Tom Philp

My thoughts on how to preserve California’s natural world do not fit tidily within an orthodoxy, but I was grateful for a recent local recognition. What matters now is to debate environmentalism. #cawater #caleg

As Trump sends California water to farmers, native salmon face extinction | Opinion Trump’s California team has been maximizing water deliveries this year, flirting at the edge of the rules. Next year could be an epic fight.

The threats to California salmon are actually bipartisan, but first, a look at the Trump effect. #cawater #CAleg

From droughts to human mistakes, California salmon near extinction | Opinion California’s last wild salmon are one drought, and one more round of mismanagement, from vanishing from the state’s rivers, says Sacramento Bee opinion writer Tom Philp.

In recent years, not all of California's salmon management mistakes are equal in their impact, there's just been too many of them. Part 2. #cawater #caleg
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California’s dying salmon test our environmental values. We’re flunking | Opinion The Golden State was once heralded for a leader in global environmentalism. What would it say about us if we let salmon go extinct?

I'm writing about California's struggling salmon this fall because the demise speaks to our changing politics and priorities and our outdated way of approaching increasingly complicated environmental problems. Here's the intro. #cawater #caleg
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There is one democratic solution to redistricting Congress in California | Opinion Gov. Gavin Newsom isn’t about to redraw congressional lines throughout California. Only voters can do that. And they should get that choice.

Isn't the best of a bad set of options to let California voters themselves decide on redistricting? #california #CAleg

Sacramento fights back and opposes the county’s terrible Natomas project | Opinion The Sacramento City Council’s opposition to a huge Natomas housing project next door in the county sends a message to supervisors to collaborate.

Good for the Sacramento City Council for defending its balanced preservation/growth approach to Natomas and opposing a project too close to the river that county supervisors will consider next week. #sacramento

A huge Sacramento project has no water, yet it’s up for a vote. Why? | Opinion Sacramento County is banking on the city to provide water for a controversial project, but there is no agreement. How can supervisors approve this?

In California, can a huge project without a water supply actually get approved? Welcome to Sacramento County #cawater #CAleg #sacramento

Why is Sacramento screwing up a way to keep down electricity prices? | Opinion California was on a path to joining a new western energy market until legislators got involved, writes columnist Tom Philp.

Could the California Legislature screw up the electricity market, again? The mistake happened in less than a Sacramento minute. #CAleg

On water, Newsom is out of time and making his riskiest move as governor | Opinion Running out of time and with no lasting water achievements, the governor is resorting to the leverage of the budget process for a chance at victory.

How many years should it take for government process to ponder a water tunnel? The choice is basically one decade or two #cawater #CAleg

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LA has water partly thanks to something Trump wants to eliminate | Opinion A new executive order lifts federal restrictions on showerhead flows. California has mandated more efficient devices for years, with huge savings.

The water-efficient device is California's HUGE friend. No president should mess with any of them. #cawater #CALeg www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

Should Big Oil pay for California’s climate disasters? You may pay at the pump | Opinion A bill assigning oil companies with legal responsibility for big fires lost in its first legislative test in Sacramento, for fear consumers would pay.

The Sacramento Democrats' attempt to stick it to Big Oil, without causing pain at the pump for consumers, experiences another setback. #CALeg www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

Nine Medill alumni join 2025 Hall of Achievement - Medill - Northwestern University Nine alumni will join the 2025 Hall of Achievement class at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. This is the highest honor Medill bes...

Scoopy the Sacramento Bee will forever be on the wall at Northwestern's J School. #Sacramento www.medill.northwestern.edu/news/2025/ni...

Will Newsom keep health coverage for undocumented immigrants? | Opinion Nearly a quarter of state spending on the Medi-Cal program goes to undocumented residents because the federal government provides nothing.

About a quarter of a general fund dollars for Medi-Cal health care goes to covering our undocumented residents. Something's about to give here in Sac on the state budget. Where will Newsom and the Dems cut? #CALeg www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

Sacramento’s council never approved an expansion study. Why did it happen? | Opinion A powerful developer wanted the city’s help to study a new industrial park near the international airport. Staff did so without the council’s OK.

A controversial Sacramento expansion proposal went before the city council in June of 2021 and was tabled for a month amid opposition. The staff decided it didn't need council approval and went ahead anyways. But did staff comply with the City Charter? #Sacramento www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

Texts reveal how Sacramento managers talk about the council. It’s not pretty | Opinion When former City Manager Howard Chan announced a new “advisor” role in January, the real manager asked him to take down the social media posting.

The story behind Howard Chan's fake return to Sacramento City Hall. He basically made it up. #Sacramento #CALeg www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

Why did CapRadio and KVIE public television go to war over a radio tower? | Opinion Sacramento State bought land for CapRadio’s tower, yet neither ever owned the property. Its owner rejected a university audit and gave the tower away.

For CapRadio to lose its tower land, several flukes had to happen over more than a decade. But it happened. Big cameo roles by CSU auditors and KVIE public television leadership. #sacramento www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

California government meeting stopped by pornography, racism? Democracy lost | Opinion The state capital has seen its more than its share of incivility to interrupt meetings, but columnist Tom Philp says this racist porno is a new low.

This is probably a new low for Sacramento political theater, an important virtual hearing by the water board getting hijacked, the webcast beaming images of pornography and an audio of hate. Everyone who cares about this issue lost on Monday. #cawater #CALeg www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

Electricity in California could cost even more if we don’t work with our neighbors | Opinion Rival proposals are emerging to control power sales from Mexico through Canada. California is both the prize and the problem, says columnist Tom Philp.

California likely faces higher electricity costs if we don't partner more with our neighbors, but that is not our custom and we aren't exactly popular anyways. So this will be interesting. #CALeg www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

Nothing like a huge win and beam on a blustery night #sacramentokings #sacramento

Elon Musk is endangering California water. It takes people to run big federal projects | Opinion The federal Bureau of Reclamation runs some of the state’s largest water facilities. It now must plan to lose as much as 40% of its workforce.

Slashing the staff of the federal Bureau of Reclamation in the West is a form of water/flood control suicide. So short-sighted. And to what end? #cawater #CALeg www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

From Sacramento, I’ve tried to help Ukrainian families being abandoned by my country | Opinion When repeatedly aiding Ukrainian families by renting their flats near the front lines, opinion writer Tom Philp has found that hope is fading.

There are two families in Ukraine's Kharkiv I have gotten to know since the beginning of the war. They aren't as optimistic as they once were, but they're not giving up. And neither should the United States. www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

Newsom is fast emerging as the 2028 Republican challenger to JD Vance. #SACleg

Gavin Newsom wants state workers back in offices. Shouldn’t he govern in person, too? | Opinion We elected him governor in Sacramento, not chief podcaster in Marin County, writes opinion columnist Tom Philp.

The governor has ordered state workers back to their offices, but not himself, as he bromances with the far right on a podcast from his Marin home. Come on Gavin! Lead by example? Sacramento awaits. #CALeg #Sacramento www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

California Republicans are getting under the Democrats’ skin. That’s good for democracy | Opinion With clever bills and political theater, the Sacramento Republican agenda has prompted retaliation by the majority party, says columnist Tom Philp.

I got to hand it to the legislative Republicans, left out of policy making and budget setting by the supermajority Democrats, for getting under the leadership's skin by making some points, sometimes quite deftly, sometimes rather loudly. #CALeg #Sacarmento www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

Forget what Trump said in a rambling speech Tuesday night. Here is what matters more | Opinion Where President Donald Trump is taking America remains unclear after Tuesday’s prime time speech

Here is the McClatchy think tank take on deciphering Trump's speech tonight. Started with culture wars, doubled down on tariffs, blamed Biden, painted a bright new American dawn. There ya go. www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

Newsom isn’t Trump. His state worker return-to-office order is huge for Sacramento | Opinion There is no greater teamwork than government — and there’s no running from who we are, write Marcos Bretón and Tom Philp.

Ten years ago, if Sacramento's state workers were told they only had to work in the office four days a week, there would be dancing in the streets. The governor's new back-to-work order will likely be met with some local amnesia. #CALeg #sacramento www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

High-speed rail is California’s slow-motion train wreck. Two Democrats own this mess | Opinion Newsom and Biden had all the money needed to build the San Joaquin leg of a statewide system. They squandered the opportunity. Now, enter Trump.

California high-speed rail is now a slow-motion train wreck because Newsom and Biden blew their one chance to fully fund the first leg. Now we enter the land of budget cuts. #CALeg #sacramento www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

For whatever it's worth, as an opinion writer, while I'm incensed at how the owners are ruining their opinion voices, I subscribe to the @washingtonpost.com and the @latimes.com because their newsrooms are kicking ass. Defunding imperfect journalism in these imperfect times comes at risks.

Will Donald Trump Republicans in Congress cause a financial disaster in California?  | Opinion Gov. Gavin Newsom has requested nearly $40 billion in aid. A weary and divided Congress is likely to add strings to any money, whenever it arrives.

The political timing of liberal Los Angeles catching on fire, just as Republicans were about to take control of Washington, couldn’t have been worse. California is no so vulnerable to the whims of DC politics, needing tens of billions of dollars to rebuild.

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