in critical condition, he added.

Investigators were not sure what led to the shooting but it is an area plagued with gang activity, McCann said.

Anyone with helpful information for investigators was asked to call 714-647-7000. Orange County Crime Stoppers will accept anonymous tips at 855-TIP-OCCS or at ocsheriff.gov/occrimestoppers