Mikhail Zinshteyn

Not that long ago, three major lower-court rulings against the executive branch on three unrelated topics would’ve been a busy *month,* and outlets would’ve rushed to write up such a run of adverse rulings. Now, it doesn’t feel unusual when we get three on the same *day.* It’s all … exhausting.

California voters are deciding on whether to sell $44 billion in bonds for buying housing and spending big on health science research. It’s been a long time since voters had this many bonds to vote on. Read me on what it all means for California’s debt picture and getting people homes and cures.

My summary of the just completed oral argument in the 9th Circuit's emergency hearing on the California ballot segregation demand from DOJ:

California’s November ballot is welcoming you to make it rain … in bonds. You’ll see an El Nino-sized set of propositions that could flood the housing construction and science research components of the California economy with $44 billion of bond spending if the measures pass. By me:

3 bonds are on the California ballot. Here's a last-minute voter guide to make sense of them Californians will decide on $44 billion in bonds when the vote on Propositions 1, 37 and 38. They'd take out debt to pay for housing and medical research.

JUST POSTED: Today at The NYT we are publishing a major investigation into how President Trump used his executive powers to expose millions of Americans to greater cancer risks. A six month-long investigation built on more than 10,000 pages of FOIA records. Read it www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/c...

Discreet* www.vocabulary.com/articles/com...

READ THIS: This billionaire’s initiative would very likely send $4 billion in taxpayer money to a nonprofit he founded. The nonprofit is supposed to lead California on health research. However, it only had three workers last month, despite agreeing with UCLA to have at least 50 by last year. By me:

READ THIS: This billionaire’s initiative would very likely send $4 billion to a nonprofit that he founded. The nonprofit is supposed to lead California on health research. However, it only had three employees last month, despite agreeing with UCLA to have more than 50 by last year. My reporting:

NEW/EXCLUSIVE: The science research institute that would likely receive $4.2 billion in public taxpayer money if voters approve Prop. 38 this November had only three employees as of last month — far fewer than the 51 staffers it planned to have hired by last year. Story based on public records.

NEW/EXCLUSIVE: The science research institute that would likely receive $4.2 billion in public taxpayer money if voters approve Prop. 38 this November had only three employees as of last month — far fewer than the 51 staffers it planned to have hired by last year. Story based on public records.

They killed people with their big rigs, and California let them keep driving. A CalMatters investigation finds that nearly half of commercial drivers had a valid license after being charged with vehicular manslaughter. The documentary is below. Full story is here: calmatters.org/investigatio...

“Though Acton has not spoken of the abuse she endured as a child along the campaign trail, she told The Youngstown Vindicator in 2019 that ‘in the courthouse after they were charged, I went to give her a kiss, and she just turned her cheek away. That was the last time I ever saw her.’”

NEW: Trump often claims that Democrats cheat by letting noncitizens vote. But the poster child of Monday’s voter fraud raid — who prosecutors accuse of illegally voting in L.A. — is a registered Republican Scoop from @tomokichien.bsky.social lamaterial.com/p/voter-frau...

They killed people with their big rigs, and California let them keep driving. A CalMatters investigation finds that nearly half of commercial drivers had a valid license after being charged with vehicular manslaughter. The documentary is below. Full story is here: calmatters.org/investigatio...

AI perhaps offers us a really great opportunity if we choose to take it. The one thing it produces is cliche. In order to resist it, we must declare a war on cliche. We must make our language and remake it. Our visual imagination should be shaken up and strive for the shock of the new.

Billions of dollars’ worth of contracts predicting oil would fall and the S&P 500 would rise were placed about 15 minutes before Trump announced a U-turn on Iran in a post on Truth Social. CFTC staff began to investigate...then were told to lay off. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

BREAKING: Judge Kelly grants CNN, MS NOW, and Politico’s request for a preliminary injunction in the hard pass case, “maintaining the status quo” — protecting their White House hard pass access — since Kelly issued a TRO back in September. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Want to hear me talk about the SATs at the UC for 20 minutes? I was on Capitol Radio's Insight program.

Can I do a California Public Records Act request of a PRA office's rate of picking up phone calls? Inquiring minds seek to range and know.

Dear NYT: I would not rather read this article via your app. Not in a box. Not with a fox. I would not, could not, in a car, in a tree, on a train. I will never want to read your article in an app. Say, I do not like news apps. I wouldn’t, not even in a boat or with a goat.

Among my value-adds to this SAT at UC debate? I calculated the rates of Ds and Fs in every entry-level calculus course at UC Berkeley from 2017 to 2025 to show that while average GPAs stayed THE SAME, the D/F rate jumped by nearly 40% on average (from ~8% to ~11%).

NEW: After University of California dropped the SAT, the student graduation rate went UP! So did the retention rate and first-year GPAs. A faculty report warned those indicators would go DOWN if the SAT went away. BUT! More UC students are failing entry-level calculus. My story probes the issues:

NEW: After University of California dropped the SAT, the student graduation rate went UP! So did the retention rate and first-year GPAs. A faculty report warned those indicators would go DOWN if the SAT went away. BUT! More UC students are failing entry-level calculus. My story probes the issues:

California: "ICE leadership has told officers to arrest all illegal immigrants they encounter, regardless of whether an individual has a criminal history." Operation is to last 45 days and appears to have begun in San Diego a few days ago. www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/infra...

WH says Trump was using LA’s and San Diego’s hypothetical annihilation as a reason to bomb Iran. It is either high oil prices or our seeming death. Trump has a history of targeting cities in blood-soaked terms to fit his political narrative du jour. laist.com/news/politic...

Free money for eligible CA families expires soon! Tell a friend!

What Do Authoritarians Do When They Are About to Lose an Election? Trump’s schemes to subvert the midterms have so far failed. What happens next? A reflection on the threat as well as the limits of authoritarian escalation. My new piece:

“The Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution does not guarantee a painless execution, a decision states such as Tennessee cite to defend their lethal injection protocols. Very well. Then states should stop telling the public that lethal injection is clinical and not cruel.”

A+ reporting by @jaweedkaleem.bsky.social UC’s motion “marks a significant new chapter in the conflict between the Trump administration and the nation’s preeminent public university system. It is the first time UC has formally asked a court to reject the government’s antisemitism case against it.”

Newsom signed this moments ago from the top of the Golden Gate Bridge with Sen. Wiener, the bond bill author. It was Newsom’s last bill signing as governor of California (barring a special session, maybe?). From his press release:

What an odd moment in United States history. A U.S. president is running an overtly political camaign advertisement, right before midterm elections, paid for by the U.S. government. Trump appears to believe he is immune from any kind of legal limit. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/u...

Meta's platforms have repeatedly been caught running ads for deepfake "nudify" apps that let you virtually undress real people without their consent, but they won't run an a trailer for an upcoming documentary that reflects poorly on Elon Musk. www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/dig...

You should read this story. I lay out how roughly half of unionized workers at Cal State University are underpaid. And even if you factor in the system's benefits, a third remain underpaid. calmatters.org/education/hi...

I even made two charts that visualize this!

You should read this story. I lay out how roughly half of unionized workers at Cal State University are underpaid. And even if you factor in the system's benefits, a third remain underpaid. calmatters.org/education/hi...

Cal State University paid $1.1 million for a 27-page report that said unionized workers at the system make about as much overall as workers in other similar universities, but the same data also shows that nearly half of Cal State workers are underpaid. Meanwhile, unions are furious with the system:

NEW California State University pay data: The findings from a new compensation report show two truths: About a third of workers’ total salary and benefits are below national averages even as unionized staff and faculty compensation is on par with national averages for similar public universities.

His "job is a mostly under the radar, but often indispensable, fixture of California’s urban housing market: He helps people get their building projects approved. "So-called land-use consultants and permit expediters are wayfinders of bureaucracy, sherpas of red tape." By @frombenc.bsky.social

TFW you need to write 1,500 words for story 1 and 800 for story 2 and mindlessly wrote 300 words for one and 200 for the other in 30 min. that magically dropped the stress by 90%.

"More than half of the degrees awarded to Latino students in the state of California are earned right here in the @calstate.bsky.social," said CSU chair Diego Arambula at today's trustees meeting.

Dozens of union members shut down the Cal State trustees meeting after breaking into chants for higher pay. Theystarted their chants during public comment; all the CSU trustees and presidents walked out. “No contract, no peace.” The chants lasted about 10 min. No unlawful assembly was called.

This is $2933 per ejected person. Meanwhile, tax evasion by millionaires and billionaires tops $150 billion a year, IRS chief said in 2024. www.cnbc.com/2024/02/22/t... Trump Officials Eject 750,000 From Obamacare Markets, Claiming Fraud www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/h...

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two laws that determine when community colleges can create bachelor’s degrees and how many they can offer. And though the colleges championed earlier versions of the bills, last-minute changes moved to oppose the laws. Newsom wasn’t persuaded.

BREAKING: In a pivot, Gov. Newsom SIGNS two bills that overhaul how community colleges in CA form new bachelor's degrees. Newsom previously vetoed bills that sought to widen the colleges' ability to offer them. He wanted a more systematic approach. Comm. colleges OPPOSED the two bills. Context: