California
California Supreme Court Justice Edward Panelli dies at 92
Justice Edward Panelli, who rose from a hardscrabble childhood in Depression-era Santa Clara Valley to the state’s highest court, died Saturday evening in Saratoga at the age of 92.
Panelli’s illustrious legal career spans six decades, beginning as a lawyer in the 1950s, then serving as a Superior Court judge before his appointment to the California Supreme Court in 1985. After retiring, he continued to work as an arbitrator, mediator, legal scholar and educator.
Panelli’s son, Jeff, told this newspaper he would like his father to be remembered as a “hardworking and humble” man, the son of Italian immigrants.
“He was a fair, hardworking man who came from very humble roots. He always kept his immigrant roots close to his heart and kept that as the driving force in his life,” Jeff said. “English was his second language. He never forgot his community and transcended political and idiological thought with common sense. He was a common man.”
In a previous conversation, Edward Panelli talked about his understanding of the human condition and how that affected his judicial career.
“I’ve kinda seen life from the street,” Panelli told Mercury News staff writer John Hubner in a 1986 interview for West magazine. “I know when to zig and when to zag, when to duck and when not to duck. I may not be Oliver Wendell Holmes, but I know what makes people tick. I know how they hurt and why they hurt. I’ve got a much broader feel of the world than if I’d come from a cloistered or protected environment.”
Panelli brought to his career the lessons of living without much.
He was born at home in Santa Clara to Italian immigrants. Pidale Panelli wrestled 100-pound gunnysacks of prunes; Natalina Panelli toiled in the packing sheds, sometimes two shifts a day. Young Edward learned the value of his own work in a field of onions, pulling them for 40 cents an hour.
He earned a tuition scholarship to Santa Clara University in 1949 and graduated with honors. After moving on to SCU’s law school, he finished at the top of his class. His father, who was 54 when Edward was born, died 10 days after his son passed the bar exam in 1955. The new lawyer married Lorna Mondora in 1956, and they had three sons. His mother was 95 when she died in 1990.
Panelli is survived by his sons, Tom, Jeff and Mike, and three grandchildren. Panelli’s wife died in 2019.
Panelli’s mentor at the university was the Rev. Patrick Donohoe, a Jesuit political science professor. When Donohoe later became SCU president, he directed some legal work to his former student, then practicing with cousin Louis Pasquinelli. Panelli later became an SCU trustee and chairman of the board in the 1980s.
His first appointment to the bench was in 1972 by then California Governor Ronald Reagan, and he served all manner of duty in 11 years as a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge: juvenile, civil, probate, family, and criminal courts.
“When I was a juvenile judge, I used to walk out of the courtroom and go around and talk to people,” Panelli said in the 1986 interview. “People would say, ‘Gee, you don’t act like a judge.’ I’d say, ‘If I start to act like a judge, maybe somebody ought to kick me in the ass.’”
He got to use his one-on-one skills after serving on the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco. He then was appointed in San Jose by former Gov. Jerry Brown as presiding judge of the new 6th District appellate branch. In a storied settlement between litigants whose demands had been stuck for 18 months at $2 million vs. zero, Panelli managed a settlement at $665,000 in two days.
His jurisprudence changed dramatically with his next appointment in 1985.
In his eight years on the state Supreme Court, the death penalty did not define Panelli’s tenure, but it certainly dominated his first year in 1986.
Panelli had joined the court late in 1985, the first of Gov. George Deukmejian’s appointments, and he had to stand for reconfirmation the following fall. On the ballot, too, were justices Rose Bird, the chief, and Cruz Reynoso and Joseph Grodin, as well as the court’s senior liberal, Stanley Mosk, and conservative Malcolm Lucas. Bird and the liberals had overturned numerous death penalty verdicts and were the targets of Deukmejian, a coalition of conservative politicians, and special-interest groups.
Panelli chose to distance himself from the battle — so much so that he chose to run in and complete the New York Marathon in under four hours two days before the November election. But he also acknowledged in the 1986 interview with Hubner that his tough upbringing didn’t forecast his stance:
“You would think that my background would incline me to be liberal because I’ve seen some injustices and had some economic difficulties. On the other hand, I tend to be conservative because I’ve been through it and I think, ‘By golly, if I can do it, why can’t everybody?’
“I tend to be a little bit more severe on punishment. I understand the impact environment has, but you can’t use that as an excuse. Growing up, I was always told that you are responsible for the consequences of your actions. If you break the law and get caught, you’re going to pay a price. To me, that’s how the criminal justice system works.”
He survived the 1986 vote, but Bird, Reynoso, and Cruz didn’t, and the court gradually turned into a bench full of Republicans, with Mosk still serving in his late 80s (Mosk was 86 on Sept. 4, 1998).
Panelli said friends had known for years that he would probably serve only about 20 years as a judge. He could have retired with full pension benefits in March 1993 when he was 61 but said he delayed his departure until February 1994 after Chief Justice Malcolm Lucas asked him to stay on.
He was succeeded by Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, an appellate justice who had been Justice Panelli’s senior staff attorney during his first six years on the Supreme Court.
Panelli’s tenure in the California Supreme Court marked several noteworthy majority opinions. Chief among them was the ruling that surrogate-motherhood arrangements did not exploit poor women. “A surrogate’s agreement to bear another woman’s child is a valid contract,” he wrote.
There will be a memorial open to the public on Aug. 16 at 2 p.m. at Mission Santa Clara de Asis at 2 p.m.
Staff writer Ryan Macasero contributed to this story
Originally Published:
Vance says Trump cares about Americans finances amid Iran debate
Vance pushes back on claims about Trump and says Americans finances matter as the administration weighs Iran and nuclear diplomacy.
Vice President JD Vance announced on Wednesday, May 13 that the Trump administration will be deferring $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements from the state of California, as part of a new initiative to root out fraud in federal health programs.
The topic of California’s hospice care fraud has been a major focus of scrutiny by state leadership, members of President Donald Trump’s administration, and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s critics. In his announcement, Vance claimed that the administration was set on deferring these funds “because the state of California has not taken fraud very seriously.”
“There are California taxpayers and American taxpayers who are being defrauded because California isn’t taking its program seriously,” Vance said during a press conference.
Notably, this decision was part of Vance’s Anti-Fraud Task Force’s plan to implement a six-month nationwide, data-driven moratorium on new Medicare enrollment for hospices and home health agencies.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is led by Dr. Mehmet Oz, is set to use this six-month moratorium to conduct investigations and review data on Medicare programs, with the hopes of removing hospice and home health agencies that are suspected of committing fraud.
“Today we’re shutting the door on fraud — preventing new bad actors from entering Medicare while we aggressively identify, investigate, and remove those already exploiting them,” Oz said. “This is about protecting patients, restoring integrity, and safeguarding taxpayer dollars.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the administration’s action “unlawful” and noted that his office would be “carefully reviewing all available information” and may challenge the administration’s decision to threaten “Californians’ rights or access to critical services.”
“Once again, California appears to be targeted solely for political reasons,” Bonta said on X.
“The Trump Administration is planning to defer over $1 billion in Medicaid funding for vital programs that help seniors and people with disabilities remain safely in their homes.”
Bonta and his office have attempted to counteract criticism that the state does not take action against hospice fraud.
In April, Bonta announced that the California Department of Justice had arrested five people in connection with a major health care scheme in Southern California that defrauded taxpayers of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.
“For years, California has led the charge to protect public programs from fraud and abuse,” Newsom said in the press release on April 10. “We hold accountable to the fullest extent of the law anyone who tries to rip off taxpayers and take advantage of public programs, particularly those as sensitive as hospice care.”
Newsom has yet to publicly respond to the administration’s decision to defer California’s Medicaid reimbursement.
However, shortly after Vance made the announcement, Newsom’s press office blasted the decision on X.
“We hate fraud. But that’s NOT what this is,” Newsom’s press office posted on X. “Vance and Oz are attacking programs that keep seniors and people with disabilities OUT of nursing homes. Pretty sick.”
Noe Padilla is a Northern California Reporter for USA Today. Contact him at npadilla@usatodayco.com, follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social. Sign up for the TODAY Californian newsletter or follow us on Facebook at TODAY Californian.
California
California girls’ track and field stars speak out as Gavin Newsom’s Title IX crisis grows
Reese Hogan would have a very different set of medals if the rules were different in California.
It’s her third straight year competing against a trans athlete in the California girls’ track and field state tournament. She would have taken first place in the high jump all to herself in the sectional preliminaries last Saturday, if only biological females were allowed to compete.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Now she’ll compete against a trans athlete in the sectional finals this weekend, representing her Christian high school, Crean Lutheran. It will mark one year since she went viral on social media for stepping up from the second-place spot on a medal podium up to first place, after a trans athlete who took first place stepped off.
“This is my third year competing against a transgender athlete, and last year I was stripped away of a CIF Title, and I basically worked my whole career to get to that point,” Hogan said on “Fox News at Night” on Tuesday. “It’s just really dissapointing to go into a competition knowing you already lost.”
CALIFORNIA TRACK ATHLETE BRIEFLY POSES ON 1ST-PLACE PODIUM AFTER LOSING TO TRANS ATHLETE, RECEIVES PRAISE
Her Crean Lutheran teammate, Olivia Viola, has been right there with Hogan throughout the three years of competition against trans athletes.
“I haven’t heard nearly enough adults come out and say anything. A lot of them like to say that they agree with you, that they’re proud of you for speaking up now, but they won’t do it themselves,” Viola said. “Just because it doesn’t affect every adult out there doesn’t mean it’s not worth standing up for.”
California has legally allowed biological males to compete in girls’ sports since a state law was enacted in 2013. The state’s education agencies are engaged in a federal Title IX lawsuit with President Donald Trump’s administration for commitment to upholding that state law.
A source at Governor Gavin Newsom’s office previously provided a statement to Fox News Digital in response to news that a “Save Girls Sports” rally, which the two girls attended, would be held at last Saturday’s meet.
“The Governor has said discussions on this issue should be guided by fairness, dignity, and respect. He rejects the right wing’s cynical attempt to weaponize this debate as an excuse to vilify individual kids. The Governor’s position is simple: stand with all kids and stand up to bullies,” the statement read.
“California is one of 22 states that have laws requiring students be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school sports consistent with their gender identity. California passed this law in 2013 (AB 1266) and it was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown.”
At the rally, Hogan spoke and fired back at Newsom’s office for the statement.
“The recent statements coming from Governor Gavin Newsom’s office have made it clear that there is no intention of creating a safe, fair, and equitable environment for female high school athletes. Him and his office have gone as far as calling young girls bullies for speaking up for what we believe in,” Hogan said.
“The governor himself has admitted that males competing in women’s sports is unfair, yet nothing is being done to protect girls who train every day to compete on a level playing field.”
CALIFORNIA ATHLETE SAYS SHE CHANGES CLOTHES IN HER CAR TO AVOID SHARING A LOCKER ROOM WITH TRANS ATHLETE
California high school girls wear “Protect Girls Sports” shirts at a postseason track meet at Yorba Linda High School on May 10, 2025. (Reese Hogan/Courtesy of Reese Hogan)
Viola also rejected the “bully” assertion in Tuesday’s interview.
“I think his statement is manipulative, and it’s just completely untrue,” Viola said. “He’s saying stand up for all kids, yet he’s essentially trying to silence us… these girls are not bullies. They make a point, we all make an point to say we are not against any individual athlete, we are against California’s policies,” Viola said.
“We believe athletes deserve dignity and respect, and that’s why we believe women deserve the dignity of having their own category.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Crean Lutheran High School senior track and field star Reese Hogan speaks at a ‘Save Girls Sports’ rally. (Courtesy of Alyssa Cruz)
Both Viola and Hogan will compete at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section Final on Saturday in Moorpark, California.
And just like last year, there will be a podium ceremony after the competitions.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
With California’s June 2nd primary election nearing, Republican candidates for governor, Steve Hilton and Sheriff Chad Bianco, are set to appear at a forum in Clovis.
The Fresno County & City Republican Women Federated is hosting its “Celebrating 250 Years of America Dinner” and a gubernatorial forum on Friday, May 22nd, at The Regency Event Center, 1600 Willow Ave., in Clovis.
The forum will be moderated by State Senator Shannon Grove.
The discussion is expected to focus on major issues facing Californians, with questions presented via video by a panel of state and local figures, including Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp on public safety and crime; former Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims on border control and citizenship; William Bourdeau of Bourdeau Farms LLC on water rights and agricultural issues; California state Assemblymember David Tangipa on taxation and fiscal responsibility; Jonathan Keller of the California Family Council on parental rights and education; and Matthew Dildine, CEO of Fresno Mission, on homelessness and mental health.
Clovis Mayor Pro Tem Diane Pearce and Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig are listed as masters of ceremonies.
Doors are scheduled to open at 4:30 p.m., followed by a social hour at 5 p.m. Dinner and the program are set for 6 p.m.
Attire is listed as cocktail or business formal. Organizers said a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Veterans Home of California – Fresno.
GOP California governor candidates to face off at Clovis forum ahead of primary (Courtesy: Fresno County & City Republican Women Federated)
[RELATED] Top-two primary could pit same-party rivals as crowded Democratic field fractures votes
“This forum comes at a pivotal moment for our state,” FCCRWF event organizers said. “Bringing the top Republican gubernatorial candidates to Clovis allows Valley families, farmers, and business owners to get real answers on the issues that affect their daily lives, from water infrastructure to public safety and the skyrocketing cost of living.”
Individual tickets are $150, with discounts offered to FCCRWF members.
Table sponsorships are available at the $1,500, $2,500 and $5,000 levels.
Tickets and sponsorships are available online at FresnoRepublicanWomen.org.
-
Wisconsin19 seconds agoWisconsin Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 results for May 13, 2026
-
West Virginia6 minutes agoPrimary Election Post Mortem – WV MetroNews
-
Wyoming12 minutes agoWyoming High School Softball Regional Tournaments 2026
-
Crypto18 minutes agoADI Foundation and Settlemint Launch ADGM Tokenization Rail for $30.9B RWAs
-
Finance24 minutes agoHousehold savings, income and finances in Spain: how did they fare in 2025 and what can we expect for 2026?
-
Fitness30 minutes agoWhat is Americans’ favorite exercise? New study reveals a surprising trend in fitness habits
-
Movie Reviews42 minutes agoReview | Nagi Notes: Koji Fukada ponders the meaning of art in wartime
-
World54 minutes ago
Denise Powell wins Democratic primary in Nebraska’s ‘blue dot’ 2nd District
