The Brief

The ink isn’t dry on an expansion of pension benefits for California police and firefighters — in fact, Gov. Gavin Newsom hasn’t even signed it into law — but unions are already negotiating contracts as if their members could soon be eligible for more lucrative retirement formulas.

It sweetens the perks for public safety employees by allowing them to retire with full benefits at 55 rather than 57, and it allows their unions to bargain for more generous pension formulas by increasing the maximum accrual rate to 3% per year of service from today’s 2.7%.

It also includes a provision that will boost retirement income for all higher-earning public employees by increasing a cap on how much they can receive from their pensions.

The Senate passed the measure by a vote of 33-0. It passed by a similarly overwhelming majority of 70-2 in the Assembly.

“I’m supporting this because the men and women who run toward fire, violent crime and life threatening emergencies are not working ordinary jobs,” said Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares, a Republican representing Lancaster.

If Newsom signs Assembly Bill 1383, it will mark the state’s first enhancement of public employee pensions since former Gov. Jerry Brown championed a law that required public employees hired after 2013 to work longer for full benefits and kick in more money from their paychecks to fund their retirements.

Brown’s law followed the back-to-back financial crises of the dot-com bust and the Great Recession, which obliterated tens of billions of dollars of assets in California pension funds and set off fears that they could become insolvent.

California’s largest pension fund has not fully clawed out from its recession-era losses. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System as of July 1 held assets worth $637 billion, or about 85% of what it owes to its 2 million members over time.

CalPERS over the last decade has ratcheted up the rates it charges cities, counties and the state, both by requiring employers to pay down losses faster and by revising its earnings targets to acknowledge that it expects to earn less money from investments. Payroll and employer contributions to CalPERS totaled $14.9 billion in the 2017 financial year; by 2025, the number climbed to $30.2 billion, according to the pension fund’s annual financial reports.

The new retirement bill would require government employers and employees to contribute an additional $282 million to CalPERS to cover the lower retirement age and increased cap on pensionable income. The sum is expected to increase by hundreds of millions of dollars more if all public safety agencies agree to pay the maximum benefits, according to the California Department of Finance.

The finance department, which reports to Newsom, recommended that lawmakers reject the bill.

The measure would also apply to pension systems outside of CalPERS, including 20 that are managed by counties.

Cities, counties fought pension expansion

California local government agencies united in opposing the measure. They’re now hoping Newsom will veto it.

“We want to pay our police and fire and all our employees all we can, but it has to pencil out at the end,” said Napa Mayor Scott Sedgley, who is a retired Napa firefighter.

Unions were confident the measure would pass because it sailed through every vote in the Legislature, with Republicans joining with Democrats in arguing it’s an important investment in public safety.

Some local police and fire unions insisted on including clauses in new contracts that reopen bargaining over retirement benefits if Newsom signs the bill. One was in Napa, where the city recently struck a five-year contract with its firefighter union that includes a reopening pensions connected to the bill that just passed the Legislature.

The unions “don’t want to miss the year, two years, or whatever they’re locked into their agreement,” said attorney Michael Youril of the firm Liebert Cassidy Whitmore.

“I would say there’s going to be immense pressure” on local government agencies to increase retirement benefits to the maximum rate allowed, he said.

San Diego Police Department officers arrest a group of protesters who barricaded themselves inside Mayor Todd Gloria’s office at San Diego City Hall in San Diego, on Jan. 23, 2026. The protesters demanded to meet with Gloria to discuss concerns about how SDPD interacts with federal immigration agents.

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Adriana Heldiz

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CalMatters

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Unions are allies to Gov. Newsom

The bill would benefit public safety unions that have been critical allies to Newsom, including California Professional Firefighters and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. Leaders of the firefighter union in particular lobbied for the lower retirement age by pointing to the toxic hazards their members face, which can shorten their careers and lives.

The unions stress that the bill does not fully unwind Brown’s pension law. Until that law took effect, police and firefighters could retire at 50 with even more generous pension formulas. They characterize the current bill as a modernization of the one Brown signed.

Revising the pensions has been the top legislative priority for the Peace Officers Research Association of California, an organization that represents California police unions. The association’s president, Brian Marvel, said the possibility of a Newsom veto worries him.

“We’re really hoping that the governor doesn't want to go down that path because we really feel that this is a great opportunity for him to leave office addressing a huge issue within public safety,” Marvel said.

Recruiting and retention have been a problem, Marvel said.

“We want to make sure that we have the necessary resources to be able to address what the community’s needs are,” he said.

If the bill doesn’t get past Newsom, Marvel said law enforcement groups “would have to have serious conversations regarding his veto” if Newsom seeks the presidency.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

William Contreras hit a tying homer in the fifth and singled home the go-ahead run an inning later as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

Four relievers combined to retire the last 15 Dodgers batters in order as the Brewers took a 2-0 lead over the two-time defending World Series champions in this best-of-seven series, which heads to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday.

The Brewers are chasing their second pennant and first in the NL. They made their lone World Series appearance in 1982, when they were in the American League.

Los Angeles is trying to become the first NL team to win three straight World Series. The Dodgers last rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win a series in 2020, when they beat the Atlanta Braves in a seven-game NLCS before going on to win the World Series.

The Dodgers will need more punch from their lineup to have a chance at getting back to the Fall Classic. They mustered just three hits Monday and went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position to drop to 2 for 26 in those situations this postseason.

Los Angeles couldn’t even get a boost from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who entered 8-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 11 career playoff appearances. Yamamoto lasted just 2 2/3 innings for his shortest postseason start.

The Dodgers took the lead on three occasions in the first five innings. Milwaukee responded each time, the last coming when Contreras tied the game with a 436-foot homer to center off Kris Bubic in the fifth.

That turned the game into a battle of the bullpens, where the Brewers again had the edge.

Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby combined to shut down the Dodgers after Logan Henderson’s early exit.

The score was tied 4-all when Milwaukee’s David Hamilton was hit by a pitch from Brock Stewart to lead off the sixth. Stewart attempted a pickoff throw that went off the glove of first baseman Freddie Freeman and into foul territory for an error, advancing Hamilton to second.

After Jackson Chourio grounded out, the right-handed Stewart walked the left-handed-hitting Brice Turang to face the right-handed Contreras, who had homered in his previous plate appearance.

Contreras singled to left this time to bring home Hamilton with the go-ahead run.

Turang and Jake Bauers added RBI singles in the eighth to extend Milwaukee’s lead.

Neither starter lasts long

The anticipated pitchers’ duel between Yamamoto and Henderson didn’t work out according to plan.

In three previous playoff starts following Dodgers losses, Yamamoto had gone 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA. When he faced the Brewers in last year’s NLCS, he threw the first playoff complete game since Justin Verlander did it in 2017.

This time, Yamamoto couldn’t even make it out of the third inning before leaving with the Dodgers behind 3-2.

Henderson entered Monday having not allowed more than three runs in any of his 24 career starts (including the postseason). That streak ended when he allowed four runs over four innings.

Because Henderson committed two errors — matching his previous career total — only two of the runs were earned.

Milwaukee trailed 2-1 in the third when Bauers capped a 12-pitch plate appearance by taking a 3-2 offering in the dirt to load the bases with a walk. Christian Yelich followed by lining a single up the middle that brought home two runs and knocked Yamamoto out of the game.

Los Angeles bailed out Yamamoto by scoring twice in the fifth.

After Kyle Tucker hit a leadoff double, Tommy Edman sacrificed him to third. Henderson fielded the bunt and made a wild throw to first, enabling Tucker to score and moving Edman to second.

Edman advanced to third when Mookie Betts grounded out, and scored on Freeman’s sacrifice fly.

Henderson also had made a wild throw to first on a pickoff attempt in the third inning that allowed Edman to score from third.

Up next

Robert Gasser (5-5, 3.87 ERA) is expected to start for Milwaukee in Game 3. Gasser allowed one run over five innings when the Brewers won 3-1 at San Diego to clinch their NL Division Series.

The Dodgers hadn’t announced their Game 3 starting pitcher.

Actor and disability rights advocate RJ Mitte, who brought a lifetime of experience with cerebral palsy to fictional family struggles in an essential role on “Breaking Bad,” died Monday at age 34, authorities and his representatives said.

Cameron County Justice of the Peace Cyndi Hinojosa told The Associated Press she declared Mitte dead at about 1:30 p.m. at what she believed was his home in Brownsville, Texas. She said she was unable to provide a cause, but an autopsy will be performed.

Mitte played Walter White Jr., the son of Bryan Cranston’s chemistry teacher-turned-meth dealer Walter White on nearly every episode of the five seasons of the AMC show, which recently ranked as the best of the 21st century in a New York Times poll.

Diagnosed at age 3, Mitte told the AP in 2014 that his disability and the surrounding struggles with physical therapy, family problems and exorbitant medical bills — all key subjects on the show — made him better at his job.“You develop a different mentality and you develop a different look at how the world sees you and how you see the world,” he said. “You’re able to use that. And I think it’s an asset instead of something that would hinder.”

Mitte was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi.

He landed small guest roles on sitcoms after moving to Los Angeles to act in 2006. Like his character, he was in his mid-teens when he began his work on “Breaking Bad,” starting in 2007. The show ran from 2008 to 2013.

“Mitte brought authenticity to the role and built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion,” the actor’s representatives said in a statement announcing his death. The statement said he used “his platform to challenge stereotypes and promote greater representation.”

His later credits included the ABC Family series “Switched at Birth” and the superhero satire series “Guardians of Justice.”

He was also a producer of several independent films.

As an advocate, he served as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children’s. He was also president of his own Mitte Foundation supporting philanthropic and community initiatives around disabilities.

The drumbeat of monster hurricanes in the Pacific has broken a record for nasty long-lasting storms east of the international date line, turbocharged by nature’s supersized El Niño, scientists said.

“Since September 20th, when Odalys formed, it’s been berserk,” said Colorado State University researcher Phil Klotzbach, who forecasts and studies storm activity. “This year just everything that forms is just lasting a long time and getting really powerful.”

One of the key measurements meteorologists use to judge hurricane seasons is called accumulated cyclone energy, or ACE, which includes a storm’s wind speed and longevity. On Sunday, a section of the Pacific east of the date line, which brews storms headed for Hawaii, Mexico and the U.S. West Coast, passed the old mark set in 2018. The area is still going strong with Hurricane Simon and appears on the verge of spawning another one that will really ramp up in strength, Klotzbach said.

On Tuesday, the Pacific will tie a record for most days with a hurricane spinning and is likely to break it soon after that, Klotzbach said.

“It feels like almost everything that can spin up does spin up,” said University of Arizona atmospheric scientist Kim Wood.

El Niño and warm water are boosting Pacific hurricanes

Several meteorological factors have come together to supercharge the Pacific, chief among them the El Niño, Klotzbach and other hurricane researchers said. An El Niño weakens and shifts the high altitude vertical winds that otherwise can dampen or even decapitate storms. In the Pacific, that wind shear runs east to west, generally with the direction storms travel, so it’s like riding a bicycle with a tail wind, Klotzbach said.

Meanwhile, the weather pattern has dampened hurricanes in the Atlantic, where the ACE is less than 18% of what’s normal for this time of year. El Niño makes the wind shear in the Atlantic like riding into a headwind, he said.

Another factor is warm water, which serves as hurricane fuel. By definition El Niño is a warming of the equatorial Pacific that changes weather worldwide. In the Pacific storm basin, it’s several degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal, said Kristen Corbosiero, a professor of storm atmospheric sciences at the University at Albany in New York.

Usually in the Pacific, the extra warm storm-friendly water doesn’t run as deep as it does in the Atlantic. So when one storm goes over a patch of water, it brings up cold water and makes it hard for a subsequent storm in the same area to stay alive, Wood said. But not this year.

Hurricane Rachel, whose remnants swamped Las Vegas over the weekend, didn’t suffer as it went over, churned up by Category 5 Hurricane Polo, Wood said. She said the waters are warm from both El Niño and climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas.

Another factor in recent storms was a counterclockwise atmosphere spin over Central America — called a gyre — that spits out seeds of stormy weather that can form into hurricanes. It spit out both the Atlantic’s Isaias and the Pacific’s Simon at about the same time, Corbosiero and Klotzbach said.

Five major hurricanes in a row

The last five Pacific hurricanes — long-lasting Nolo, Odalys, Polo, Rachel and Simon — have all reached major status with winds of at least 111 mph (178.6 kph). Nolo, Odalys and Simon hit Category 4, while Polo set the record for time spent at Category 5 at two-and-a-half days.

When Klotzbach made those calculations on the record-breaking activity of the eastern and central Pacific, he looked at all storms east of the date line.

That’s a slightly different approach from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which breaks that broad area into two regions. Neither NOAA-defined region is quite at record levels for ACE yet; put together they are.

Part of that is because often when one of those subregions is more active, the other isn’t quite as crazy, but in 2026 they both are hyperactive, Wood said.≠

“This is the first year that both sides have been this active together,” Wood said. “Usually it’s kind of focused more on one or the other, so that speaks to just the wide extent across this region of where there’s been that lower shear, those warmer waters, and that higher moisture.”

Off the Mexican coast is a disturbance that the National Hurricane Center gives a 90% chance of becoming Tropical Storm Trudy, which then could power up to something big, Klotzbach and Corbosiero said.

“It seems like that area is just one after another. So I would not be surprised to have another storm,” Corbosiero said. “This year, because of the El Niño, we do have very favorable conditions. So as long as there’s some sort of the seeds either from the gyre or from remnant ends of cold fronts, it seems like this is going to continue for a bit.”

California students enrolled in public colleges and universities are now eligible to apply for CalFresh, the state’s food benefits program, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.

Students enrolled in a degree program at a California Community College, California State University or the University of California may be eligible for up to $300 a month to spend on food at grocery stores and farmers markets.

“We can’t expect students to learn if they’re hungry, and in California, there is no reason for them to be, whether they’re in kindergarten, high school, or college,” Newsom said in a Friday statement. “You shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get the food benefits you’re entitled to, and now you don’t have to.”

Those who are enrolled in an associate or bachelor’s degree program, at least half time, can apply here. Newsom said that the state expects more than 200,000 additional students to enroll in CalFresh after program expansion.

“This is what government is supposed to do: help the people we serve. It is my hope that these changes will continue to make it easier for students to access CalFresh, the largest anti-hunger program in the country,” California Department of Social Services Director Jennifer Troia said in a Friday statement.