Daily Business Report: Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Sen. Alex Padilla passes on widely expected run for California governor
By Maya C. Miller | CalMatters
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California will not run for governor in next year’s highly watched race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, the senator unexpectedly announced in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.
The decision comes after months of speculation that California’s senior senator, who Newsom appointed to succeed former Vice President Kamala Harris after she stepped down in 2020, could throw his hat in the ring and dominate an otherwise open field.
Padilla’s staff confirmed Tuesday that he would not be seeking the governorship.
15 DUIs, still driving: California’s failure to take repeat drunk drivers off the road
By Robert Lewis and Lauren Hepler | CalMatters
The state of California gave Sylvester Conway every opportunity to kill.
He already had two DUI convictions by 2019, when the California Highway Patrol arrested him for driving drunk in Fresno County. The jail released him three days later. Conway didn’t show up to court and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
The cycle continued. In April 2021, prosecutors say he drove the wrong way on the highway with a blood alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit. Conway signed a citation for driving under the influence, promising that he’d show up to court. He didn’t.
Cartels Control Tribal Lands in California, Grow Drugs and Impose Narco-Slavery
By Brad Jones | The Epoch Times
Driving up the steep and windy road from his station in Ukiah, Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall stops his pickup at a pullout overlooking California’s Round Valley.
“It’s where the trouble begins and never ends,” he told The Epoch Times.
Native American sovereignty and California’s policies that shield illegal immigrants have allowed Mexican drug cartels to swoop in on tribal lands of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, a confederation of several tribes, the sheriff said.
The valley, known for illegal marijuana grows on tribal lands, is remote and surrounded by forested mountainous terrain. It’s a patchwork of tribal lands and those sold off to private owners years ago.