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    DoJ charges 28 green card holders in California over alleged voter fraud

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    Crackdown marks latest escalation in the Trump justice department’s push to target alleged noncitizen votingThe US Department of Justice has filed criminal charges against 28 green card holders in California accused of fraudulently registering to vote and casting illegal ballots.The crackdown marks another escalation in the federal government’s ongoing efforts against alleged noncitizen voting, efforts that Democrats and voting rights groups say are part of a strategy by the Trump administration to sow doubt in the results of the upcoming midterm elections. Continue reading… More

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      Trump administration threatens California officials if noncitizens vote in midterms

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      Justice department warns election officials of prosecution if they ‘knowingly tabulate ballots’ cast by noncitizensThe Trump administration is escalating its fight with California ahead of next month’s midterm elections, warning that local officials who process and tabulate ballots submitted by suspected noncitizen voters are putting themselves at risk of criminal investigation and potential prosecution.The letter on Friday from senior justice department officials and obtained first by the Associated Press is the latest salvo in an ongoing tussle with heavily Democratic California, coming just a day after the Trump administration sued the state to prevent it from counting mail-in ballots from people the federal government has identified as “likely” noncitizens until their immigration status can be confirmed. Continue reading… More

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      US justice department sues California over alleged noncitizen voting

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      DoJ had demanded that LA county confirm citizenship of people on list in thumb drive, but officials refusedUS politics live – latest updatesSend us your questions about immigration and the midtermsThe US Department of Justice sued California on Thursday, seeking a court order to prevent the state from tabulating certain ballots cast in the midterm elections.The suit came two days after the department made a specious demand to the state. On Tuesday, the department sent election officials in Los Angeles county a thumb drive with a handwritten password purporting to contain the names of noncitizens registered to vote. The department asked officials to confirm the citizenship of anyone on the list and set aside ballots from those whose status could not be confirmed. It gave the state 48 hours – an extremely narrow window – to take action. It did not provide details on how it came up with the names on the list. In its lawsuit, filed in federal court in the central district of California, the justice department said it had provided the state with more than 20,000 names of likely noncitizens. Continue reading… More

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      ‘The valley has been left behind’: how one of California’s poorest areas became its toughest political battleground

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      Rising costs and threatened healthcare benefits are testing voters’ loyalty to Trump as Democrat Randy Villegas challenges David ValadaoVanessa Martinez used to work two jobs to make ends meet. Now she works three.In another era, the 26-year-old from California’s hardscrabble Central valley could have been a poster child for the American Dream, the sort of ambitious, up-by-her-bootstraps personality that politicians of both major parties like to highlight. Continue reading… More

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      Republicans criticize Steve Hilton for ‘creepy’ innuendo-filled campaign ad

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      Hilton faces heavy backlash from within his own party for ‘Just Try It’ ad amid his longshot bid for California governorAsk our reporters your questions about the Iran war and the US midtermsSteve Hilton, the Republican candidate for California governor, is receiving heavy criticism from members of his own party over a controversial, sexual innuendo-filled campaign ad that has been described as “creepy”.The video entitled “Just Try It, California” was released last week and depicts two young women with brightly colored hair, sitting on a bed in front of a pride flag in low lighting. One nervously says “I can’t believe I’m doing this”, while another strokes her hair and coaxes “don’t be nervous, it’s not that bad” before guiding her to fill out a ballot for Hilton and aggressively commanding “lick it”. Continue reading… More

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      The surprising, cut-throat race for Los Angeles mayor

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      Karen Bass is fighting for her political life as progressives battle to lead the US’s second-largest cityAsk our reporters your questions about the Iran war and the US midtermsKaren Bass has never lost an election. But this fall, she faces the fight of her political life.Bass has roughly a month to convince voters that she should be elected to a second term as the mayor of Los Angeles. Given Angelenos’ broad dissatisfaction with the direction of the city, approval ratings on par with Donald Trump’s and a wave of anti-establishment sentiment sweeping American politics, she has a formidable challenge in city council member Nithya Raman. Continue reading… More

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      After a deadly paper mill explosion, a community in Washington state looks to a key House race

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      In a district shaken by deaths of 11 workers, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez faces a stiff challenge to keep her seatOn a misty morning in May in south-west Washington state, Laura Oltmann, a 41-year-old dietitian, had barely clocked in when an unfamiliar overhead announcement echoed through the hospital.“We get overhead pages for different types of emergencies. But this one, we don’t get very often,” recalled Oltmann. Continue reading… More

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      ‘It’s been hard’: families await the return of the USS Abraham Lincoln

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      After reports of suicide attempts and food shortages, the aircraft carrier is expected to dock in San Diego this week following a record-breaking 250-plus days at seaA mother in San Diego is counting down the days until her son comes home.“I had a big sign made, welcoming him back,” she said. “I can’t wait to see him.” Continue reading… More

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      The American dream remains elusive in the valley that inspired East of Eden

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      John Steinbeck’s hometown of Salinas is the least affordable city in the US for the middle class, a recent Brookings Institution analysis found Nestled between two mountain ranges at the crook of central California’s coastline sits a valley known as the “salad bowl of the world”.Farm workers stoop over neatly lined rows of crops off Highway 101 to harvest more than half of the nation’s supply of lettuce and nearly a third of its strawberries. The soil here is so rich that author John Steinbeck made the Salinas valley the promised land in his literary depictions of people chasing the American dream: immigrants, farm workers, westward-moving hopefuls, hungering for a better life. Continue reading… More