Tag: california

California Dem Calls Out ‘Collapse’ of Hollywood on Newsom’s Watch: ‘Industry Beaten Down Watching the Exit of Productions to Other States and Overseas’

As the costs of making movies and TV shows continue to soar, California has found itself last on the list of locations for productions looking to cut costs. But despite this pressure, California’s Attorney General, Rob Bonta, is making it harder for film and TV productions to stay and now he’s even on the verge of chasing Paramount out of the Golden State entirely.

Workers, tens of thousands of them blue-collar, are hardest hit by these political battles. As the industry deteriorates in the state, congresswoman Laura Friedman (D-CA), a former film producer, says employees feel “beaten down,” according to Politico.

Los Angeles County has already lost more than 42,000 film and TV jobs since 2022. Studios, production companies, and filmmakers continue to escape to other states and even other countries to create their entertainment, Politico noted.

Productions have fled the extremely high costs of filming in California and have ended up in Illinois, Louisiana, Georgia, New Mexico, and New York, among a growing list of other U.S. states. Foreign locations are an even greater draw as countries offer huge tax incentives and lower wages, and even fewer union rules in some cases. Countries such as Canada, the UK, Romania, and the Canary Islands have all jumped into the TV and film production game drawing more productions to their shores and away from California.

To combat this massive loss of revenue and jobs, California’s legislature has more than doubled the state’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program to $750 million. But Democrat Gov. Newsom is even working to undermine this credit offer by proposing limitations on the state’s corporate tax credits.

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States take Meta to trial in California in the biggest fight yet over social media harms to children

Of the thousands of lawsuits Meta faces over child safety on its platforms, none may be more consequential than one going to trial this week in California.

States are seeking extensive financial damages that could, in theory, total as much as $1.4 trillion, plus changes to how the company operates Facebook and Instagram.

The lawsuit accuses the social media giant of contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features that get children addicted to its platforms. It also claims that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law.

“Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens. Its motive is profit, and in seeking to maximize its financial gains,” the lawsuit says.

Dozens of states filed the lawsuit three years ago. The trial set to begin Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, California, features four of the states as plaintiffs — California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey. The other 25 states are expected to have trials later.

Meta said it disputes the allegations, and the trial evidence will show its commitment to supporting young people. “We’ve listened to parents, worked with experts and law enforcement, and conducted in-depth research to understand the issues that matter most,” the company said in a statement.

States seek to land a major blow against Meta
For Meta, which already lost two pivotal cases over harms to children and teens this year, the stakes are high. The company reported a rare profit decline last month, in part due to $2.4 billion in legal expenses.

The $1.4 trillion figure, which Meta disclosed in a legal filing, is almost as high as the Menlo Park, California, company’s entire market capitalization — that is, the value of all its outstanding shares on the stock market. Paying it would inevitably put Meta Platforms in bankruptcy and perhaps put the company under state ownership.

“The state attorneys general are going for the gusto,” said Eric Goldman, a professor and co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law. “They are trying to set the definitive precedent in this case and they have asked for extraordinary damages and they are going to seek extraordinary structural remedies if they succeed.”

Meta calls the possible penalty “untethered to any claimed violation” by the states.

“A sanction of that size has no analog in the history of consumer protection enforcement,” Meta said in a July 6 filing with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

If Meta loses the trial, the court would have wide discretion over the size of any financial penalty, and legal experts say anything close to $1.4 trillion would be unlikely.

“It’s not plausible in the sense that Meta doesn’t have that much money and could not get it,” said James Grimmelmann, a law professor at Cornell Law School and Cornell Tech. “An award that large would put Meta into bankruptcy, wipe out its owners, and effectively result in the states owning Meta.”

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California Special Ed Teacher Sparks Police Investigation for Disturbing ‘Black Militia’ Video: “Shoot Some Guns” and “Rob Some White People”

Disturbing videos posted on Instagram by a special education teacher in California have prompted a police investigation.

Kenisha Daily, a special ed teacher at Madera Unified School District in Fresno, posted videos holding a gun where she suggested it was time for Black people to create a “Black mafia,” “shoot some guns,” and “rob some white people.”

On Saturday night, the videos were quickly reported to Madera Unified by concerned followers.

KMPH reports that authorities conducted a home visit, which resulted in a temporary restraining order and an ongoing investigation.

“MUSD and the Madera Police Department completed a safety review to enhance security at Lincoln Elementary.”

Per ABC30:

In one clip, Kenisha Daily of Fresno says she’s “starting a black militia,” and will “rob some white people.”

Other videos on Daily’s Instagram, captured by concerned citizens, show her with a handgun, and then what appears to be a long gun.

The videos were quickly met with strong online backlash, and a multi-agency investigation.

Fresno and Madera police and the Madera Unified School District all told Action News they’re aware of the videos and looking into them.

In the meantime, the Lincoln Elementary School special education teacher was placed on leave, and under a temporary restraining order.

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San Mateo County Passes Resolution To Regulate Commercial Humanoid Robots

San Mateo County may become the first in California to regulate humanoid robots used for commercial purposes.

The county board of supervisors on Aug. 11 passed a resolution sponsored by Supervisor Ray Mueller to direct county legal and administrative staff to draft an ordinance regulating the use of untethered autonomous or semi-autonomous humanoid robots, or “mobile humanoid robots,” in restaurants, retail stores, and other businesses.

State law already regulates autonomous vehicles but not the commercial use of humanoid robots, according to a county memo. The resolution aims to create a “comprehensive permitting process governing the commercial deployment and operation” of such robots within the county.

Several companies have already started humanoid robot pilot projects.

Tau Robotics, for instance, offers cleaning services to invited San Francisco residents at $30 per hour in a pilot program launched on July 28. The robots are operated by humans and artificial intelligence, according to the company’s website.

According to the county memo, having a permitting framework in place before these robots are widely implemented would “encourage the responsible integration of emerging technologies in a manner that serves the public interest.”

The resolution directs county staff to consider having businesses pay an annual fee dedicated to HazMat and fire equipment for local first responders to handle risks from the lithium-ion batteries the robots use.

“In recent years, we’ve seen an uptick in lithium-ion battery fires due to thermal runaway,” Rich Seguine, vice president of Local 2400, which represents firefighters in San Mateo County, said in a public comment at the county board meeting. “A funding source like this in the resolution can be used to purchase necessary specialized equipment.”

The resolution also aims to require the robots to have accessible emergency “kill switches,” have clean manufacturer safety records, and be supervised by a trained human onsite.

Technological progress and protecting working people aren’t competing goals, said Julie Lind, a member of the San Mateo Labor Council, in a virtual public comment.

“Businesses should understand and account for the human consequences of deploying this technology, including potential job losses,” Lind said.

Non-humanoid robots have already been deployed in a few commercial uses in the area, including Cafe X, a robotic coffee bar in San Francisco International Airport; Artly Coffee in Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco; and autonomous sidewalk delivery company Coco Robotics.

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Actor charged with 24 felony counts in alleged child sexual abuse case

A California actor and producer is facing 24 felony charges after investigators said he used online casting calls to contact minors as part of an alleged pattern of child sexual abuse spanning decades.

Shane Ryan Gledhill, 46, of Lompoc, was arrested Aug. 3 after Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s detectives spent nearly five years investigating accusations of exploitation.

Gledhill, whose work involved projects connected to actors including Shelley Duvall, Tom Arnold, Richard Dreyfuss and Ed Harris, was initially booked on 15 felony charges. That total has now climbed to 24.

The investigation began in November 2021, when a 17-year-old survivor approached Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s investigators about what they described as suspicious and inappropriate conduct involving Gledhill when she was 15, according to authorities.

That initial report led to an investigation that eventually identified nine survivors, the Sheriff’s Office said. All were minors at the time of the alleged offenses.

In February 2022, investigators executed a search warrant at his residence in Lompoc. Investigators seized thousands of digital files, which underwent an extensive forensic examination.

The Sheriff’s Office said the investigation uncovered a pattern in which Gledhill allegedly used online casting calls and film-making projects to contact aspiring young actors.

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Cyberattack Cripples California City’s 911 System, Forces Emergency Shutdown

A Northern California city of roughly 30,000 residents was forced to shut down its entire computer network Friday after a cyberattack knocked out its 911 system, the latest sign of how vulnerable American municipalities remain to digital assaults.

Suisun City, located about 45 miles from San Francisco, declared a state of emergency Saturday after malicious software infiltrated its network shortly before 6 p.m. Friday, the California Post reported.

“Officials shut down the entire network to stop the threat from spreading and protect evidence for a federal investigation,” the outlet reported.

City officials scrambled to prevent the outage from endangering residents, rerouting 911 calls through the Solano County dispatch center. Police and fire personnel remained active and able to respond to calls for service despite the loss of the city’s own systems.

The breach reached well beyond emergency dispatch.

City services including building permits and other municipal records were rendered inaccessible, and residents were unable to pay bills online while the network remained offline.

The Suisun City Council voted unanimously to pull the plug on the network and declare a state of emergency during a special meeting Saturday morning, an extraordinary step that underscores the severity of the threat local officials believed they were facing.

The incident lands amid heightened concern over foreign cyber threats to American infrastructure since the outbreak of the Iran war.

U.S. authorities issued an “urgent warning” in April that hackers linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were actively working to disrupt critical American computer networks, a threat national security officials have long cautioned could extend to local governments with limited cybersecurity resources.

It remains unclear whether the Suisun City attack is connected to Iran-backed hacking operations.

Investigators are still working to determine how the malicious software breached the network and who is responsible, according to news reports.

City officials have not said when full network functionality is expected to be restored.

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REPORT: After Billions Upon Billions in Spending, California’s High Speed Rail Program May Run Out of Money by the End of 2027

The high-speed rail program that California has been working on for years and which has already cost billions of dollars, may run out of money as early as the end of 2027, according to new reports.

Has there ever been a greater example of the inefficiency of government to build things?

They have been at this for years and hardly any tracks have even been laid. At what point to they just give it up already?

The New York Post reports:

Gavin Newsom’s bullet train barreling toward financial cliff as cash could run dry in 2027

California’s bullet train could have a new end point: Brokeville, USA.

The state’s beleaguered high-speed rail line is once again careening toward a financial cliff, as a new report — delivered last month to Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators — says the project could run out of cash by the end of next year.

The Office of the Inspector General warned that the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s funds could dry up as soon as December 2027 unless it secures financing — and the authority would need to borrow as much as $9.5 billion over five years just to keep construction on schedule.

Inspector General Benjamin Belnap’s report noted that high-speed rail officials have “obscured basic facts about the project, hindering lawmakers’ ability to provide effective oversight of the project.”

State Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Huntington Beach), who previously called the bullet train “the most wasteful government project in probably world history,” said on Tuesday that the warning of empty coffers by the end of 2027 was “no surprise.”

“During the informational hearing this spring, both the nonpartisan [Legislative Analyst’s Office] and the Inspector General were unable to identify a reliable funding source for high-speed rail,” Strickland told The Post.

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California Orders NGO Serving As “Financial Backbone” For Singham-Linked Marxism Causes To Cease Operations

Foreign policy investigator Adam Kredo of The Washington Free Beacon revealed on Monday that California regulators ordered Arc of Justice, a nonprofit operated by left-wing Code Pink cofounder Medea Benjamin, to cease charitable operations after years of missing tax filings and unanswered questions about what happened to $51 million in reported assets. 

The state attorney general revoked the foundation’s charitable registration in January 2025, barring it from distributing assets without prior approval. A June 19 warning letter went further, directing Arc of Justice to stop soliciting, holding or spending charitable funds in California and warning that board members could face personal liability for unauthorized distributions.

Kredo cited an investigation by the watchdog group Intelligent Advocacy Network (IAN) that said since California first revoked the foundation’s charitable registration 18 months ago and ordered it to provide a full accounting of $51,445,599 in outstanding assets it held as of 2023, “no public document establishes what has happened to the money, where it is held, or whether any of it has moved.” 

The California Franchise Tax Board subsequently confirmed that the foundation was no longer in good standing or certified as tax-exempt. At the same time, the Secretary of State listed the organization as suspended.

“The silence from Arc of Justice raises unanswered questions about a foundation that has long served as the financial backbone for a network of radical advocacy groups tied to Benjamin and her Code Pink cofounder, Jodie Evans,” Kredo wrote in the report. 


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California City Pulls Plug on It’s Computer System After Cyberattack

A northern California city of 30,000 people had to disconnect its entire computer network after a cyberattack, idling the municipality’s 911 emergency line for police and fire dispatch.

Officials in the city of Suisun City, located about 45 miles from San Francisco, had to find a workaround for emergency calls and did by forwarding 911 calls to a county dispatch center.

The city declared a state of emergency Saturday after malicious software invaded its computer network and system shortly before 6 p.m. Friday, according to the California Post.

“Officials shut down the entire network to stop the threat from spreading and protect evidence for a federal investigation,” the Post reported.

Despite the attack, Suisun City officials say they found a work around to prevent residents from being put in immediate danger during emergencies.

First responders remain active and dispatched, with city emergency operators routing calls through he Solano County dispatch center.

That way police and fire personnel are able to respond to calls for service,

The attack also disrupted non-emergency city services, including access to municipal records such as building permits and idled residents ability to pay bills online.

The complete shutdown came after the city council voted unanimously to pull the plug and declare a state of emergency at a special meeting Saturday morning.

Cybersecurity for municipalities and infrastructure systems have been in the news during the Iran war after U.S. authorities earlier this year issued an “urgent warning” that hackers backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran were attempting to disrupt American computer networks.

Investigators are still at work in an effort to determine how the malicious software got inside the network and who was behind the attack, according to news reports.

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A California startup won approval to launch a 59-foot mirror into orbit that beams sunlight to a chosen spot on Earth, helping crews work after dark

ight falls, solar panels stop producing, and emergency crews often turn to fuel-powered generators and floodlights. A California startup now wants to offer another option by redirecting sunlight from orbit to a chosen place on Earth for a few minutes.

On July 9, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission authorized Reflect Orbital to deploy and operate Earendil-1, one experimental satellite carrying a reflector about 59 feet by 59 feet. From an orbit roughly 388 miles above Earth, the spacecraft is intended to create a moonlike patch of light about 3.1 miles wide while testing whether that footprint can be aimed and controlled accurately.

A mirror that follows the Sun

Earendil-1 will not make electricity or store solar energy. Its thin reflective film will act like a giant heliostat in space, turning so it can intercept sunlight while the satellite remains sunlit and redirect that light toward a location that has already entered darkness.

Because it moves quickly through low Earth orbit, a single pass would illuminate a target only briefly. Reflect Orbital says its planned 2026 demonstration is designed to provide around 0.1 lux for up to five minutes, equal to roughly 0.009 foot-candles and comparable to a clear night under a full moon.

The light can be removed from the ground by changing the spacecraft’s orientation. That steering ability is at the heart of the mission, since the test must show that the reflector can unfold, point accurately, hold its footprint, and turn away when service ends.

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