California
Voter frustration with crime, liberal DAs mounting in California while Harris mum on controversial Prop 47
Proposition 47, a progressive proposal headed by George Soros-backed Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, could be going down the drain come election night as polling shows a partial-repeal effort has the support of the majority of California voters.
Gascon’s job, along with other progressive district attorneys who championed Prop. 47 across the state, could also be at risk from voter backlash.
Voter outrage is “sort of a message to [Vice President] Kamala Harris, who was the one that was a big supporter of Prop. 47 by giving it a misleading ballot title,” former Republican Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley told Fox News Digital.
“So it’s a rejection of her, it’s a rejection of Gascon, who was the official proponent of Prop. 47, and the rejection of Soros-type prosecutors,” Cooley said.
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The Manhattan Beach Police Department is asking members of the public to help identify suspected smash-and-grab robbers. (Manhattan Beach Police Department)
Also known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act passed by Californians in 2014, Prop. 47 made theft under $950 punishable by up to six months in jail and reclassified felonies down to misdemeanors “unless the defendant had prior convictions of murder, rape, certain sex offenses, or certain gun crimes.”
Gascon, who co-authored the ballot measure, sought to rethink tough-on-crime policies and reduce mass incarceration.
But in the last several years, retail chains and mom-and-pop shops have been hit hard by theft, smash-and-grab robberies and organized retail crime gangs. Prop. 36 – titled the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act – seeks to undo portions of Prop. 47 by boosting penalties for some crimes and could increase depending on each category.
An overwhelming 71% of Californians support Prop. 36, according to a survey last month by the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan think tank.
Harris, who was California’s attorney general at the time of Prop. 47’s passage, has not said whether she supports Prop. 36.
“She paid her dues to the Soros people when she went along with that phony, misleading title of Safe Schools and Neighborhoods Act,” Cooley said of Harris. “That was an incredible lie to the voters, so she paid her dues.”
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has also thrown her support behind Prop. 36, calling it a “meaningful difference for cities across California.” But Gov. Gavin Newsom remains staunchly opposed to the effort, saying it “takes us back to the 1980s, mass incarceration.”
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has also joined the effort to partially repeal Prop. 47. The California District Attorneys Association, the Los Angeles Police Protective League and the California State Sheriffs’ Association all endorsed Prop. 36.
And some Republicans in the state legislature are confident it has enough support to pass.
“Nobody talks about the victims in California,” Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle told Fox News Digital. “The Democrats never talk about them. They talk about the people who they think have been put in jail unfairly, and it’s made it a social justice issue more than just flat-out crime.”
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George Gascon and Kamala Harris (Fox News Digital photo illustration/Getty Images)
Four years ago, Dahle heavily campaigned for Prop. 20, which was another initiative that sought to repeal Prop. 47, but state voters rejected the measure.
But Prop. 36 may not be headed for the same outcome.
“The big difference in my mind is that the retailers are in the game now,” Dahle said. “They went and got the signatures. They realized that, ‘Hey, we can’t continue to bleed out hundreds of millions of dollars in theft,’ and they’re behind it, and that’s why I think you see the change.”
In Los Angeles, where organized smash-and-grab retail thefts and robberies thrived during the pandemic and its aftermath, law enforcement officers often had their hands tied and described what they called a “revolving door” of arrests.
“Right now, we’re just seeing the revolving door of our officers,” Los Angeles Police Protective League Director Debbie Thomas told Fox News Digital.
“They’ll respond to radio calls, and they can arrest somebody up to three times and shift the same officers because of this blanket policy of not holding people that commit under $950 of theft accountable for their actions,” said Thomas, who is also a Los Angeles Police Department officer. “They’re the ones that are praising George Gascon in the penitentiaries.”
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Thomas said the shift to supporting a repeal effort for Prop. 47 is indicative of other shifts in ideology among some voters, including that of the “defund the police” movement.
“I think that people are more than fed up with the lack of support that they’ve seen,” Thomas said. “Defund the police does not work.”
“It’s just nice to see people starting to wake up and realize that it’s a ‘yes’ to Prop. 36, and also ‘yes’ to Nathan Hochman, who’s currently running for L.A. County district attorney,” he added.
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If voters pass Prop. 36 in November, offenders of the law will have to serve out their sentences in state prison “regardless of criminal history.”
Fox News Digital did not hear back from either Gascon’s office nor the Harris campaign by publication deadline.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
The State of California has confirmed that Social Security beneficiaries will receive an increase in their payments beginning December 30, 2024. This 2.5% increase is part of the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) applied across the United States for 2025. The COLA is based on inflation rates to ensure beneficiaries maintain their purchasing power.
The December 30, 2024 Payment
The first payment reflecting this increase will be for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Normally scheduled for January 1, this payment has been moved to December 30 due to the New Year’s Day holiday. This adjustment benefits millions in California and across the country, particularly those who rely on these funds for basic needs.
Types of Social Security Benefits
The Social Security program encompasses several types of benefits, all of which will see the 2.5% increase:
- Retirement Benefits: For individuals who have reached retirement age and contributed to the system during their working years.
- Disability Insurance (SSDI): For individuals unable to work due to a long-term disability.
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI): For low-income individuals, including seniors and people with disabilities.
- Survivor Benefits: Payments made to family members of deceased workers.
January 2025 Payment Schedule
Social Security payments are distributed based on the beneficiary’s birthdate. Here is the schedule for January 2025:
- January 3: Payments for those who receive benefits before May 1997 or who also receive SSI.
- January 8: Beneficiaries born between the 1st and 10th of the month.
- January 15: Beneficiaries born between the 11th and 20th of the month.
- January 22: Beneficiaries born between the 21st and 31st of the month.
The COLA increase will be reflected in all these payments.
Impact in California and Nationwide
California, home to more than 6 million Social Security beneficiaries, will see a significant impact from this adjustment. However, the increase is a nationwide policy benefiting over 70 million recipients across the United States.
This adjustment aims to ease the financial burden on Americans as they face rising living costs, reinforcing the commitment to support the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.
For more details about your payments, you can visit the official Social Security Administration (SSA) website.
Squirrels are omnivores, eating nuts, fruit, small insects — and according to a study published in the Journal of Ethology — voles.
Sonja Wild, UC Davis
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Sonja Wild, UC Davis
Squirrels are omnivores, eating nuts, fruit, small insects — and according to a study published in the Journal of Ethology — voles.
Sonja Wild, UC Davis
Squirrels are on the hunt in the California Bay Area.
Their target: local voles.
In a study published in the Journal of Ethology, a group of California ground squirrels were found hunting, killing and eating a vole. Lead researcher and behavioral ecologist Jennifer Smith from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire says her team witnessed this behavior in the twelfth year of a long term study.
The local vole population boomed this year. It was five to six times bigger than normal, Smith says the squirrels took advantage of that.
But this behavior is not new. “There’s been accumulating evidence of one or two events within a species of a red squirrel taking a sparrow,” she says, also noting, “They tend to go, try to take chickens.”
But these accounts have been thought to be one-offs, generally.
With this study, the squirrels’ entire process was captured via video — and shown to be a regular part of these squirrels’ behavior.
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The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is always revealing for the best boys basketball teams in California and final days of the 2024 calendar year should be no different.
The Damien Classic and Torrey Pines Holiday Classic always present a window of what is in store for the rest of the season and separates the contenders and pretenders. Next weekend at the HoopHall Classic West in Gilbert (Ariz.), Jan. 2-4, will also give the elite teams time to strut their stuff.
There are nine teams among California’s Top 25 still unbeaten at Christmas, a pretty high number, including top-ranked St. John Bosco, No. 6 Riordan and No. 8 De La Salle and No. 9 Montgomery.
Note: Only teams that play for a CIF State California title were considered for this rankings, thus eliminating Prolific Prep of Napa Christian, which can and will play for a mythical national title. Notes and rankings below from Southern Section teams supplied by SBLive’s Tarek Fattal.
The Braves win their Trinity League opener over Orange Lutheran without Brandon McCoy and Elzie Harrington. Christian Collins and Max Ellis led the way. Next up: Platinum Division in Classic at Damien.
Roosevelt wins the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas, beating Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks in the final. Brayden Burries scored 26 points and Issac Williamson had 19.
Nik Khamenia notches 26 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in a convincing win over JSerra, a team expected to earn an Open Division berth.
Notre Dame suffers its first loss in the Tarkanian Classic final to Roosevelt despite Tyran Stokes scoring 20 points. Lino Mark played just four minutes in an attempt to play while injured. (TYRAN STOKES DEBUT)
Four more wins started with 90-65 blowout of defending state D2 champion Oakland Tech behind 33 points and 10 points from Tounde Yessoufou, and a combined 45 from Julius and Malcolm Price along with Gunner Morinini. Yessoufou is averaging 29.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
Won the Gridley Classic with wins over Branson (68-27), Clovis North (54-52) and previous No. 6 Salesian (52-51) thanks in part to tournament MVP Andrew Hilman (19 points). Texas Tech-bound Jasir Rencher and Irvine signee Nex Emeneke was also All-Tourney.
Pride lost their first regular-season game since 2022, 52-51 to Riordan, in finals of the Gridley Classic. Salesian missed two free throws with 1.2 seconds to play.
Win over Santa Margarita (61-57) to win the Vountour Classic was team’s most impressive. David Balogun, a rapidly improving 6-6 post, scored 29 to lead the way. Since then breathers over Mountain House (67-35), La Salle (76-26) and Sacred Heart Cathedral (79-39).
The Aztecs from San Diego won five games last week, including four at the Tarkanian Classic to take the Nike Division championship behind division’s Most Outstanding Player J.J. Sanchez, who had 22 points in the finals.
Eagles’ only loss comes this week to unbeaten NorCal power De La Salle, but bounces back with a win over Murrieta Valley.
Trailblazers beat Millikan 87-33 this past week.
The Lions get a taste of Open Division-level hoops in a 65-50 loss to Harvard-Westlake.
Redondo Union is picking up Open Division playoff buzz.
La Mirada has been idle since Dec. 14.
Coach Paul Tait is enthused by the play of sophomore point guard Dominic Loehle.
After lopsided win over St. Augustine (77-54), recorded tough wins over Sage Creek (75-66), Mission Hills (67-59) and La Jolla Country Day (80-68).
Monarchs have won five of their last six.
Pius went 2-2 at the Tarkanian Classic.
Jasone Crowe Jr. is averaging 37 points per game.
Had won four straight before losing 63-54 to Brophy College Prep of Phoenix Ariz. (63-54).
Quality win over Pacifica Christian of Orange County without Jeremiah Hampton was impressive. JJ Harris and Louis Bond impressed.
Canyon has won five straight. Brandon Benjamin averaging 30+ points a game.
Damien without big man Nate Garcia (injured).
Twelve straight wins isn’t a bad way to start the season. Defense a big key, holding opponents under 50 seven times, including three straight games limiting opponents to 49 in wins over Riverside poly (61-49), Salesian Los Angeles (93-49) and Wiseburn-Da Vinci (61-49).
Cougars last win came against Long Beach Poly on Dec. 14.
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