The Brief

Chino Valley Unified School District has passed a controversial policy in which parents, guardians, students, staff or even district residents can formally lodge a complaint to remove a non-curriculum book from a school or teacher’s classroom library if they think it contains “sexually obscene content.”

The policy, however, would not apply to books that are part of the state-approved curriculum.

Once a formal complaint is lodged, the principal of the school must remove the book and inform the superintendent within three days. The superintendent would then notify the school board, which would hold a public hearing within 45 days to determine if the book will be permanently removed.

Kristi Hirst, the co-founder of Our Schools USA, a nonprofit that advocates for education equity, called the new policy a “book ban.” The policy, she said, has been “copied and pasted from a political, religious activist” who lives in Tennessee and its one they use to explicitly ban books with LGBTQIA+ themes.

“They're adopting this very broad strategy that removes power from parents and gives the decision to the board unilaterally. The board gets to review the books on their own and they get to make the decision,” said Hirst, who has three children in the Chino Valley school district and is a former teacher with the district. “There is no review team that reads the book and decides together, which is what we already had in place. They're removing that policy and instead supplanting it with a policy that gives the board complete power over what books get removed.”

The new policy, she said, would also open up the district to litigation under AB 1078. In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law effectively outlawing the banning of books categorized as inclusive or diverse.

The Chino Valley USD policy was able to pass as a book has not been explicitly banned yet. Parents, guardians and district residents now have the option to flag material they deem sexually inappropriate for children.

California has already sued Chino Valley Unified for what it's calling a “forced outing” policy, where schools are required to tell parents if their children change pronouns, use a different name or come out as transgender.

Supporters of the new policy said it falls in line with religious scripture and will prevent children from going “astray.”

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

The state’s primary utility regulator is under new management. Gov. Gavin Newsom promoted Commissioner John Reynolds to president of the California Public Utilities Commission this week as part of a “new phase” of Newsom’s effort to address sky-high power bills.

Former President Alice Reynolds will be reassigned later this month to a board of governors position at the California Independent Systems Operator. The two Reynolds are not related.

“The appointment underscores a renewed focus on cutting costs and improving performance as extreme heat, wildfire risk and upgrades to the electric grid drive new demands on the system,” Newsom’s office said in a press release.

Reynolds’ focus in this position, the release said, will include lowering utility bills through oversight, making sure money spent on infrastructure does not run aground of affordability and ensuring “utilities deliver results for ratepayers–without slowing California’s clean energy progress.”

California has a mandated goal of reaching 100% carbon-free energy by 2045. At the same time, state residents pay the second-highest electric rates in the U.S. after Hawaii, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration

Reynolds was appointed by Newsom to the utility commission first in 2021 and again in 2022. Before that, he served as managing counsel for autonomous vehicle company Cruise. Reynolds faced criticism in 2023 for his time at Cruise, when safety incidents led the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to call for his resignation and regulators to revoke Cruise’s autonomous vehicle permits. The commission oversees aspects of autonomous vehicle regulation in California.

Outgoing president Reynolds was appointed the commission’s top position in late 2021 after three years as Newsom’s senior energy advisor. Newsom called her “one of my most trusted advisors on energy policy” in his release.

Newsom also this week appointed Christine Harada to the board to fill the open commissioner seat. Harada was most recently the undersecretary of the California Government Operations Agency, and served as a senior advisor in former president Joe Biden’s Office of Management and Budget.

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

The U.S. Supreme Court said President Trump's tariffs policies under IEEPA, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, are unconstitutional, dealing a major blow to the president's signature economic policy.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 6-3 opinion. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.

At issue in the case was the implementation of Trump's campaign pledge to impose massive tariffs on foreign imports. After his inauguration, Trump issued an executive order that initially imposed a tariff of at least 10% on goods from most countries doing business with the United States. Goods from countries like China have been hit with much higher tariffs — up to 145%, though they have since come down. Imports from allies like Canada and Mexico have been taxed at 25%; Canada's rate was later increased to 35%. 

But the up-and-down, fluctuating tariffs around the world spooked American businesses, prompting a court challenge, contending that the president had exceeded his authority in imposing the tariffs.

In some two dozen previous cases, the Supreme Court has been largely receptive to Trump's claims of presidential authority, but those victories came on the Supreme Court's emergency docket, allowing Trump policies to take effect on a temporary basis while the litigation played out in the lower courts.

In contrast, the tariff cases are the real deal, with the court having ordered full briefing and expedited arguments in the case, and offering the justices the first real opportunity to say "no" to the president.  

On Friday, the justices did just that.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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A funk band plays their first show after the release of their debut album. The band is signed to a small-time record label owned by the co-lead singer’s brother. However, tension comes to a head when an executive from Columbia Records looks to sign away the band during the show.

This lore is what leads Brassroots District: LA ‘74, a live show that’s half concert and half immersive theater located at Catch One on Pico Boulevard.

This story concept is the brainchild of musician Ari Herstand and music executive Andrew Leib.

The genesis of the idea, according to Herstand, came from two experiences: a trip to New Orleans where he was inspired by the city’s funk and soul music scene and a trip to New York where he watched the city’s Sleep No More immersive play. He took the idea back to Brassroots District’s co-creator Andrew Leib and formed the show’s first iteration during the COVID pandemic as an outdoor show in a parking lot pegged to a fictional venue.

“ The concept of this was — the year’s 1973. Brassroots District is this hot band in L.A. on the rise,’” Herstand said. “We get our big break opening for Sly and the Family Stone at the fabulous Orbit Arena in L.A. But we're not opening inside the arena. We're opening the parking lot tailgate hang outside the arena, but it's our big break because a record label’s coming to check us out.”

Transforming into the 70’s & what theater-goers can expect

Audience members attending this latest iteration of the show are encouraged to dress in 70’s style threads. When they arrive at Catch One, they’re asked to put their phones in black bags to avoid using them during the show. (Don’t worry, the phones will still be on your person).

From there, patrons enter the venue and meet “Gem,” who guides the experience of the show. The show, directed by DeMone Seraphin, engages people to participate in activities all throughout the venue, including group dances led by fan club leader “Cassie the Brassie,” backstage breathing exercises, call and response in songs and a soul train line on the dance floor.

The music is performed by a nine-piece funk band led by co-lead singers “Copper Jones” (played by Herstand) and “Ursa Major” (played by Celeste Butler Clayton). And the music pays homage to popular 70’s bands like Sly and the Family Stone.

 ”My whole family definitely is stuck in the seventies, so it was really nice to come. Like I grew up with this type of music," said audience member Brandon Lipsett.

Meanwhile throughout the night, different storylines show tension on the dance floor between the two label owners, the band and many side characters.

At a recent performance, before Brassroots District came onstage, LAist talked with “Barry Baker,” a reporter embedded within the show who’s looking to uncover a big story brewing throughout the night all on his vintage Sony tape recorder.

“ There's a lot of big personalities in the band, so I'm hoping it goes smoothly for them,” he said, alluding to the tension between the record labels throughout the night. “But if it doesn't, it's kind of good for us.”

The storylines all play out simultaneously, which Brassroots District organizer Herstand explains are by design.

 ”[It] is a reason for you to come back because there's no way that you'll be able to pick up all the different scenes and storylines just attending one time,” Herstand said.

References to Los Angeles

Beyond historical tidbits on Richard Nixon and Vietnam that dominated the news in 1974, characters in the show make references to the Southland, including the Malibu Pier and Crenshaw Boulevard.

“ It's very important to us to honor the tradition of Los Angeles, of music, of cultures,” Herstand said, “like what is happening in Los Angeles in 1974, politically, socioeconomically, culturally, racially, all of that… And then the allusions to the bands that are coming up in L.A., the clubs in L.A. like the Troubadour, these institutions of Los Angeles. So, because we love L.A. so much and L.A. is our home now, we wanna honor all of that and really pay tribute to the history.”

And the character of Gem pays homage to Catch One’s original owner Jewel Thais-Williams, who was known for helming the L.A. nightclub as a safe space for the Black LGBTQ+ community.

 ”We wanna respect and continue the legacy of the space that we're in. We believe that [in] this venue, the walls can speak and they're alive,” Herstand said. “And so there is a bit of her legacy that is written into this current script with Catch One.”

Brassroots District: LA ‘74 runs until March 28. Learn more about the show here.

We're going to wake up to a chilly and cloudy morning, courtesy of yesterday's winter storm. There's still a chance that some light snow will dust lower elevations, including the Grapevine for this morning.

Once the sun moves in, temperatures will warm up to mid-50s to around 60 degrees from the coasts to the valleys. The Inland Empire could see frost and dense fog in the morning, followed by temperatures from 50 to 57 degrees.

The warmest area will be the Coachella Valley, where highs will reach up to 66 degrees. Meanwhile in the Antelope Valley, it's going to feel crisp with daytime highs from 41 degrees to 50 degrees.