Bill named after slain Daytona Beach officer on hold
Officer Raynor, who the bill was named after, was shot and killed by Othal Wallace during a traffic stop in 2021.
Wallace was found guilty of manslaughter by a jury and was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
The 'Jayson Raynor bill,' if passed, would require defendants convicted of manslaughter in cases involving the death of a law enforcement officer to be given life sentences without parole.
Democrats in the Senate argue that there should be language added to protect folks from issues like racial profiling, while Republicans thought the bill is good on its own.
There is no word on when the vote will take place.
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New York Post
a few seconds ago
- New York Post
Schwarzenegger taunts Newsom with message targeting Dem redistricting push
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pumping up for a new fight. The longtime Hollywood action star, the last Republican governor in Democrat-dominated California, says he's mobilizing to oppose the push by current Gov. Gavin Newsom to temporarily scrap the state's nonpartisan redistricting commission. 'I'm getting ready for the gerrymandering battle,' Schwarzenegger wrote in a social media post Friday, which included a photo of the former professional bodybuilding champion lifting weights. Schwarzenegger, who rose to worldwide fame as the star of the film 'The Terminator' four decades ago, wore a T-shirt in the photo that said 'terminate gerrymandering.' The social media post by Schwarzenegger comes as Democratic leaders in the Democrat- dominated California legislature are moving forward with new proposed congressional district maps that would create up to five more blue-leaning US House seats in the nation's most populous state. Newsom on Thursday teamed up in Los Angeles with congressional Democrats and legislative leaders in the heavily blue state to unveil their redistricting playbook. 4 Arnold Schwarzenegger wears a 'F*** The Politicians. Terminate Gerrymandering' shirt while working out. Arnold Schwarzenegger/X Newsom and the Democrats are aiming to counter the ongoing effort by President Donald Trump and Republicans to create up to five GOP-friendly congressional districts in red state Texas at the expense of Democrat-controlled seats. 'Today is liberation day in the state of California,' Newsom said. 'Donald Trump, you have poked the bear, and we will punch back.' Newsom vowed to 'meet fire with fire' with his push for a rare — but not unheard of — mid-decade redistricting. 4 California Gov. Gavin Newsom embraces former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a news conference in Los Angeles, Calif. on March 22, 2024. Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag The Republican push in Texas, which comes at Trump's urging, is part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to pad its razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats stormed back to grab the House majority in the 2018 midterms. While the Republican push in Texas to upend the current congressional maps doesn't face constitutional constraints, Newsom's path in California is much more complicated. The governor is pushing to hold a special election this year to get voter approval to undo the constitutional amendments that created the nonpartisan redistricting commission. A two-thirds majority vote in the Democrat-dominated California legislature as early as next week would be needed to hold the referendum. Democratic Party leaders are confident they'll have the votes to push the constitutional amendment and the new proposed congressional maps through the legislature. 'Here we are in open and plain sight before one vote is cast in the 2026 midterm election, and here [Trump] is once again trying to rig the system,' Newsom charged. Newsom said his plan is 'not complicated. We're doing this in reaction to a president of the United States that called a sitting governor in the state of Texas and said, 'Find me five seats.' We're doing it in reaction to that act.' 4 The proposed Congressional district map of California. California State Assembly The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) said 'Newsom's made it clear: he'll shred California's Constitution and trample over democracy — running a cynical, self-serving playbook where Californians are an afterthought, and power is the only priority.' But Newsom defended his actions, saying 'we're working through a very transparent, temporary and public process. We're putting the maps on the ballot and putting the power to the people.' Thursday's appearance by Newsom, considered a likely contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, also served as a fundraising kickoff to raise massive amounts of campaign cash needed to sell the redistricting push statewide in California. The nonpartisan redistricting commission, created over 15 years ago, remains popular among most Californians, according to public opinion polling. That's why Newsom and California Democratic lawmakers are promising not to scrap the commission entirely, but rather replace it temporarily by the legislature for the next three election cycles. 'We will affirm our commitment to the state independent redistricting after the 2030 census, but we are asking the voters for their consent to do midterm redistricting,' Newsom said. Their efforts are opposed by a number of people supportive of the nonpartisan commission. 4 Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a rally about redistricting at the Democracy Center, Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on Aug. 14, 2025. Getty Images Among the most visible members is likely to be Schwarzenegger. 'He calls gerrymandering evil, and he means that. He thinks it's truly evil for politicians to take power from people,' Schwarzenegger spokesperson Daniel Ketchell told Politico earlier this month. 'He's opposed to what Texas is doing, and he's opposed to the idea that California would race to the bottom to do the same thing.' Schwarzenegger, during his tenure as governor, had a starring role in the passage of constitutional amendments in California in 2008 and 2010 that took the power to draw state legislative and congressional districts away from politicians and placed it in the hands of an independent commission. 'Most people don't really think about an independent commission much, one way or another. And that's both an opportunity and a challenge for Newsom,' Jack Pitney, an American politics professor at California's Claremont McKenna College, told Fox News. 'It's going to take a lot of effort and money to energize Democrats and motivate them to show up at the polls,' Pitney said, adding Newsom's effort 'is all about motivating people who don't like Trump.' Fox News' Lee Ross contributed to this report
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Democrats decry move by Pentagon to pause $800 million in nearly done software projects
By Alexandra Alper WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democrats took aim at the Trump administration after Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Navy and Air Force were poised to cancel nearly completed software projects worth over $800 million. The reason for the move was an effort by some officials at the services to steer new projects to companies like Salesforce and Palantir, in what could amount to a costly do-over. 'The Pentagon has yet to show that it had a good reason for halting these contracts in the last inning and scrapping work American tax dollars have already paid for," Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said in a statement. "If it can't show its homework, then this announcement - just days after Palantir's CEO spoke at Mike Johnson's Wyoming donor retreat - reeks of corruption.' Punchbowl reported this month that Palantir CEO Alex Karp planned to address Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson's annual big-donor retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Pentagon and Air Force did not respond to requests for comment. The Navy declined to comment. Trump officials have said the administration is striving to make the contracting process more efficient. The comments show growing concern among Democratic lawmakers over waste at the Pentagon, even as Donald Trump took office vowing to rid the government of waste and abuse. The website of the Department of Government Efficiency, the agency he created to spearhead those efforts, lists over $14 billion in Defense Department contracts it claims to have canceled. But seven months into his presidency, some of his own actions have complicated DOGE's work, from firing the Pentagon's inspector general to issuing an executive order prioritizing speed and risk-taking in defense acquisitions. 'If you're serious about cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse, the last thing you'd do is cancel $800 million in projects that are nearly ready to roll out just to turn around and steer the same work to corporations of your choosing," said Democratic Representative Maggie Goodlander, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and served as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve. "This maneuver is an insult to taxpayers and servicemembers across America," she added. Salud Carbajal, another House Democrat who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said the behavior was part of a pattern of waste at the Pentagon under Trump. 'I understand that our military's acquisition and procurement processes aren't flawless, but this administration has repeatedly shown a blatant disregard for the responsible use of taxpayer dollars,' said Carbajal, citing "lavish" military parades and "unnecessary" troop deployments in Los Angeles. Democratic U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda, who also sits on the committee, echoed Carbajal's remarks. "Stripping away critical oversight guardrails is unnecessary and downright reckless," she said, adding that after many delays, the Pentagon was finally poised to implement military pay systems that could pass an audit. "Taxpayers should not fund sweetheart deals for the well connected."
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
New redistricting maps leaked before release by CA Legislature. See them here
If Democrats succeed with their lightning-speed push to redraw congressional districts, California's Republican strongholds will look very different. New district maps leaked online ahead of their official release by the Legislature confirmed that Democrats are targeting five Republican districts in the North State, Central Valley and southern California, while hoping to shore up other competitive districts to make them easier for party candidates to win. Gov. Gavin Newsom has led the charge for Democrats to respond in kind after President Donald Trump asked Texas Republicans in June to fortify their House majority by redrawing districts to eke out another five seats in the 2026 midterms. At a Thursday campaign launch, Newsom framed redistricting as Democrats' chance to 'liberate democracy' as Border Patrol agents stormed the rally and President Donald Trump seized control of law enforcement in Washington, D.C. Newsom is calling for a special Nov. 4 election, and the Legislature will return from summer break Monday to swiftly pass a constitutional amendment and related ballot language by next Friday. Organized labor, reproductive rights groups and House Majority PAC, the leading fund for Congressional Democrats, are all backing his campaign. The California Republicans whose districts Democrats are targeting are Reps. Kevin Kiley, David Valadao, Ken Calvert, Doug LaMalfa, and Darrell Issa. If successful, the effort would net Democrats 48 of the state's 52 congressional seats; the party currently controls 43. Other districts that Democrats have narrowly won would also be consolidated into friendlier terrain. Political data scientist Paul Mitchell, a redistricting veteran, drafted the maps. 'Our proposed map was created using traditional redistricting criteria, consistent with guidelines laid out by the California's Citizen Redistricting Commission,' according to a cover letter from Julie Merz of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee included with the map. 'It allows for more compact districts than in the current Commission-drawn map, keeps more communities and neighborhoods together, splits fewer cities, and makes minimal disruptions to the Commission-drawn map so as to impact as few residents as possible,' Merz wrote. 'This is a striking contrast from Texas' proposed gerrymander which redrew all but one of their 38 congressional districts to minimize the state's growing minority voting strength.' What would change? The draft maps, which leaked online ahead of their official release Friday, would shrink most Republican districts. It would shift much of the North State into the coastal 2nd Congressional District seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman while including parts of northern Marin and Sonoma counties. Kiley's district would also shrink and encompass part of the greater Sacramento area, shift the bulk of voters to Republican Rep. Tom McClintock's district and remove a broad section of the eastern Sierra Nevada. Proposed congressional districts Valadao's district would also shrink, as would that of Issa, who trumped his Democratic opponent in 2024 by almost 19 points to be reelected to his San Diego-area seat. Per a chart that leaked Thursday, all of those districts would shift from being 'safely' Republican to either lean Democrat, or be considered safe for any Democratic candidate if voters approve them in November. Calvert and Issa currently represent parts of Riverside and San Diego counties and Valadao represents a Central Valley district. LaMalfa currently represents much of the North State from Yuba City to the Oregon border. Kiley, arguably Newsom's arch rival within the state, currently represents much of the northern Sacramento suburbs, northern Sierra Nevada, and the Nevada border down to Death Valley. 'Make no mistake, I will win reelection regardless of Newsom's attempt to gerrymander my district,' Kiley said on X, linking to a photo of his newly redrawn district. 'But I fully expect that the beautiful 3rd District will remain exactly as it is. We will defeat Newsom's sham initiative and vindicate the will of California voters.' LaMalfa's district has voted for every Republican presidential candidate since 2012, the year LaMalfa first won election. At a town hall held Monday in Chico, a veteran criticized him for not pushing back on Trump's staffing cuts at the Department of Veteran Affairs, forcing the man to seek mental health care in San Rafael, three hours away. Hours before the maps were published, a handful of Democratic candidates who had previously lost to Republican incumbents said they were considering running in newly drawn districts. That included Chico ag consultant Audrey Denney, who previously ran against LaMalfa in 2018 and 2020, and confirmed she would run again for his seat if voters approved temporary redistricting in November. 'With this map, my home in Chico is now in a district that Democrats can win. And if Californians vote for the map, I plan to run to replace Rep. Doug LaMalfa and take on this administration in 2026,' she said in a statement. 'We will step up and fight back when Trump and MAGA Republicans break the rules. We will not allow them to rig the system against working people any longer. Our message is clear: If you take away our freedoms, we will take away your seats.' Lawmakers debate Outgoing Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, said he had heard speculation leading up to the maps' release that Democrats were considering redrawing LaMalfa's district to draw more liberal voters in from the coast, as far down as parts of Sonoma and Marin counties. 'There's no justification for it,' he said earlier this week. 'It will drown out more rural voters.' 'We're going to focus on how corrupt this process is. It won't result in more fair representation,' he said of Republicans' opposition efforts. 'We decided that the voters would decide, that we'd do things differently, and not let politicians draw the lines. Either you believe in the principle or not.' A handful of congressional Democrats said normally, they were opposed to letting politicians rewrite districts, but that Trump's request that the GOP maintain its hold on Congress so it could continue enacting his agenda without opposition demanded an extraordinary response. Polling numbers reviewed by lawmakers show voters are still strongly in favor of letting redistricting remain independent. Rep. Adam Gray, who won his Merced-area district by 187 votes, put the onus back on Republicans. 'It's difficult to take my colleagues across the aisle seriously when they crow about election rigging and deep state plots and then turn around and do things like what we're seeing in Texas,' he told The Bee. 'It's unserious and it's damaging to our democracy.' 'If Congressional Republicans had a record they were proud of, they wouldn't need to rig the next election. Congressional Republicans' plan to suppress the voices of voters is an existential threat to our democracy,' Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, told The Bee. 'California isn't going to stand by and let it happen. I'm a longtime supporter of non-partisan redistricting, but extraordinary threats like this one require extraordinary action. If redistricting is on the table in Texas, it must be on the table here in California, too.' Newsom, who is reportedly eyeing a run for higher office after he's termed out in 2026, said the maps would be temporary through the 2030 election. After that, redistricting power would revert back to the nonpartisan Citizen Redistricting Commission, a 14-member state body that voters approved in 2008 to redraw state legislative maps, and later congressional ones in 2010. Advocates across the political spectrum, from Republicans to progressives to good governance groups, have opposed the effort. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who championed the redistricting commission, are backing an opposition coalition funded by Charles Munger Jr., a former Santa Clara GOP chair who has tapped his family fortune to support Republican causes, including the 2008 initiative establishing the commission. 'These maps were drawn by politicians and party insiders behind closed doors with no transparency and no input from the public. Several elected politicians with open congressional committees will vote on these self-serving districts. That is a clear conflict of interest and undermines public trust in the fairness of our elections,' said Munger spokesperson Amy Thoma Tan. 'Californians deserve district lines that are drawn in the open, by our citizens' independent commission, which the voters elected to do , and with full opportunity for public review and comment — not maps engineered by politicians to serve themselves or their partisan agenda. Citizens, not politicians or partisan party insiders, should not only hold the power at the ballot box but also the power to draw the lines.' The Assembly and Senate elections committees have set hearings for next Tuesday ahead of the election, which is expected to cost at least $200 million. The California State Association of Counties, Rural County Representatives of California, and the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials asked the governor Thursday for funding in advance to prepare for added costs associated with printing more ballots and envelopes, staffing more poll volunteers, and booking voting centers.
