By Sameea Kamal
Ronald Latney used to believe his vote didn’t matter. But after returning to jail this year, he realized the difference it can make — especially locally.
“I try to tell everybody … like, man, we need to vote, because our lives depend on this,” he said, mentioning district attorney races and bail policies. “That’s very impactful on me and what I’m going through now.”
By Wendy Fry, Alexei Koseff and Sameea Kamal
In summary
Down to the wire: After years of study, two historic reparations bills are stalled in the Assembly. Is it sparing Gov. Gavin Newsom a tough political call?
Years of effort went into making California the first state in the nation to get reparations laws to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. But now, in the final hours, two historic bills aimed at repairing harm for Black Californians — those that are specifically written for the African American descendants of people enslaved in the United States – are stalling in the Assembly.
In January the Legislature’s Black Caucus introduced a slate of 14 reparations bills, but Sen. Steven Bradford, a member of the caucus and a state reparations task force, also introduced his own more ambitious bills.
By Sameea Kamal
In summary
The Gaza war has divided California Democrats for months. Now, some of them are pushing the national party at the Chicago convention to support an arms embargo on Israel.
CHICAGO — What will Kamala Harris do about the Gaza war if she’s elected president? To some Californians watching, the best indicator might be what she’s doing now.
The vice president seemed to take a stronger stance against Israel’s military response since Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 — calling for a ceasefire before President Joe Biden did and skipped Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress in July. After meeting him, said she pressed him for a ceasefire and pledged not to stay silent about the humanitarian crisis.
