California’s fast-food industry calls for referendum on new labor legislation

Law provides for councils to represent workers, but opponents claim menu prices will increase and restaurants will close

The fast-food industry is seeking to overturn one of the most significant labor wins in recent American history by trying to scrap a new law in California that will establish an industry council for the sector on wage standards and other regulations, including safety.

The Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, AB 257, was signed into law by the California governor, Gavin Newsom, on 5 September in what is seen as a huge fillip to a US labor movement seeking to capitalize on a wave of unionization drives.

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Newsom airs Florida ad urging people to fight for freedom – or move to California

‘Freedom is under attack in your state,’ California governor says in ad paid for by his re-election campaign that aired on Fox News

Governor Gavin Newsom of California has aired a commercial in Florida over the Fourth of July holiday weekend urging residents there to fight for freedom, or move to his state in order to find it.

The ad – which pits blue state California against currently red state Florida – exemplified the growing divides in the US as Republican-led state legislatures have pursued rightwing policies on a slew of issues from banning abortion to attacking LGBTQ+ rights and voting issues.

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‘It was never about saving Newsom’: how Latino voters played a major role in California

About 30% of California’s registered voters are Latino, and it appears they voted largely Democrat – but some say it was ‘about ensuring this state didn’t move backward’

Luis Sánchez worked overtime to rescue Governor Gavin Newsom in California’s recall race. His group PowerCA Action reached more than a quarter-million voters ahead of election day, encouraging young Latino Californians to head to the polls.

Related: ‘Study Newsom’s playbook’: what Democrats – and Republicans – can learn from California’s recall

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Gavin Newsom will remain California governor after handily defeating recall attempt

California voters resoundingly reject choice to replace Democratic governor, who faced a battle for his political life

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom has prevailed in a historic recall election that had him battling for his political life. In a referendum on the governor’s leadership through the pandemic, voters resoundingly rejected the choice to replace him with a Trumpist Republican.

The Associated Press projected the results about 45 minutes after polls closed on Tuesday night. Newsom’s most popular challenger was Larry Elder, a rightwing radio host who drew comparisons to the former president and who attempted to sow baseless doubts about the election process.

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Governor Gavin Newsom defeats California recall effort – video

California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, has successfully fended off an effort to oust him from office in a special election. He overcame a Republican campaign to unseat him over his liberal policies on immigration, Covid-19 and crime. 

Newsom, a first-term governor beset by challenges including the pandemic, extreme drought and severe wildfires, boosted turnout among Democrats with a flurry of late campaigning. In the final days of the race, he appeared alongside President Joe Biden and the vice-president, Kamala Harris, who formerly represented California as a US senator and attorney general

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Californians vote in recall election as polls show Newsom holding favor – live

Damien Gayle reports:

Facebook has kept internal research secret for two years that suggests its Instagram app makes body image issues worse for teenage girls, according to a leak from the tech firm.

Related: Facebook aware of Instagram’s harmful effect on teenage girls, leak reveals

Joe Biden will reportedly propose a target for 70% of the world’s population to be vaccinated within the next year at a global vaccines summit he intends to convene alongside the UN general assembly in New York this month.

The US president’s target, reported by the New York Times, is in line with ambitions set jointly by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the WTO and the World Health Organization (WHO) but is more ambitious than current performance and the targets set at the G7 meeting in Cornwall chaired by the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson. The G7 agreed to donate 870m doses of Covid-19 vaccines directly, with an aim to deliver at least half by the end of 2021.

Related: Joe Biden to propose target of vaccinating 70% of world in a year

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‘It’s a reality’: Biden calls for urgency in California as climate crisis fuels wildfires

President calls year-round fires an emergency country can no longer ignore as he advocates for rebuilding plan

Joe Biden travelled to California on Monday to survey wildfire damage as the state battles a devastating fire season that is on track to outpace that of 2020, the state’s worst fire season on record.

The president is using the trip to highlight the connection between the climate crisis and the west’s increasingly extreme wildfires as he seeks to rally support for a $3.5tn spending plan Congress is debating.

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Candidates compete for schools chief, lieutenant governor

Voters will choose California's next lieutenant governor, schools chief and other statewide officeholders on Nov. 6. The race for superintendent of public education is shaping up to be an expensive showdown between unions and charter-school advocates. In the contest for secretary of state, the incumbent Democrat Alex Padilla is hoping to hold onto his seat against a GOP challenger.

San Francisco’s 1st black female mayor takes oath of office

The first black female mayor of San Francisco made history Wednesday as she took the oath of office, vowing to help drug users and the homeless in a city that has come to embody extreme wealth and poverty. In her inauguration speech, London Breed promised to build more housing in a city that has a woefully inadequate supply for the number of high-paying tech-related jobs it creates.

Big-name charter school backers donate to key governor races

Prominent charter school supporters are dishing out campaign money, as key gubernatorial races in several states have now begun in earnest. June primary contests set up a number of state battles for governor in the midterm elections this November, with both Democratic and Republican candidates that could change how public resources flow into charter and private schools in the coming years.

California’s Fossil Fuel Industry Had It Relatively Easy Under Jerry…

In California's primary election Tuesday, voters all but picked statewide politicians and decided who would face off in the races that might flip the House of Representatives. But the environment was also on the ballot, and the results look like a win for the type of green who thinks a 100-percent renewable path is the best bet.