California Politics 360 interviews this Sunday: •CA Attorney General Rob Bonta on Paramount-Warner Bros merger and settlement •CA Secretary of State Shirley Weber on her reelection bid •Asm. Al Muratsuchi & Asm. Josh Hoover on progress of the new “phone-free schools” law

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco must return more than a half-million ballots he seized for an investigation into unfounded voting improprieties in a special election last year, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. California AG Rob Bonta said Bianco "willfully defied my

BREAKING!! CA Supreme Court just ruled Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco illegally seized ballots last year. @CAGovernor Gavin Newsom on this welcome news: “Today’s ruling affirms that in California we will defend democracy — using every branch of government. And the new laws I signed just last week add new protections so attacks like this cannot happen again. People deserve to know their ballot is counted and secure, and in California we will do everything we can to protect that constitutional right — this year, and beyond.”

Despite the court order overnight, CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters are still being blocked from entering the White House grounds today. Yet for Xi’s visit, members of the Chinese state media are present.

In rare challenge to Trump, Mayor Lurie asks feds to release S.F. Assembly staffer sfchronicle.com/sf/article/l… via @sfchronicle

Very excited to work on this important project - feels very aligned with the California ethos to lead the way gov.ca.gov/2026/09/23/govern…

Update: Dana Williamson's health is "unstable" and her sentencing date is still TBD. New court records in case against Newsom's ex-top aide say prosecutors want a HIPAA waiver & are working to find a prison facility that can meet her healthcare needs. kcra.com/article/dana-willia…

JUST NOW: Governor Gavin Newsom meets with Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez.

This report comes after Spanish media reports that the PM of Spain met with Newsom instead of attending Trump’s reception. elpais.com/espana/2026-09-22…

ICE detains S.F. lawmaker’s staffer in Nevada, prompting call for release sfchronicle.com/politics/art…

nothing like standing up for the media after staff rushes you into an SUV and yells” thank you” to avoid any breakout of spontaneity. and, yeah, good on her for at least taking the one q but when your whole challenge is struggling off script, it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence when you leave a midterm surrogate event like a Mike Wallace camera crew is on the chase

TOMORROW: Join us for our 2026 Election Preview event! @melmason (@politico) moderates a conversation with @mlagos (@KQED, @LaurelRosenhall (@nytimes), and @ZavalaA (@kcranews) on the mood of the electorate ahead of November's election. 🔗 Learn more: bit.ly/4A9V2pT

According to my contacts in congress, Republican Tim Scott in SC will be leading the film tax credit legislation on the Senate side, and TX Republican Nathaniel Moran is leading in the House. Senator Schiff has been reportedly very conciliatory and instrumental in working with republicans to get this done, and it may happen *very* soon. White House and Treasury are aligned. We have record box office numbers in the film industry this year, but only foreigners and the above-the-line stars and studio execs are benefitting from it. Having a film tax credit will give AMERICAN blue collar film-workers a cut of the action and bring back tens of billions in economic activity to the US. Hollywood is going to keep making money no matter what we do, but the only way American workers benefit is with this legislation. No matter what you think of all the parties involved, whether it's President Trump or Senator Schiff, they have both been extremely gracious and diligent on this issue...to be frank, it's been very inspiring working with all of them. I'm glad to see both democrats and republicans get something done to help America. NOW PASS IT!!!

We are credentialed by the United Nations to cover the General Assembly.

For the record, Donald Trump told me in 2015 he would not do what he is doing now--banning news outlets he did not like from the White House briefing room. From an interview for TIME: time.com/article/2015/01/07/…

We’ve reached a settlement agreement with Paramount that includes court enforceable guardrails to resolve the antitrust issues at the center of our case, protect competition and consumer choice, and provide for the production of significantly more films and a minimum of $1.5 billion in additional investment in domestic film production. Over and over, our office has heard from people who would be most impacted by the merger that what matters most is consistent film output, domestic production, and protecting jobs. Today’s settlement protects workers, jobs, and Hollywood. oag.ca.gov/news/press-releas…

Gov. Gavin Newsom has left California and will spend most of the rest of the week in New York. He’s scheduled to attend Climate Week events between today and Thursday.

What lessons from social media regulation are California lawmakers considering with AI safety? Asm. @JoshLowenthal: when it comes to AI...we're not going to wait.. Asm. @Patterdude: the conversations happening on social media drove conversations on AI

The primary White House TV pool is made up of 5 networks: CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, and FOX. We take turns covering POTUS for pooled events and trips, and then share footage with the other 4 plus other outlets. Today there is no tv pool, so Trump won’t have a crew with him at UNGA.