President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress. Los Angeles Congresswoman Maxine Waters stays away. Other Democrats invite young undocumented “Dreamers” and Muslim-Americans to attend the speech. San Francisco  District Attorney George Gascón and  the Consul General of Mexico  sign an agreement on protecting  immigrant communities  experiencing an an increase in hate crimes, but who fear … Continued


President Donald Trump proposes what may sound to some as a police state budget, with major boosts to military and law enforcement spending, to be paid for by cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency, other domestic programs and foreign aid. Proposed statewide legislation would forbid nonprofit hospitals from closing their doors without a public hearing and … Continued


In a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Donald Trump promises to start building the border wall with Mexico very soon and again attacks the “dishonest media”, saying reporters shouldn’t be allowed to use anonymous sources. Governor Jerry Brown announces a plan to boost dam safety, improve flood protection and fix the state’s aging transportation and … Continued


The Trump Administration signals it will step up federal prosecution of the recreational use of marijuana in states like California have have legalized it. The mayor and police chief of Santa Cruz are denouncing the Department of Homeland Security after learning that a gang raid police participated in turned into an immigration sweep. Central Valley … Continued


Los Angeles State Senator Ricardo Lara introduces single-payer health care legislation for California, citing the dysfunction in health care and the threatened repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Bay Area mayors including San Francisco’s Ed Lee take part in a national mayor’s day of action to save the A.C.A., also known as Obamacare. Los Angeles … Continued


The Department of Homeland Security  issues sweeping new guidelines aimed at aggressively detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants. In Oakland, immigrants rights advocates hold a march and rally calling on Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern to immediately halt what  his critics call his involvement in Donald Trump’s “deportation machine”.  Homeless people, some clinging to trees, are rescued … Continued


A draft memo obtained by the Associated Press indicates the Trump administration was considering a proposal to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up undocumented immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security says the idea was never seriously considered. The Senate votes to confirm Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, … Continued


  President Donald Trump holds his first full-fledged press conference since his inauguration and blasts the media as “fake news”.  A “Day Without Immigrants” protest as immigrants boycott work and school. The battle over how to fund San Francisco’s defense of immigrants facing deportation plays out at a San Francisco supervisors committee hearing. The Senate narrowly approves … Continued


President Donald Trump makes his first public comment since the forced resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, saying he was treated very unfairly. Trump also breaks with two decades of official U.S. policy favoring a two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict; he says he could back with two states or one. Young Bay … Continued