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Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, January 19, 2026<\/b><\/p>\n Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a handful of bills advancing the cause of\u00a0reparations for Black Californians<\/a> last year, dealing the latest blow to a first-of-its-kind movement to atone for state-inflicted harms from slavery to the present day.\u00a0Newsom rejected bills that would have\u00a0allowed the\u00a0<\/a>descendants of enslaved people to receive preference in university admissions, business licenses and loans for first-time homebuyers.<\/p>\n The measures were among several reparations-related bills<\/a> advanced last year by the California Legislative Black Caucus, following a shift in strategy to focus on descendants of enslaved<\/a>\u00a0people rather than race-based programs \u2014 an approach designed to withstand mounting legal challenges.<\/p>\n Lisa Holder is a civil rights attorney and was a member of the state’s Reparations Task Force. She’s also president of the non-profit Equal Justice Society. She said this is going to be a long process. “You can’t legislate yourself out of 400 years of inequality and injustice. You have to do an entire body of laws to change the systems that have been disparately affecting black folks for decades.” she said. “You now have to put many, many laws in place to change practically every system, whether you’re talking about systems of finance, housing.\u00a0 Laws that require equitable treatment, laws that require affirmative hiring sometimes in industries where Black people were affirmatively not hired,” she said.<\/p>\n Governor Gavin Newsom has set a dat<\/a>e for the special election to replace Republican Congressman Doug LaMalfa, who passed away<\/a> suddenly on January 6.<\/p>\n The election will take place on August 4. That\u2019s later than the June date many observers expected, which would have coincided with the state\u2019s already scheduled primary election. And it leaves a currently safe Republican House seat vacant for at least the next six months.<\/p>\n The winner of the special election would serve for only a few months, before having to run in a newly redrawn congressional district.<\/p>\n The union representing 31,000 nurses, rehab therapists, pharmacists and other specialty health care professionals at\u00a0Kaiser Permanente<\/a> plans to go on an open-ended strike at hospitals and clinics across California and Hawaii.<\/p>\n After both sides hit a wall in their months-long contract talks, the walkout is set to begin Jan. 26 at nearly 20 Kaiser hospitals and 200 clinics, with no end in sight.\u00a0\u201cWe will be on strike until we reach an agreement,\u201d said Brian Mason, a negotiator for the United Nurses Associations of California\/Union of Health Care Professionals. He warned that the strike will likely cause delayed or canceled surgeries and appointments.<\/p>\n UNAC\/UHCP is part of an alliance of health care unions negotiating with Kaiser for a new set of national and local contracts. In October, about 61,000 members of the alliance\u00a0staged a five-day, multi-state strike<\/a> to demand wage and staffing increases.\u00a0Talks resumed after the walkout, but they broke down in mid-December when Kaiser negotiators accused UNAC\/UHCP leaders of not bargaining in good faith.<\/p>\n\n
Reparation Efforts To Continue In 2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Governor Sets Special Election To Fill Congressman LaMalfa’s Seat<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Union Of 31,000 Kaiser Workers To Go On Indefinite Strike<\/a><\/h2>\n