Daily Business Report: Friday, July 18 2025
What California Could Be if Our Politicians Loved the State and its People
By Katy Grimes | California Globe
Just imagine if the California Governor and California Legislature loved California as much as the people do. Imagine if they also loved the state’s abundant natural resources, rather than imposing harsh restrictions and locking them away.
California is rich in natural resources which once powered the state: natural gas deposits in the Monterey Shale formation; geothermal energy, abundant rivers and waterways such as the San Joaquin River Delta and hydroelectric dams; the Pacific coastline; 85 million acres of wildlands with 17 million of those used as commercial timberland; mines and mineral resources, vast farming and agricultural lands, and hunting and fishing.
But California politicians and appointed agency officials, under pressure from radical environmental organizations and lobbyists, decided to ignore the energy producing natural resources, and instead move to an all-electric grid, and the only approved “renewable energy:” solar and wind energy.
Most California Voters Say Special Interests Have Too Much Influence on Policy: Poll
By Kimberly Hayek | The Epoch Times
A poll by the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies published on July 10 found that a majority of Californians believe special interest groups wield too much influence over policymaking in Sacramento.
More than 6,000 respondents were asked whether or not “special interest money has too much influence in Sacramento politics and decision-making.”
Fifty-five percent of respondents strongly agreed, and 20 percent somewhat agreed. Only 2 percent disagreed.
What to Know About the ICE Operation at California Cannabis Farms
By Savannah Hulsey Pointer | The Epoch Times
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made national headlines over the weekend because of a large-scale operation it conducted on July 10 at two California cannabis farms. The enforcement action ended with hundreds taken into custody amid reports of ICE agents being fired upon.
In a July 11 statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that “brave agents faced gunfire as they executed criminal search warrants at a marijuana facility.”
A later update from the department said agents rescued more than a dozen children and arrested 361 illegal immigrants. One farm worker who fell from a greenhouse roof while evading authorities later died on July 12, his family reported.
