Daily Business Report: Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Deepfakes pose an obvious peril in politics, but California’s bans amount to censorship
By Dan Walters | CalMatters
A few weeks ago, a video popped up on YouTube, purporting to be a verbal clash between Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, and Gov. Gavin Newsom during a congressional hearing.
The video claimed that Hawley cleaned Newsom’s clock in their debate over a lawsuit that Newsom had filed. The problem is it was fake, created with video snippets of both politicians and a voiceover describing what supposedly happened.
The video, which has since vanished from YouTube, is a fairly crude example of how technology can be manipulated to depict seemingly real events.
Why Gavin Newsom’s wild plans for mid-decade congressional redistricting may blow up in his face
By Susan Shelley| New York Post
The ambitious governor of California says he is trying to end the presidency of Donald Trump two years early with a plan to elect more Democrats to the House of Representatives, offsetting a mid-decade redistricting in Texas.
Newsom wants to call a special election to throw out the congressional maps drawn by the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission that voters established using the initiative power.
The initiative power in California goes back to 1911, when Republican Gov. Hiram Johnson said the people needed a way to deal with an indolent and corrupt legislature. He was half-governor, half-psychic.
This candidate for California governor has a potential conflict of interest in her own home
By Alexei Koseff | CalMatters
If former state Senate leader Toni Atkins is elected governor next year, she would oversee a state contract that puts money in her own pocket.
Following a directive from Gov. Gavin Newsom to develop state-owned properties for affordable housing, the California Department of General Services in 2020 hired a consulting firm to help prioritize sites, conduct market research and evaluate applications from contractors.
That firm, LeSar Development Consultants, is owned by Atkins’ spouse, Jennifer LeSar. And because of California’s community property law that gives couples equal ownership of assets in their marriage, the $1 million contract — which was reupped in February through 2028 — has been worth tens of thousands of dollars to Atkins, according to financial disclosures.
