The Brief

A Democratic California senator is now considering suing Sacramento police for what she alleges was a “politically motivated” false DUI arrest intended to “silence” an LGBTQ Latina lawmaker, her attorney tells CalMatters.

Officers have insisted that they acted professionally, and they say they had evidence to believe Sen. Sabrina Cervantes was driving under the influence of drugs even though a blood test reportedly later proved otherwise.

Meanwhile, a Democratic district attorney insists that politics had nothing to do with his decision not to file charges.

Who’s telling the truth? At this point, the public has no way of corroborating anyone’s account.

That’s because authorities are refusing to release records such as body camera footage, police reports and search warrants that would shed light on what happened on May 19 when Sacramento police accused Cervantes, of Riverside, of driving under the influence following a crash a few blocks from the Capitol. She was exonerated nearly two weeks later, after prosecutors said no intoxicating substances were found in Cervantes’ blood.

It’s troubling that officials have refused to release records pertaining to a criminal investigation of an elected public official, said David Snyder, the executive director of the First Amendment Coalition. He said the records authorities are withholding could “shed light on whether she was being harassed or whether she was being treated deferentially.”

“There are a lot of different narratives flying around,” he said. “And in order to sort out those narratives, the public is entitled to see what the police know and what they believed at the time.”

Instead, the public is left with conflicting accounts of what happened after a driver allegedly ran through a stop sign and smashed into Cervantes’ state-owned car that Monday afternoon. Police cited the other driver for running the stop sign.

Conflicting accounts of Cervantes’ treatment

After the crash, a Sacramento Police Department spokesperson told CalMatters that Cervantes was cited for suspicion of “driving a motor vehicle under the influence of a central nervous system depressant.”

When the Sacramento County district attorney announced last month that no charges would be filed, police released a second statement. In it, police claimed that when officers met Cervantes at a Sacramento hospital, they “observed objective signs that led them to believe she may have been impaired while operating a motor vehicle.”

“The officers remained professional throughout, taking time to explain the process and answer all of the senator’s questions,” the statement said.

Officers said Cervantes initially declined to participate with officers’ sobriety tests. So they asked a judge for a warrant for Cervantes to submit to a blood test and told Cervantes they had requested one.

“While the warrant was being written and processed, the senator agreed to voluntarily provide a blood sample,” police said. Officers opted to wait for a judge to sign the warrant before conducting the blood draw, police said.

The district attorney said prosecutors reviewed “all the submitted evidence, including police reports, witness statements, and laboratory results.”

“Based on our ethical duty and the burden of proof in a criminal trial, the Sacramento County DA’s Office declines to file any charges in this case,” Shelly Orio, a spokeswoman for the office, said in a May 30 email.

Cervantes maintained her innocence from the start and claimed police treated her harshly.

In a statement to reporters after police announced the DUI arrest, she said officers “accosted” her while she was being checked out at a hospital and that drug and alcohol tests would prove her sobriety.

Cervantes released heavily redacted records she said were from her hospital visit, in which a test showed a blood alcohol content of near zero. A separate urine test taken the day after the crash showed a clean drug screen.

Was senator targeted for race, sexual orientation?

On Tuesday, Cervantes’ San Francisco attorney, James Quadra, told CalMatters his client is considering filing a lawsuit alleging police violated her “state and federal rights, constitutional rights, civil rights, and to address defamatory statements made against her.”

Quadra said he and his client believe the Sacramento officers targeted Cervantes because of who she is.

“We believe they (police) were politically motivated because of how the information was disseminated (to the press), and the whole sort of picture of her being under the influence,” he said. “To our view, it’s to try to silence an active member of the Latino Democratic Caucus, of the LGBTQ+ caucus. They want to silence her voice.”

Quadra said officers at the hospital refused to let her call her attorney or her wife, and then after citing her for DUI, “leaked” the information about the case to reporters to smear her.

“It’s like a police state,” Quadra said. “It’s what we’re seeing across the country, especially with Latinos, and she’s a member of that community.”

Sacramento police spokesperson Sgt. Dan Wiseman said he couldn’t comment on Quadra’s allegations. The department declined to make Chief Katherine Lester available for an interview.

Officials reject CalMatters’ record requests

The day after the crash, CalMatters reviewed footage from a nearby office building’s security camera that appears to show Cervantes wasn’t at fault.

The footage showed a white SUV rolling through a stop sign and careening into Cervantes’ black sedan at the intersection in midtown Sacramento. Cervantes appeared to have had the right-of-way.

CalMatters also filed requests under the California Public Records Act seeking body camera footage, police reports and the search warrant. A warrant would include investigators’ affidavits detailing to a judge why they believe they had probable cause to draw Cervantes’ blood.

A month later, the police department hasn’t released any of the records, saying the traffic collision remains under investigation, despite the district attorney clearing Cervantes and police citing the other driver. California police have broad discretion to withhold investigative records indefinitely and regardless of whether the investigation has concluded.

At center, Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho speaks during a press conference in Sacramento on May 29, 2025.

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Nathaniel Levine

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The Sacramento Bee via Reuters

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CalMatters also sought copies of the search warrant from Sacramento County Superior Court and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. The district attorney’s office cited the same exemption to the public records act that allows agencies to indefinitely withhold investigative records.

Wiseman said officers had returned the search warrant to the court, but when CalMatters asked for it at the courthouse Tuesday a Sacramento County Superior Court clerk said it wasn’t available.

Quadra, Cervantes’ attorney, said his client is “100% behind any and all records being released.”

“She is unafraid of that, because the records will clearly establish that she wasn’t under the influence of anything,” he said. “She was a victim of an accident. She was T-boned and taken to the hospital.”

DA denies ‘partisanship’ played a role

CalMatters also sought under the public records act correspondence between the District Attorney’s Office and California lawmakers that might show whether Cervantes or other influential political figures sought to influence the decision of District Attorney Thien Ho, who is also a Democrat.

The district attorney’s office replied that it had no relevant records. But the agency refused to release Ho’s appointment calendar for the month of May, saying it was confidential and that “the public interest served by not disclosing these outweighs the public interest served by disclosing them.” Other agencies routinely release appointment calendars of top officials.

Ho didn’t respond to an interview request through his spokesperson, replying instead with a brief emailed statement.

“Regarding your allegation of partisanship, we stand by our decision that no charges be filed since the lab results found no evidence of alcohol or drugs,” the statement said.

Snyder, of the First Amendment Coalition, said the public should be troubled by the secrecy surrounding the case.

“The public,” he said, “is entitled to know whether the police are applying the law even-handedly, or whether they’re creating exceptions based on who the person at issue is.”

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

Two of the three hikers found dead last week at Mt. Baldy have been identified.

They are Juan Sarat Lopez, 37, and Bayron Pedro Ramos Garcia, 36, according to authorities on Saturday. Both men are Guatemalan nationals living in Los Angeles.

Investigators believe the two fell from the Devil’s Backbone Trail the same day they were found.

Their bodies were discovered when a search-and-rescue crew was dispatched to search for another missing hiker, who was reported to have fallen 500 feet near Devil’s Backbone Trail.

That person was identified later as Marcus Alexander Muench Casanova, 19, of Seal Beach.

Trails still closed

Hiking trails on and around Mount Baldy have been closed by authorities after the deceased hikers were found, until 11:59 p.m. Jan. 7.

“Our primary responsibility is the preservation of life,” Sheriff Shannon Dicus said in a social media message sent on New Year's Eve. “Closing these trails is a necessary step to mitigate ongoing risks. We urge the community to respect these boundaries.”

The following trails will be closed:

• Forest System Trail No. 7W12 - Mount Baldy Trail
• Forest System Trail No. 7W02 - Mount Baldy Bowl Trail
• Forest System Trail No. 7W05 - Devil’s Backbone Trail
• Forest System Trail No. 7W06 - Three T’s Trail
• Forest System Trail No. 7W07 - Icehouse Canyon Trail
• Forest System Trail No. 7W07A - Chapman Trail
• Forest System Trail No. 7W08 - Ontario Peak Trail

Hours after the U.S. military captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, President Trump made it clear that the U.S. operation is about — at least in part — control of Venezuela's oil.

"We're going to have our very large U.S. oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country," Trump said during a press conference Saturday.

The capture of Maduro and Trump's comments comes at a time when even a country like Venezuela — with one of the biggest oil resources in the world — isn't a sure bet for attracting major oil companies.

Many oil companies have been bruised by their past experiences operating in the country. The global oil market is currently facing an oversupply. Oil prices are below $60 a barrel, and long-term projections for oil demand are unclear as the world shifts to more electric vehicles.

Trump promises to "run the country" and make way for U.S. oil companies in Venezuela. However, there's a long history of U.S. interventions in Latin America and the Middle East not going well, oil experts tell NPR.

Here's what you need to know about Venezuela's oil.

Venezuela has huge oil reserves, but now produces a fraction of what it used to

Venezuela was once one of the biggest global oil producers and was one of the main founders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a group of some of the world's biggest oil producers, whose decisions help determine global oil prices. Venezuela has the largest proven reserves of oil in the world, according to OPEC.

But while the country was producing more than 3 million barrels a day a few decades ago, today Venezuela produces only about a million barrels a day, or roughly 1% of global oil output. The U.S. produces about 13 million barrels a day.

Much of Venezuela's oil went to refineries in the U.S. Now much of it goes to China.

Not all crude oil is the same — some oil is physically lighter and easier for refineries to process. Venezuela's oil is heavy and dense, and requires special refineries. Burning any type of oil contributes to climate change, but Venezuela's oil is "among the dirtiest oils in the world to produce when it comes to global warming," says Paasha Mahdavi, associate professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The El Palito refinery rises above Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025.

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Matias Delacroix

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AP Photo

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Venezuela owes some U.S. oil companies billions

U.S. oil companies like Chevron began drilling in Venezuela about one hundred years ago and played a key role in developing the country's oil sector.

But around 2004 to 2007, then-President Hugo Chávez "basically forcefully renegotiated contracts" with international oil companies, says Francisco Monaldi, director of the Latin America Energy Program at the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University.

ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips left the country in 2007 and then took the Venezuelan government to international arbitration courts. The courts ordered Venezuela to pay ConocoPhillips over $10 billion and ExxonMobil over $1 billion. Venezuela has only paid a fraction of those sums to ExxonMobil and to ConocoPhillips.

Chevron, however, stayed in Venezuela — although " they didn't like it," says Gerald Kepes, president of Competitive Energy Strategies, an energy consultancy in Washington, D.C.

Chevron today produces about a quarter of Venezuela's oil.

In response to the news of Maduro's capture, Chevron spokesperson Bill Turenne said in an email, "Chevron remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets. We continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations."

Trump has said that Venezuela has "stolen" U.S. investment in the country's energy sector.

Will U.S. oil companies return?

Venezuela is what the oil industry calls a "brownfield" — meaning it's well established, and oil companies have a fairly good idea of what they will find when they drill. For companies like ConocoPhillips, returning to Venezuela could be an opportunity to recoup some of the billions owed to them by the government, Monaldi says.

In an email, ConocoPhillips spokesperson Dennis Nuss wrote, "ConocoPhillips is monitoring developments in Venezuela and their potential implications for global energy supply and stability. It would be premature to speculate on any future business activities or investments."

ExxonMobil did not respond to a request for comment.

Still, this isn't the best time to add to the global oil supply, Monaldi says. There's currently a worldwide glut of oil. Also, because Venezuela's oil is particularly bad for the climate, that makes it less attractive for European oil companies with climate goals, Monaldi says.

Aerial view of a ship at the Demerara river in Georgetown, Guyana on August 29, 2025.

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JOAQUIN SARMIENTO

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AFP via Getty Images

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Venezuela's neighbor is a rising oil star

Next door to Venezuela is Guyana — a country that recently discovered over 10 billion barrels of oil and is a key emerging player in the international oil industry.

Guyana's oil is lighter than Venezuela's, less polluting, and has lower taxes than Venezuela, Monaldi says. There's also no national oil company in Guyana, as there is in Venezuela.

"All that makes for Guyana to be one of the most attractive oil places in the world," Monaldi says.

While ExxonMobil is no longer in Venezuela, it is a major player in Guyana.

For years, Venezuela and Guyana have had a territorial dispute that has also been related to oil rights. Last March, Venezuelan vessels entered Guyanese territorial waters approaching offshore oil vessels belonging to ExxonMobil.

"Without a doubt, with a changing regime, Guyana should feel more secure," Monaldi says.

Lack of political stability could be a deal breaker 

Some increase in Venezuela's oil production could happen fairly quickly with more financial support and improved management, according to an analysis by Wood Mackenzie, an energy consultancy.

But Mahdavi says the Trump administration's plans to jumpstart the industry will be difficult. He notes that it took nearly two decades to revitalize Iraq's oil industry after the U.S. invasion, though corruption and mismanagement remain pervasive.

And ultimately, notes Kepes, if it's unclear who is in charge in Venezuela, oil companies will have concerns about the long-term viability of their contracts. "No one's going to start investing on the ground in a place where there's no legal contract and viable permission to operate or if there's concerns about political stability and violence," he says.

Copyright 2026 NPR

The Palisadian-Post, the community paper that’s been covering the Pacific Palisades for nearly 100 years, printed its final issue on Christmas Day.

After January’s fires, subscriptions basically fell to zero, as did advertisers, according to a memo announcing the paper's closure from owner Alan Smolinisky.

But its end brings with it nearly a century of memories.

The Post remembered

The seaside community of Pacific Palisades was founded by members of the Methodist church in 1922. Six years later, the first issue of what would become the Pali-Post was published to document town life.

“ A little 12-point, 12-page tabloid, they called the Palisadian” said Bill Bruns, a former editor of the Palisadian-Post from 1993 to 2013, and member of the Pacific Palisades Historical Society. Before he was editor, Bruns was a loyal reader of the paper.

In 1934, the paper was purchased by Clifford Clearwater, one of the first settlers of the Palisades. Bruns said Clearwater had been an ambulance driver in World War I, and was the Palisades's original postal carrier where he would deliver mail by horseback.

He wasn’t trained as a journalist, but his life experiences gave him the confidence to keep publishing the paper, serving as its photographer and editor until his death in 1956.

“He had a friend who had a little plane and he would take Cliff up and Cliff would shoot these great aerial pictures of the town growing, hanging out of this little plane,” Bruns said.

Over the years, Clearwater took about 3,000 aerial photos of the community as it developed and grew. All of those pictures survived the Palisades Fire and are stored at the Santa Monica Library for the public to see.

In 1950, a rival paper — the Pacific Palisades Post — came on the scene and by the end of the next decade, the two papers would merge to become the Pali-Post that most people think of today.

Bill Bruns (back right) poses for a picture with the rest of the "Palisadian-Post" staff in 2013.

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Bill Bruns

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A 'heyday' for community news

The paper changed hands again in 1981 and a little over a decade later, Bruns began as editor.

With an average of about 30 pages to fill every week, he said what readers appreciated most was the focus on local news. Reporters went in person to cover stories and were often seen at local meetings, sports events and businesses.

“So they knew that they were getting firsthand coverage of what was happening in the town,” Bruns said.

Readers like Sue Kohl who lived in the Palisades for 32 years, respected the breadth of its coverage.

The Post covered school sports her children participated in. She said it featured plenty of advertisements from neighborhood businesses, including her own real estate agency. She especially liked the small town bulletin feel of the paper.

“They talked about local issues. They talked about local residents, whether they were famous or not famous,” Kohl said.

One of her favorite sections to read was the “Two Cents” column, stray thoughts and opinions from Palisadians. She also appreciated the in-depth obituaries.

Bruns said the obit section was always appreciated by the families since the paper didn’t charge for them.

“ Because we didn't charge, people would write nice obituaries because they weren't worried about the cost and they would give us a picture and we ran those,” Bruns said.

The old "Pacific-Palisades Post" newsroom from Bruns' time as editor. After 2013, it was converted into a real estate office by the new owner, which was subsequently lost to the fire.

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Patricia Williams/Patricia Williams

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Bill Bruns

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The paper was known for its responsiveness to the community. The staff took pitches from readers, Bruns said, and put the spotlight on Palisadians themselves.

There was a “golden couples” column for anybody married for 50 years or more; a “young Palisadians” column for enterprising youngsters and a “people on the move” column for the movers and shakers.

The paper also announced the first birth in the community each year.

“It was kind of a cool thing to be the first baby in the Palisades. They gave them prizes like baby gifts and things. Very local, community driven, small town emphasis,” Kohl said.

More than a paper

That small town emphasis remained a constant. Gabriella Bock was a reporter at the Pali-Post from 2016 to 2018. She said it her first real newsroom experience.

Gabriella Bock's old desk at the Pali-Post office on Alma Real.

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Gabriella Bock

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“ We were a small, tight-knit news team of myself, a sports reporter and one other staff reporter,” Bock said. “So I was able to be taken under their wing and learn a lot in a short period of time.”

Gabirella Bock's former media pass from 2017.

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Gabriella Bock

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Gabriella Bock

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But the paper was more than just a place to work. When Bock got married, her fellow reporters wrote a marriage announcement in the paper. When she was pregnant, they threw her a baby shower.

When she heard about the paper closing its doors, she said it was heartbreaking. To Bock it’s not about being nostalgic or sentimental about a former workplace. She sees the giant hole the disappearance of another local newsroom can leave people with.

“It's how people learn what's happening on their block, in their schools, in their city, and when that disappears, people oftentimes will lose a reason to stay engaged at all,” said Bock.

Gabriella Bock works the line at the Gracias Senor food truck for a Pali-Post story. The food truck often parked outside of the Ralph's grocery store on Alma Real.

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Gabriella Bock

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Gabriella Bock

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Bruns echoes Bock’s sentiment. He saw the paper as a unifier of the community in his two-decade tenure.

“It just made people feel more like they really liked their town, and the Palisades Post was a crucial element in that whole spirit of community,” Bruns said.

After Bill Bruns (left) retired in 2013 he received a commendation from former LA City Councilman Mike Bonin (right) for his years of service in local journalism.

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Bills Bruns

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Bill Bruns

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Kohl, whose home is more than halfway rebuilt, hopes that the spirit will return one day.

Last time she drove through her old neighborhood of The Alphabet Streets she saw several homes in the process of coming back up.

“I have faith that we will all come back, and I hope that the newspaper finds that as well,” said Kohl.

Sue Kohl and her dog Maisie stand in the construction site of her home being rebuilt in the Pacific Palisades.

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Sue Kohl

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Sue Kohl

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President Donald Trump launched a military strike against Venezuela overnight, resulting in the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

In a news conference this morning, Trump said the U.S. is going to "run" that country, until a proper transition is in place.

California lawmakers are reacting to the attacks.

"Nicolás Maduro was a thug and an illegitimate leader of Venezuela, terrorizing and oppressing its people for far too long and forcing many to leave the country. But starting a war to remove Maduro doesn’t just continue Donald Trump’s trampling of the Constitution, it further erodes America’s standing on the world stage and risks our adversaries mirroring this brazen illegal escalation," says Sen. Adam Schiff, a democrat.

Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, who represents areas including Murrieta and the Temecula Valley, says President Trump, "has taken strong action to protect America’s homeland from neighboring threats of narcoterrorism and the scourge of deadly narcotics. The Trump administration has my full support."

Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla says, "Let’s be absolutely clear: Trump’s military action in Venezuela is unlawful without approval from Congress."

California Governor Gavin Newsom did not directly response to the attacks. He zeroed in on a comment Trump made about the L.A. fires during the news conference.

"Unless Trump is finally delivering the federal aid survivors need to rebuild after the horrific fires — nearly a year after California first requested it — he should keep Los Angeles out of his mouth," Newsom's office says on social.