California
CA Senator Alex Padilla denounces Trump’s SAVE America Act, warns of voter suppression
California Senator Alex Padilla has been one of the loudest voices in the Senate against President Trump’s SAVE America Act, fighting against it on the Senate floor on Tuesday.
“I don’t put anything past Donald Trump in trying to hold on to power,” Padilla told Eyewitness News in a one-on-one interview last week.
The SAVE Act would require all U.S. voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship to register and a photo ID to vote. Padilla says it would disenfranchise millions of eligible American citizens from making their voices heard.
“Your own driver’s license wouldn’t be sufficient to be able to cast your ballot. We’re talking passports or original birth certificates. If you’re a woman who changed her name when she got married, good luck trying to meet the documentary requirements to be able to exercise your right to vote,” said Padilla.
We’re less than two months from the California primary and almost six months from the 2026 midterms. Democrats like Padilla fear we could see ICE raids at polling places.
“It is against the law for that type of law enforcement presence to intimidate voters at the polls… When we heard that it was being entertained by the White House, we started asking the question. Then, multiple Department of Homeland Security officials on record publicly saying, ‘No, there’s no plans to do that. No, that wouldn’t be allowed.’ But we have to remain vigilant. Look, all the more reason for people to vote early, which you can in California, and vote by mail just to not have to worry about that potential come Election Day,” Padilla said.
Padilla tells Eyewitness News the biggest way he believes Democrats can rein in the president is by regaining their majority in Congress in the midterms. Trump went to war with Iran without approval from Congress. In a new IPSOS poll, 51% of Americans say the decision to take military action in Iran has not been worth it. Another 24% say it has been worth it, and 22% are unsure.
“A ceasefire is not a peace agreement. A ceasefire, and if it holds in two weeks, then what? The one thing that’s clear, though, is Donald Trump never justified, gave a clear reason, for beginning this war with Iran,” Padilla said.
Trump said Tuesday that a new round of peace talks with Iran in Pakistan could happen in the coming days. A deal wasn’t reached over the weekend after Vice President JD Vance said Iran refused to give up their nuclear program. Padilla blames the war for rising gas prices and inflation.
“For all his distaste for California, California’s policy leadership and electric vehicles, all of a sudden these cleaner, more efficient and zero-emitting vehicles are a lot more attractive,” Padilla said.
When it comes to the crowded and chaotic governor’s race, Padilla told Eyewitness News he thinks that at this point, one Democrat and one Republican will move on to the runoff. So far, Padilla has not endorsed a candidate.
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California
California GOP delegates on LGBT issues, LA decline, Medicaid fraud | Fox News Video
California GOP delegates Roxanne Hoge and Elizabeth Barcohana join Trace Gallagher to discuss multiple issues impacting California.
California GOP delegates Roxanne Hoge and Elizabeth Barcohana dissect the state’s pressing issues with Trace Gallagher. They criticize the SF Giants’ ‘Pride Night’ controversy and players’ right to religious expression. The delegates also discuss Los Angeles’s economic decline and Sacramento’s expensive homeless campsite, highlighting concerns about over-regulation and social issues. They conclude by addressing California’s large-scale Medicaid fraud, suggesting a lack of accountability.
California
California Central Valley city’s first-ever Pride event moves indoors after pushback
Oakdale’s first Pride event is moving forward this weekend after organizers changed venues following pushback over its original location and a planned drag performance.
Some residents pushed back over the event’s original location at Dorada Park and a planned drag performance.
“I also understand staff has issued a permit for a so-called Pride event,” one speaker said during the latest City Council meeting.
Another speaker raised concerns about the event being advertised as open to all ages, including children, and having a drag queen host.
After the public pushback, organizers moved the event indoors to the Bianchi Center.
“It was a huge upgrade to be able to provide a more accessible space in the heart of Oakdale,” said Ryan Hall, president of CalPride.
Hall said the idea to bring Pride to the city did not come from outside Oakdale, it came from people living there.
“That’s my place as a mom of rainbow kids, absolutely,” said Elizabeth May, owner of Sisters Coffee.
May’s coffee shop hosts a monthly LGBTQ+ social.
“I had a young man walk in here and say, ‘We don’t have anywhere to have a social here for LGBTQ.’ I said, ‘Heck yes,’” May said.
Still, the backlash has left parents like May concerned.
“How does it feel? Scary. I’m excited, but as a mom of a kid in the community, I’m nervous for them,” May said.
May said the venue change helped ease some of the tension.
“The different venue made a win-win situation for everyone. I was very proud of the kids for making that hard decision,” May said.
For organizers, the drag performance is part of the celebration.
“Enjoy some line dancing, enjoy some live music, enjoy the drag show, and then also enjoy community members and our local businesses, our local artists and partner organizations,” Hall said.
Oakdale Pride is scheduled for Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Entry is free.
California
Newsom urges a national ‘billionaires’ tax’ while fighting one in California
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is considering a run for president as he approaches the end of his term, called for a national “billionaires’ tax” on Friday even as he fights another proposal targeting the wealthy in his home state.
Newsom also said the U.S. government should own a stake in artificial intelligence companies. His proposals, outlined in a Substack post, aligns him with the Democratic Party’s populist left, and he argued that urgent changes are needed to prevent the elite concentration of wealth and power from undermining democracy.
“It’s time for an economic reset for America,” Newsom wrote.
The governor announced his agenda a day after an influential health care union in California pledged to go forward with a ballot measure that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of billionaires living in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026.
Newsom opposes that measure, as do many of the liberal interest groups that typically favor higher taxes. They fear it would drive billionaires out of California, eroding the state’s tax base over the long term for a one-time influx of cash. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other state — a few hundred, by some estimates.
“You may not be able to pick up and move to Texas or Florida to shelter your income from taxation, but I promise you that billionaires can, and do,” Newsom wrote. “Wealth is movable, and it shops for the state with the lowest taxes. The fight belongs at the federal level, where this broken system was created in the first place.”
A minimum tax on large net worths
Newsom said the solution is a new national tax policy, rather than a state-by-state system. He proposed a minimum tax on anyone with a net worth above $100 million. He also wants to make it illegal for the wealthy to borrow against their stock portfolios to fund their luxury lifestyles tax free.
Newsom said there should be new rules for inheritance taxes, warning that “the transfer of wealth among the ultra-wealthy will lock in a permanent American aristocracy of inherited wealth.” And he wants to raise corporate tax rates to where they were before President Donald Trump’s first-term tax cut.
READ MORE: Sanders and Newsom clash over proposed tax on California’s billionaires
The need is especially urgent as artificial intelligence threatens to displace workers and further concentrate wealth, he wrote.
“We need to ensure every American owns a stake in the future being built by AI through a national public equity fund that takes a major stake in the new economy,” he wrote. “Simply, as artificial intelligence reshapes the country, every American should own a piece of the future it builds.”
Revenue generated by his proposals could be used to retrain workers, fund universal child care, make college free and increase funding for health care.
‘Money buys influence’
Newsom, who has drawn attention as one of Trump’s most high-profile political antagonists, is getting an early start on laying out a policy framework for his potential White House bid months before the midterm elections, which have typically marked the informal start of overt presidential campaigning.
WATCH: News Wrap: Newsom says Trump ordering DOJ to investigate him and wife
The embrace of a wealth tax by Newsom, a moderate on tax policy despite his liberal reputation, signals a notable shift in the political landscape since Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren struggled to get traction in her 2020 campaign, which she largely centered around a 2% levy wealth tax.
Newsom portrayed the nation’s tax code as a corrupt system built to help an elite few.
“Money buys influence, and influence rewrites the rules,” he wrote. “Those rewritten rules funnel even more wealth to the few. Under this weight, democracy itself starts to buckle.”
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