Rick Callender will step down March 1 while the board keeps him in a paid advisory role for a year. Employees and critics say the secretive deal raises more questions than answers.

Palo Alto’s police overtime climbed into the millions after expanded retail-theft patrols. State grants and partner reimbursements have softened the hit but staffing gaps matter.

A federal judge refused to toss The Stanford Daily’s First Amendment challenge to State Department visa powers, finding students plausibly showed a chilling effect. The case now moves toward the merits.

Gov. Newsom signed a London MoU with the U.K. to deepen clean-energy cooperation and attracted a near-$1B Octopus Energy investment for California clean-tech. The pact targets wind, carbon removal and research ties.

A federal judge temporarily blocked the Education Department from withholding roughly $4.9 billion from California after the state sued over FERPA findings about gender‑identity records.

Los Gatos unexpectedly flipped a projected $3.1M deficit into a $4.3M midyear surplus; council reprioritized homelessness and transportation projects.

San Jose Rep. Sam Liccardo cosponsored a bill to reroute tens of billions from ICE to local police grants. The proposal faces committee hurdles as Congress debates DHS funding.

Supervisors approved mid‑year cuts that remove $183 million from the county health budget and delete 365 positions. Measure A will help, but a multimillion‑dollar gap remains.

At a Commonwealth Club town hall on Monday, legal and community leaders warned a sweeping federal enforcement push is already disrupting Bay Area life and threatening civil‑liberties guardrails.

AB 1605 would let judges order a 'no alcohol sale' notation on licenses or Real IDs for serious or repeat DUI offenders, a move modeled on Utah's interdiction law. Supporters say it limits access to alcohol; critics warn of enforcement and due‑process issues.

AB 1727 would make collecting, testing or selling someone else’s DNA without express consent a crime, with felonies for the most serious violations and narrow exemptions.

State officials say California is safeguarding more than $15 billion in forgotten accounts and assets as February is named Unclaimed Property Month. The move is meant to push residents toward the state's searchable database.

Assemblymember Alex Lee introduced AB 1729 to require telework plans, a public dashboard and written justifications for in‑office mandates while citing a $225M savings estimate. Unions back the measure as both a cost and recruiting play.