California wildfire death toll approaches 40, hundreds still missing

Fast-moving fires spread by shifting winds forced thousands more Californians to evacuate their homes on Saturday as the death toll from the deadliest blaze recorded in the state's history rose to at least 38, with hundreds of people still missing. About 10,000 firefighters supported by air tankers and helicopters overhead were battling 16 major wildfires, some encompassing several smaller merged blazes, in areas north of San Francisco that have consumed nearly 214,000 acres over seven days, or roughly 334 square miles - an area larger than New York City.

Gov. Brown declares state of emergency amid deadly hepatitis A outbreak

California Gov. Jerry Brown issued an emergency proclamation Friday that will allow the state to increase its supply of vaccines amid a hepatitis A outbreak that has killed more than a dozen people. The outbreak involves more than 570 of cases in San Diego, Santa Cruz and Los Angeles counties.

The Latest: Phone companies told save evidence tied to fires

A helicopter flies through the smokey sky to drop a load of water on a wildfire Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017, in Sonoma, Calif. Officials say progress is being made in some of the largest wildfires burning in Northern California but that the death toll is almost sure to surge.

CALmatters Commentary: What next for California’s sanctuary defiance?

"This action protects public safety and ensures hard-working people who contribute to our state are respected," Gov. Jerry Brown said as he signed a package of bills aimed at protecting at least 2 million undocumented residents from being detained and, perhaps, expelled. It's California's most dramatic "resistance" to President Donald Trump, at least so far, and seems destined to provoke his administration, particularly Attorney General Jeff Sessions, into a confrontation.

Political gears shift as Feinstein declares re-election bid

That gnashing sound you hear are the political gears shifting in response to Dianne Feinstein's announcement - after months of delay - that she'll seek another U.S. Senate term next year. "I am running for reelection to the Senate," Feinstein declared on Twitter Monday morning.

Pence tours California, raises funds for House Republicans

Vice President Mike Pence traveled up California on Monday to raise money for endangered Republican congressional candidates and tout the Trump administration's proposal for cutting taxes. It was the first visit to the heavily Democratic state by a member of the Trump-Pence ticket since the November election, when Democrat Hillary Clinton won the state by more than 4 million votes.

Trump’s Delicious Tax Cutby Deroy Murdock President Donald J. Trump…

As delicious as that sounds, Trump's tax overhaul may be tastiest for what it makes tiny, appealing, and compact: the 1040 tax return. If Washington Republicans manage not to botch tax reform - as they wrecked Obamacare repeal - simplification should be among the new system's most attractive elements, along with its consolidation of seven tax rates to three: 12, 25, and 35 percent.

California agency urges victims of Las Vegas mass shooting to apply for financial assistance

Victim advocates are encouraging survivors of the Las Vegas mass shooting, as well as their family members, to reach out to the California Victim Compensation Board for financial assistance. Officials with the state-run panel are working closely with their counterparts in Nevada to help victims and their families apply for benefits such as for funeral expenses, medical bills and mental-health treatment.

D.C. weighs gun law appeal, with fate of restrictions nationwide in the balance

D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine, center, will decide this week whether the District will appeal a federal court's ruling against one of its gun laws to the Supreme Court. D.C. officials say they will decide this week whether to ask the Supreme Court to review a ruling striking down the city's restrictions on carrying concealed guns - a choice that could determine the fate of similar laws in cities such as New York and Los Angeles and that is being closely watched by national gun-control activists.

GOP Congressman Met in Moscow With Kremlin-Linked Lawyer at Center of Russia Investigation

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher met with the Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya during a 2016 trip to Moscow, a previously undisclosed tAate-A -tAate that sheds additional light on the extent to which Moscow-based political operatives sought to influence American officials in the run-up to last year's presidential election. with a pro-Russian Crimean news service, Veselnitskaya said she met with Rohrabacher - a California Republican and arguably the most prominent advocate in Congress for closer relations between Washington and Moscow - in April 2016 to discuss issues surrounding the Magnitsky Act, the punitive American sanctions measure responding to Russian human rights abuses that she has lobbied against.

CALmatters Commentary: Maybe California has a couple of reasons to be paranoid

Nevertheless, two events last week bolster the notion that California is being targeted by the Trump administration, a Republican Congress and even the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court. The first was a rollout of a Republican plan, backed by the White House, to overhaul the federal tax system.