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The Clippers on Wednesday denied a blistering report that owner Steve Ballmer knowingly circumvented NBA salary cap rules when he funded a multi-million no-show endorsement deal for All-Star Kawhi Leonard with an environmental company. The $28 million deal was intended to be part of a marketing campaign for a start-up environmental company called Aspiration but allegedly was not made public to avoid questions about whether the deal circumvented rules, according to podcaster/investigative reporter Pablo Torre, formerly of ESPN. The NBA said Wednesday that it will investigate whether the contract with Aspiration Fund Adviser, LLC, allowed the Clippers to circumvent the…

By Ryan Sabalow | CalMatters Jay Leno’s star power wasn’t enough to persuade a California legislative committee to pass a measure to allow owners of classic cars like him to be exempted from the state’s rigorous smog-check requirements. The Assembly Appropriations Committee on Aug. 29 blocked Bakersfield Republican Sen. Shannon Grove’s Senate Bill 712 from advancing for a full vote. Leno had testified in support of the measure in Sacramento earlier this year. The committee’s members and its powerful Democratic chairperson, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks of Oakland, did not provide a reason for killing the bill during Friday’s hearing, which quickly…

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco isn’t a fan of so-called keyboard warriors — at least when it comes to the case against the parents of Cabazon infant Emmanuel Haro. Those self-styled reporters were spreading false information, he says. The sheriff, at times critical of the mainstream press, paused during a recent press conference to castigate the online sleuths and citizen journalists. “I just want to thank all of you, especially the normal, mainstream media for your attention to this,” Bianco said. “Not so much for social media and for keyboard warriors who, quite honestly, sometimes hamper and prevent us from…

For now, the rumors about a potential Sen. Alex Padilla for California governor run are just that, rumors. But they’ve certainly got Democratic operatives and consultants talking — even as Padilla and his camp remain loudly mum on the possibility. Related: These are the candidates for California governor in 2026 The focus for California’s senior senator, said Padilla spokesperson Edgar Rodriguez when asked about the gubernatorial rumors on Wednesday, remains on California’s upcoming special election on redistricting. That’s been the party line in the past few weeks, since the rumor mill really started churning, and what Padilla himself has said…

RIVERSIDE – The UC Riverside athletics department experienced some extreme highs and lows under former director Wes Mallette. From avoiding the entire program’s demise to playing in its first men’s basketball National Invitational Tournament (NIT) and having to replace its highest-profile coach, the Highlanders are seemingly acclimated to the ebbs and flows of life in NCAA Division I. Now, new interim athletic director Michelle Almazan wants to chart a calmer course forward. “As much as (Mallette) was out there and he was the face of UC Riverside athletics,” Almazan said. “I’ll be cheering just as loud, but sometimes I’ll be in…

By COLLIN BINKLEY and MICHAEL CASEY BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday ordered the reversal of the Trump administration’s cuts to more than $2.6 billion in funding research grants for Harvard University. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs sided with the Ivy League school, ruling the cuts amounted to illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of White House demands for changes to its governance and policies. The ruling delivers a significant victory to Harvard in its battle with the Trump administration, which also has sought to prevent the school from hosting foreign students and threatened to revoke its…

By Khari Johnson | CalMatters A crackdown on predictive software that sets prices and can rip you off seemed to be brewing in the California Legislature earlier this year, but today lawmakers eased up, voting to kill bills that would have kept software from setting the price of apartment rentals and other goods and services. Another bill, which sought to bar the use of personal information to set prices, was reined in to apply only to grocery stores. Lawmakers also killed a bill that aimed to protect electric utility customers from bearing higher costs associated with data center proliferation, which…

By MICHAEL R. SISAK, Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump will soon ask the Supreme Court to throw out a jury’s finding in a civil lawsuit that he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her, his lawyers said in a recent court filing. Trump’s lawyers previewed the move as they asked the high court to extend its deadline for challenging the $5 million verdict from Sept. 10 to Nov. 11. The president “intends to seek review” of “significant issues” arising from the trial and the 2nd…

Here is a look at the top games involving Inland high school football teams on Thursday, Sept. 4 Sites and times of games are subject to change. THURSDAY’S TOP GAMES Etiwanda (2-0) at Cajon (0-1), 7:30 p.m. IE Varsity info: Etiwanda has opened the season with wins over Grand Terrace (36-13) and Citrus Valley (35-13) and now looks to avenge last season’s 30-24 loss to the Cowboys. Keegan Campuzano has passed for 417 yards and three touchdowns, while Jaleel Sutton has rushed for 341 yards to lead the ground attack.  The Eagles’ defense is led by outside linebacker Drew Toki.…

California’s permits for new housing dipped to an 11-year low, minus the pandemic-era lockdowns. My trusty spreadsheet reviewed Census Bureau data on California building permits, focusing on how the first half of 2025 compared with historical trends dating to 1988. Statewide, 49,400 permits were filed in the year’s first six months. Minus 2020 – when news of coronavirus’ emergence shut down much of the economy – the last time a year started more slowly was 2014. This year’s first-half permitting was a 3% drop from a year earlier and 14% below the pandemic-era building boom in 2020-2023. This year’s permitting…