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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 09-FEBRUARY 15, 2026
Supreme Court declines bid to block California’s new congressional districts By Joe Taglieri
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Report: Bass directed watering down of Palisades Fire report; mayor denies it
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This map shows voting results in California counties for Proposition 50 congressional redistricting. | Image courtesy of MapperGuy87/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)
The plaintiffs asked judges for an injunction to stop the new district boundaries from taking effect, at least temporarily so the state’s original map would remain for the 2026 midterm election. Newsom applauded the Supreme Court’s decision Wednesday. “Donald Trump said he was ‘entitled’ to five more Congressional seats in Texas,” Newsom said in a statement. “He started this redistricting war. He
lost, and he’ll lose again in November.” Bonta said the high court’s refusal to block use of the new maps was “good news not only for Californians, but for our democracy.” “Let’s remember how we got here,” Bonta said in a statement. “President Trump told Governor Greg Abbott that Republicans were ‘entitled’ to five more See Redistricting Page 24
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By Jose Herrera, City News Service
joet@beaconmedianews.com he U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to consider an emergency bid by a group of California Republicans to block newly redrawn, voter-approved congressional districts in effect for the midterm election this fall. In a one-sentence order with no dissenting opinions, the nation’s high court rejected the emergency request by the California Republican Party, 19 individuals and later the U.S. Department of Justice, according to court documents. The Supreme Court rejection enables California to use the newly drawn lines for most of its 52 House districts during the congressional elections in November. California Democrats launched a redistricting effort in response to mid-decade redistricting by Texas Republicans last year. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and supporters aimed to help Republicans maintain their control of the House of Representatives. California officials sought a map that would enable Democrats to gain five House seats, offsetting the Republican seats picked up in Texas. Voters in California supported Proposition 50 in November, enacting the new district boundaries in effect through the end of the decade. Assemblyman David Tangipa, R-Fresno, the state Republican Party and a group of Republican voters, along with the U.S. Department of Justice, filed a lawsuit that claimed the redrawn lines were unconstitutional because they improperly used race as a factor in creating voter district boundaries. The suit named as defendants Gov. Gavin Newsom, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber.
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Congressional seats, and Texas Republicans fell in line. In direct response, and for explicitly partisan reasons, Governor Gavin Newsom and our Legislature advanced Proposition 50, presented it to the voters, and Californians overwhelmingly supported it. “With this latest win, my office has now successfully defended this critical ballot initiative on behalf
ayor Karen Bass’ office Wednesday denied a published story that said she directed the watering down of an after-action report that detailed alleged failings of the Los Angeles Fire Department during last year’s deadly Palisades Fire. The Los Angeles Times, quoting “two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office,” reported Wednesday that after receiving an early draft of the after- action report, the mayor told then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva that the report could result in legal liabilities for those failures. The Times reported that Bass held onto the original draft until after changes were made. It was unclear whether Villanueva or other LAFD officials, or anyone in the mayor’s office, made “line-by-line edits” at Bass’ specific instructions or if they imposed changes after receiving a general direction from the mayor. Bass had previously denied she was involved in softening the report. Then, in a statement Wednesday responding to The Times story, Bass’ office said the mayor and her staff made no changes to the drafts, and that Bass reviewed an early draft of the report and asked only that the LAFD make sure it was accurate on issues such as weather and budget. “The mayor has been clear about her concerns regarding pre-deployment and the LAFD’s response to the fire, which is why she called for an independent review of the Lachman Fire mop-up. There is absolutely See Fire report Page 24
no reason why she would request these details be altered or erased when she herself has been critical of the response to the fire -full stop,” according to the statement from the mayor’s office Wednesday. “This is muckraking journalism at its lowest form. It is dangerous and irresponsible for Los Angeles Times reporters to rely on thirdhand unsourced information to make unsubstantiated character attacks to advance a narrative that is false,” the statement continued. Bass later spoke on KNX News to vehemently deny that she directed edits to the after-action report. “Absolutely false, 100%,” Bass said referring to The Times story. “Just think about it for a minute. I’m the one who ordered the after-action report when the fire chief would not do it. I fired her. Why would I water down a report that essentially presented the information for why I fired her? That makes sense.” Bass removed thenLAFD Chief Kristin Crowley from her position, citing her failure to predeploy firefighters and fire trucks ahead of the Palisades Fire, among other issues. Crowley in turn sued the city and Bass, alleging that she had been defamed and retaliated against. Crowley also alleged negligence on the part of the city and Bass. Clara Karger, a spokeswoman for Bass’ office, had previously said, “The report was written and edited by the Fire Department. We did not red- line, review every page or review every draft of the report.”