San Francisco Bay Area

A Los Angeles-area state Senate race between labor-backed West Hollywood City Councilmember John Erickson and business-supported media consultant Brian Goldsmith has become California's most expensive state Senate general election contest this cycle, driven by heavy outside spending. The district, covering Malibu, Santa Monica, the Pacific Palisades, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, carries a 12-year term limit as both seek to succeed termed-out Sen. Ben Allen.

Business groups have targeted Erickson with attack spending, while tech-linked donors and Goldsmith's own personal funds have boosted his campaign; labor groups opposing Goldsmith have spent far less. Nancy Pelosi recently endorsed Goldsmith. Ads focus on affordability, housing, public safety and partisan loyalty, reflecting a broader business-labor struggle over California Democratic Party direction.

Knoxville's home values rose far faster than property taxes between 2022 and 2024, according to census data analyzed by Consumer Affairs. The median home value jumped 24.7%, from $281,900 to $351,400, while the median property tax bill grew just 7.1%, from $1,214 to $1,300 — a gap of 17.6 percentage points, the fourth largest among the nation's 100 largest metro areas. Only McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and El Paso, Texas, and Syracuse, New York, saw bigger gaps.

Despite rapidly rising home values, Knoxville residents paid the least in total property taxes of any metro studied in 2024, while homes there ranked 55th highest in value nationally. Property tax growth failed to keep pace with inflation in Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis alike. In September 2026, Knoxville's city council cut property tax rates following a county reassessment. Separately, Tennessee voters will decide on a constitutional amendment permanently barring a state property tax, though the state has not levied one since 1949 and the measure would not immediately affect homeowners.

A state audit released this week found 57 California dams in poor or unsatisfactory condition as of May, a number expected to rise as officials reevaluate aging infrastructure. Of these, 40 are rated high or extremely high hazard and cluster near densely populated areas including the Bay Area, San Diego, and Los Angeles. The auditor warned these dams could collectively endanger up to 1.5 million people and cause more than $265 billion in economic damage if they failed, with the risk heightened by an approaching El Niño winter expected to bring heavy rain.

The report criticized the California Department of Water Resources for never using enforcement powers granted in 2017, after the Oroville spillway failure, despite referring 44 dam owners for violations. Most dam owners lack funds for repairs, which the audit estimates could cost $28 billion statewide, far outpacing recent funding infusions. The auditor urged lawmakers to set repair deadlines and expand condemnation authority. The Department of Water Resources said it disagrees with some findings but is reviewing recommendations as it prepares for the wet season.

San Francisco's 2026 ballot includes 25 measures alongside contested races for Board of Supervisors, Assessor-Recorder, Public Defender and other local offices. Measures range from government restructuring (Prop A) and a potential public bank (Prop B) to affordable housing funding (Props C and I), signature requirements for citizen initiatives (Prop D), expanded mayoral and city administrator authority (Props E and F), reopening the Upper Great Highway to weekday car traffic (Prop G), a parcel tax for Muni (Prop H), a transfer-tax exemption change for large foreclosed properties (Prop J), and a regional sales tax measure to fund Bay Area transit agencies including Muni and BART (Regional Measure RTM).

Five Board of Supervisors districts have elections, with incumbents Stephen Sherrill, Alan Wong and Matt Dorsey facing challengers, and crowded open-seat races in Districts 8 and 10. Incumbents Joaquín Torres and Mano Raju are seeking reelection to citywide offices. Voters will also fill seats on the Board of Education, City College Board and BART Board.

Jury selection began this week in the federal corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, her partner Andre Jones, and recycling contractor executives David Duong and Andy Duong. Prosecutors allege the four, along with political operative Mario Juarez, orchestrated a scheme in which the Duongs financed a $75,000 campaign mailer to help elect Thao in 2022 and arranged a lucrative no-show job for Jones at Evolutionary Homes, a startup housing company. In return, Thao allegedly promised to steer city contracts to the Duongs' firm, California Waste Solutions, extend its recycling contract, and help the housing company secure a deal to sell units to the city.

All four defendants face bribery and honest services fraud conspiracy charges, with maximum sentences up to 20 years. They have pleaded not guilty. Juarez has already pleaded guilty and is expected to testify as the prosecution's star witness, along with former San Leandro councilman Bryan Azevedo, who also pleaded guilty. The case follows FBI raids in June 2024 and Thao's recall by Oakland voters that November. Prosecutors expect to present their case through mid-November.

Texas voters will decide in November whether to keep the three Republican justices currently sitting on the state's 15th Court of Appeals, a court created by the Legislature in 2023 to hear civil appeals involving the state, challenges to state laws' constitutionality, and business court cases. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed all three justices in 2024, and this is their first time facing voters; a win secures a six-year term. All primaries were uncontested, with one Republican and one Democrat per race advancing to the general election.

The Republican incumbents — a chief justice and two associate justices — are being challenged by three Democrats with appellate and judicial backgrounds. In their first year and a half on the bench, the current justices have ruled on marijuana policy, abortion policy, and campaign finance disputes, at times drawing criticism from Attorney General Ken Paxton. Because the court reviews nearly all major civil cases involving the state before they reach the Texas Supreme Court, its composition carries significant weight for pending and future litigation over state policy.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Ho Yin Mo, a field representative for California Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, D-San Francisco, on September 17 while he was traveling through Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. Mo, a former Bay Area TV reporter from Hong Kong who previously anchored Chinese-language newscasts at KTSF and studied at UC Berkeley, remains held at ICE's Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump.

The Department of Homeland Security said Mo entered the U.S. legally through Los Angeles International Airport in January 2020 but overstayed his visa, and was arrested during a "targeted enforcement operation," adding that pending work authorization does not confer legal status. Stefani disputed the characterization, calling Mo a legal employee and "selfless public servant" who helps constituents access health care, childcare and food assistance, and urged his release. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli publicized the case on social media, saying no one is exempt from immigration law.

The arrest is part of a broader escalation in airport-based ICE enforcement targeting travelers with visa or status complications, coinciding with record monthly arrest totals under the Trump administration.

The California attorney general's office has dropped all felony charges against five Stanford University students prosecuted over a June 2024 campus protest against Israel's actions in Gaza. The students were among 12 who barricaded themselves in the university president's office for an hour, demanding Stanford divest from companies tied to Israel. They had faced felony conspiracy to trespass and vandalism charges, first announced in April 2025 by Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen.

Five students went to trial in early 2026, which ended in a hung jury. A judge later ordered Rosen to recuse himself over a conflict of interest, after evidence emerged he was using the case to fundraise for his reelection campaign. The state attorney general's office then took over and reached a resolution dropping all charges in exchange for 100 hours of community service and roughly $50,000 in restitution. Three students who had earlier accepted plea deals will also have their convictions overturned. Civil rights groups, including CAIR's San Francisco Bay Area chapter, welcomed the outcome, arguing the felony charges were disproportionate to the protest activity.