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DIANNE FEINSTEIN

San Francisco school board's latest crisis: Racist tweets

FILE - In this June 1, 2020, file photo, San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks outside City Hall in San Francisco. Breed joined a chorus of officials who have denounced the tweets by the vice president of San Francisco's school board, Alison Collins, as racist and anti-Asian. The posts resurfaced last week amid a surge of violence and harassment against Asian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the country. They are the latest embarrassment for San Francisco’s school board, which has prided itself on putting racial equity at the top of its agenda. Under a plan recently negotiated with its labor unions, San Francisco plans to phase-in the reopening of elementary school classrooms in mid-April.

Newsom defends Feinstein, says he's not expecting retirement

Gavin Newsom says he'll appoint a Black woman to the U.S. Senate if Feinstein retires before her term ends in 2024. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday he expects and hopes Sen. Dianne Feinstein will serve her full term after suggesting the day before he's been thinking about her replacement. Newsom followed up Tuesday with extended and effusive praise for Feinstein, calling her a friend and mentor and praising her work in Washington. Feinstein and Newsom hail from San Francisco, a political power center where each served as mayor, though decades apart. Warschaw said she did not speak to Newsom but expects he heard from upset Feinstein supporters.

Newsom will appoint Black woman if Feinstein retires early

Gavin Newsom says he'll appoint a Black woman to the U.S. Senate if Feinstein retires before her term ends in 2024. Gavin Newsom said Monday he'd appoint a Black woman to replace U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein if she retires before her term is up in 2024. “We have multiple names in mind and the answer is yes," he said during a interview on MSNBC's “The ReidOut" when asked if he would name a Black woman to the seat if given the chance. Newsom recently held that power after then-California Sen. Kamala Harris was elected vice president. He faced competing pressure to name a Latino and a Black woman and eventually chose Alex Padilla, making him California's first Latino U.S. senator.

Tax forms help reveal extent of unemployment fraud in US

Some Americans are receiving tax forms saying they owe money on unemployment benefits they never received. Unemployment benefits are taxable, so government agencies must send a tax form to people who received them. AdBernie Irwin, 86, said her daughter-in-law and a friend also received the tax forms. Now, overwhelmed unemployment agencies could face another onslaught — this time from people requesting corrected tax forms. He put a freeze on his credit and filed a fraud report with the state unemployment department but so far hasn't heard anything back.

San Francisco to strip Washington, Lincoln from school names

FILE - In this March 12, 2020, file photo, George Washington High School stands in San Francisco. The San Francisco school board has voted to remove the names of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln from public schools after officials deemed them and other prominent figures, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein unworthy of the honor. After months of controversy, the board voted 6-1 Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, in favor of renaming 44 San Francisco school sites with new names with no connection to slavery, oppression, racism or similar criteria, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The decision by the San Francisco Board of Education in a 6-1 vote Tuesday night affects one-third of the city's schools and came nearly three years after the board started considering the idea. It’s almost like a parody of leftist activism,” said Gerald Kanapathy, a father of two young children, including a kindergartener at a San Francisco school not on the list.

Trump pardons in California extend to former congressman

The disgraced former San Diego congressman received one of the pardons issued Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, by President Donald Trump in the final hours of his term. The disgraced former San Diego congressman received one of the pardons issued Wednesday by President Donald Trump in the final hours of his term, which included several others with California connections. Trump granted him a conditional pardon, saying Cunningham tutored inmates while in prison and now volunteers for a local fire department. ELLIOTT BROIDYTrump granted a full pardon to Broidy, of Beverly Hills, a major Trump fundraiser and former Republican National Committee deputy finance chairman. Those supporting the pardon included California Republican Reps. Devin Nunes and Ken Calvert.

Trump vetoes Calif. fishing bill over seafood trade deficit

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump vetoed a bill Friday that would have gradually ended the use of large-mesh drift gillnets deployed exclusively in federal waters off the coast of California, saying such legislation would increase reliance on imported seafood and worsen a multibillion-dollar seafood trade deficit. Trump also said in his veto message to the Senate that the legislation sponsored by Sens. But they said at least 60 other marine species — including whales, dolphins and sea lions — can also become entangled in the nets, where they are injured or die. In 2018, California passed a four-year phaseout of large-mesh drift gillnets in state waters to protect marine life. He said Americans will import more swordfish and other species from foreign sources without this fishery.

Gov. Newsom challenged to address Senate's lack of diversity

Gavin Newsom speaks at a COVID-19 testing facility in Valencia, Calif. As California Gov. Gavin Newsom's shoulders as he considers his pick to serve out the rest of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' Senate term through 2022. The South saw its highest number of Black Senate candidates ever this year, but none won races outright. Labor icon Dolores Huerta and California Latinas for Reproductive Justice want Newsom to appoint a Black woman. De Leon won the endorsement of the California Democratic Party and prominent labor unions, in part because of his support for immigrant rights and aggressive policies to curb climate change.

California governor taps new senior staff amid tough stretch

Myers, a former press secretary to President Bill Clinton, became a senior adviser to California Gov. She joins Jim DeBoo, a California consultant well-versed in the quirks of the state capital and statewide political campaigns, as a senior adviser to the governor. Beyond Myers, Newsom's new additions include DeBoo as senior adviser, making official on Jan. 1 a role he has informally held. Observers say adding him to Newsom's staff signals a desire for sharper political thinking and better connections with the state Legislature, but it could raise questions about special interests' access to the governor. Angie Wei, a Newsom adviser and former chief of staff for the California Labor Federation, is his new legislative affairs secretary.

After criticism, Feinstein to step down as top Judiciary Dem

WASHINGTON – California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Monday she will step down from her role as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, giving up the powerful spot after public criticism of her bipartisan outreach and her handling of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearings. Feinstein, 87, said in a statement that she would not seek the position in the next Congress. 2 Democrat, said he will seek to replace Feinstein as the committee's top Democrat. He led daily news conferences during breaks in the hearings with the other Democrats on the panel while Feinstein usually did not appear. “It’s time for Sen. Feinstein to step down from her leadership position on the Senate Judiciary Committee,” said Brian Fallon, the executive director of Demand Justice, which opposes conservative nominees to the courts.

California Senate sweepstakes: Who gets Kamala Harris' job?

Election Day is over but California already is consumed with its next high-profile political contest the competition to fill Kamala Harris' soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat. Padilla is one of a group of people being considered as one of the candidates for the Senate pick. A group of Black California lawmakers have organized a lobbying drive behind U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, who represents parts of Los Angeles and its suburbs. And they could wait: California’s other Senate seat is held by 87-year-old Dianne Feinstein, the chamber’s oldest member. Does Newsom run the risk of angering groups who lose out on the Senate pick and who might make his re-election bid more difficult?

With a hug, Feinstein draws liberal critics at court hearing

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., shakes hands with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., at the close of the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. “This has been one of the best set of hearings that I’ve participated in,” Feinstein said at the Senate Judiciary Committee. “It’s time for Sen. Feinstein to step down from her leadership position on the Senate Judiciary Committee,” said Brian Fallon, the executive director of Demand Justice, which opposes conservative nominees to the courts. Trump has been able to install more than 200 judges on the federal bench and is now poised to seat his third justice on the Supreme Court. “Judiciary Committee Democrats had one goal this week: to show what’s at stake under a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court — and we did that,” Feinstein said.

GOP pushes Barrett’s nomination ahead, Dems decry ‘sham’

A former Notre Dame Law School professor, Barrett would be the only one of her Supreme Court colleagues not groomed in the Ivy League. But Barrett is the most open opponent of abortion nominated to the Supreme Court in decades. She refused to say whether the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion rights was correctly decided, though she has signed two ads against it. Others testifying Thursday included Laura Wolk, the first blind woman to be a law clerk for the Supreme Court, who told senators that Barrett’s encouragement and support were life-changing. “Her brilliance is matched only by her compassion,” said Wolk, who also spent a year as a law clerk for Barrett.

Barrett back on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for senators' final questions

WASHINGTON – Over and over, Amy Coney Barrett said she’d be her own judge if confirmed to the Supreme Court. She called the Voting Rights Act a “triumph in the civil rights movement,” without discussing the specifics of the earlier challenge to it. It would be applying laws that are designed to protect the election and protect the right to vote,” Barrett said. The health care debate has been central to the week’s hearings, as Americans struggle during the pandemic, leading to a sharp exchange among senators at one point. Durbin retorted that health risks left many senators monitoring from their offices rather than convening as a group.

Takeaways: Barrett is reticent as Dems focus on health care

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett listens during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Barrett also said she could not answer whether Trump has the power to delay the general election, an idea the president floated earlier this year. Democrats say they have no interest in revisiting that issue during this confirmation process. This time, Democrats have focused on the effects on “real people” if the Affordable Care Act is overturned by the high court. AN “EXCRUCIATING” PROCESSBarrett said she accepted Trump’s nomination because she is “committed to the rule of law” and the role of the Supreme Court.

Health care law on line at court, but is it likely to fall?

Yes, the Trump administration is asking the high court to throw out the Obama-era healthcare law, and if she is confirmed quickly Barrett could be on the Supreme Court when the court hears the case. Democrats also repeatedly brought up words Barrett wrote in 2017, when she was a law professor, criticizing Chief Justice John Roberts' 2012 opinion saving the Affordable Care Act. Barrett wrote that Roberts had "pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute." But the court could simply “sever” the mandate from the law and leave the rest of the law alone. One other key observer of the case suggested the Affordable Care Act would likely stand.