Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
A Riverside County judge this week unsealed the search warrants County Sheriff Chad Bianco used to seize ballots from last year’s special election — allowing the public to see what evidence Bianco cited to justify what he described as a “fact-finding mission” about the election’s accuracy.
As CalMatters reporters explain, records show the sheriff’s department has been in contact with a citizens’ group that claims 46,000 more ballots were certified than were cast. That was enough for local Judge Jay Keel — whom Bianco endorsed in 2022 when Keel ran for the bench — to sign the orders.
But days before Kiel signed the last two of the three orders, the county’s registrar of voters told county supervisors the activist group didn’t understand the data they were looking at.
Nor did Bianco’s investigators cite any inside tips, witnesses or independent forensic analysis to support their desire to investigate. The affidavits from investigators did not have the signature of a prosecutor in the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, although it is typical in California for a deputy district attorney to review police search warrants to make sure they are legally airtight.
Experts disagree on whether Bianco, who is also a Republican candidate for governor, has probable cause to justify seizing the ballots.
Paul Pfingst, a former San Diego district attorney, says he believes the information in the affidavits “exceeds” the standards for meeting probable cause.
But Carl Luna, director of San Diego State University’s Institute for Civic Civic Engagement, says the activist group is “the political equivalent of flat-earthers who refuse to look at any facts that don’t support their unsupportable views.”
- Moon: “The fact that Sheriff Bianco, an elected representative of the people of Riverside County, is using this group’s baseless allegations of fraud as what amounts to a campaign stunt is … evidence that casts doubt on his fitness to lead the state.”
Be part of the conversations driving California forward at the CalMatters Festival of Ideas on May 21 in Sacramento. Get your tickets now.
Join CalMatters and the UC Center for Students and Policy on April 23 in Sacramento for a conversation about the future of voting in California. Register today.
Join CalMatters on April 22 in Pasadena to talk about recovery from the devastating Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025. Sign up.
Watch six of California’s gubernatorial candidates discuss issues close to the heart of Latino and immigrant families April 14 at 5:30pm on YouTube.
Other stories you should know
Students help rebuild LA after wildfires
In the absence of federal support, California community college students are helping rebuild homes after the deadly Palisades and Eaton firesAdam Echelman of CalMatters reports.
After last year’s wildfires, the city of Los Angeles needs more than 100,000 new construction workers, electricians and other construction-related workers. Last year, the state awarded five Los Angeles community colleges a total of $5 million to educate students and address workforce shortages.
This includes Los Angeles Trade and Technical College, which has a four-semester carpentry program where students learn how to build concrete foundations, drill rebar and construct the frame of a building.
The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office is asking Gov. Gavin Newsom for an additional $20 million this year to support training efforts in the region. Last May, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency canceled the remaining grants, intended in part to help fund the college’s construction programs.
- Brigitte HirschEPA spokesperson, in an email to CalMatters: “Perhaps the Biden-Harris administration should not have pushed its radical agenda of wasteful DEI programs and ‘environmental justice’ priorities into EPA’s core mission. Thankfully, those days are gone.”
Feds Criticize California’s New Oil Drilling Law
In the latest finger-pointing for the state’s high gas prices, the U.S. Energy Secretary visited Long Beach on Wednesday to nasty recent California lawwrite Alejandra Reyes-Velarde and Alejandro Lazo of CalMatters.
Secretary Chris Wright visited an oil rig owned by Synergy Gas & Oil, which is currently embroiled in a dispute with the state. Almost a year ago, the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority and Synergy entered into a land swap deal. Land in Long Beach will be transformed from an oil field to public wetlands; the company took over more valuable land and earned environmental credits.
But Synergy is struggling to get drilling permits because of a new state law banning new oil wells near homes and schools. President Donald Trump’s administration sued California earlier this year over the law, arguing it illegally blocked businesses controlled by the federal government.
- Wright: “When you make energy more expensive by … imposing absurd regulations on it, you not only make it more expensive to pay your bills, but you make it so that businesses that consume energy are not located (in) your state.”
In response, Anthony Martinez, a spokesman for the governor, said gas prices are high because of Trump’s “reckless war on Iran” and that “Americans have paid $10 billion more for gas since this war began.”
And finally: the CA GOP convention begins
The California Republican Party’s annual convention begins today in San Diego. In addition to endorsing some congressional races in the post-Proposition 50 landscape, the GOP will consider who to back for governor following Trump’s endorsement of Steve Hilton. Read more by Nadia Lathan and Maya S. Miller of CalMatters.
California voices
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: California has a history of putting dueling measures on the same ballot, and this year’s potential competing ballot initiatives related to health care, ride-sharing companies and taxes are no exception.
Rising premiums are wage cuts in disguise for working families and the goals set by the Office of Health Care Affordability to limit the growth of health care costs are an overdue course correction, writes Glenn MelnickBlue Cross of California, Health Finance Chairman.
Addressing the health care crisis in rural California calls for more transparency about how rebates from the federal 340B program — which allows hospitals to buy drugs at a lower cost — are used, writes Julie Gill Sheffieldexecutive director of Patients Come First-California.
Other things worth your time:
Immigrant enrollment in Medi-Cal is declining. Researchers point to Trump’s policies // Los Angeles Times
Once Tom Steyer made it $90 million stake in company that now operates CA ICE facility // The Sacramento Bee
CA Insurance Commissioner defends bill with strong opposition // The Sacramento Bee
At ICE detention centersmedical misdiagnoses and delays prove deadly // San Francisco Chronicle
Truck drivers in CA are bending over backwards below the most expensive diesel in the country // Los Angeles Times
CA investigates claims of hospice fraud by right-wing influencer. Here’s what he found // San Francisco Chronicle
Inside CA’s audacious offer to build the world’s deepest floating wind farm // Los Angeles Times
Silicon Valley is booming. So why does the system feel like it’s breaking down? // The Mercury News
Los Angeles officials mulling ‘mansion tax’ changes.but critics say the proposed fixes don’t go far enough // LAist
