June 2025 in review: Last month's top stories, from Trump's escalations to a budget on the brink
From an endless string of budget updates to federal troops on California streets, June brought major shifts in how the state spends, governs, and protects. This edition of our Month in Review newsletter distills the stories that defined the month.
Welcome to CaliforniaToday.com's Month in Review newsletter for June 2025.
Over the past 30 days we watched $50 billion roll in from the latest cap-and-trade auction, saw Canadian wildfire smoke drift into the US in NASA satellite images, and decoded a new stack of clean-energy tax credits that could shave up to $16 K off a single household’s upgrade bill.
But money flowed out just as quickly. Lawmakers scrambled to close a multibillion-dollar shortfall with an eleventh-hour budget deal that preserves classroom funding and homelessness aid—while quietly postponing other obligations to future years. That balancing act made our 2025-26 California state budget guide the most-read story of the month, and you can jump straight to it in the Legal & Government section below.
Mac Douglass
Missed last month's edition? Catch up on our biggest stories from May 2025 here.
This month, we've distilled dozens of reports, guides, and deep dives into the six sections below. Think of this email as both a highlights reel and a launchpad: every synopsis ends with a link to the full article so you can explore the topics that matter most to you. Grab a coffee, scroll at your own pace, and emerge ready for whatever July throws California’s way.
Climate
California’s climate storylines in June were as diverse as they were consequential—from money-in-the-bank auction proceeds to smoke-plumed skies. Dive into each highlight below.
How to burn debris safely in California: 2025 guidelines
Yard-waste season is here, and so are CAL FIRE’s updated rules. Learn permit requirements, designated burn-day maps, and safety tips to protect your property—and your neighbors—from accidental wildfires.
Jennifer Olney
Every 2025 Clean-Energy Tax Credit explained—How to save up to $16 K
A practical roadmap to every Inflation Reduction Act incentive a household can claim in 2025: electric vehicles, EV chargers, heat pumps, insulation, rooftop solar, and battery storage. Clear eligibility checklists and stacking examples show how typical families can capture the full $16 K in savings.
Pat Sharyon
California’s latest Cap-and-Trade auction raises $50 B for climate credits and clean energy
Nearly 58 million emissions allowances sold out in May’s auction, generating a record haul that will bankroll clean-energy deployment, wildfire resilience, and equity programs.
Pat Sharyon
NASA satellites show Canadian wildfire smoke reaching the U.S.
Striking new imagery tracks dense smoke plumes drifting thousands of miles south, dimming US skies and elevating particulate readings. Explore the snapshots and what they mean for summer air-quality alerts.
Jennifer Olney
Legal & Government
Budget brinkmanship and federal muscle-flexing dominated June’s headlines, keeping courts, Capitol corridors, and city streets in constant motion. Catch up on the month’s seven essential reads below.
2025-26 California state budget guide: What’s funded, what’s cut, and what’s kicked down the road (most-read)
Our deep dive exposes how lawmakers balanced a multibillion-dollar shortfall—preserving classroom funding and homelessness aid while back-loading cuts, delaying payments, and banking on rosy revenue forecasts.
Mac Douglass
Trump sent Marines into Los Angeles without state approval—These are the closest historical precedents (second-most-read)
Seven hundred active-duty Marines deployed amid ICE-protest unrest. We trace the closest analogues—from Eisenhower’s Little Rock troops to the 1992 Rodney King riots—to show where this moment fits in U.S. history.
Mac Douglass
How a war with Iran could affect the U.S. economy, based on learnings from the Iraq War
Using two decades of Iraq-War data, we examine the ripple effects a new Middle East conflict could send through oil markets, supply chains, consumer prices, and California’s own budget outlook.
Mac Douglass
Ninth Circuit ruling on National Guard deployment
The court granted a stay that lets federal troops remain in Los Angeles without state sign-off. Access the full opinion and our annotated highlights explaining key legal reasoning.
Mac Douglass
Newsom rebukes Trump over National Guard praise amid L.A. ICE raid protests
California’s governor blasted the White House for “dangerous escalation” during early protest crackdowns. Our report breaks down the exchange and its implications for state sovereignty debates.
Mac Douglass
Health
June surfaced some of the most consequential updates yet for California’s health ecosystem—from a surge in mental health funding to structural tax changes and long-overdue insights into how Americans eat. These five reads offer both practical takeaways and deeper system-level context.
2025 CHHS Program Dashboard guide: How to navigate California Health & Human Services data
California’s CHHS Dashboard gives the public unprecedented access to demographic, enrollment, and service-overlap data across the state’s safety-net programs. This guide walks readers through how to navigate the tools and extract meaningful trends.
Dr. Jennifer Trimpey
How Americans eat and drink in 2025: Federal data reveals persistent gaps in diet quality
New federal nutrition data confirms that large swaths of the U.S. population still fall short of basic dietary standards. We examine where the gaps are widest, what’s behind them, and how these habits shape public health outcomes in California and beyond.
Dr. Jennifer Trimpey
2025 California Mental Health Services guide
Mental health support in California spans a fragmented network of Medi-Cal plans, local agencies, and special programs. Our guide explains how to find services that fit your needs—whether you're seeking help for a child, a senior, or someone experiencing homelessness.
Dr. Jennifer Trimpey
2025 California State Disability Insurance (SDI) tax guide
The SDI tax rate has increased for 2025—and for the first time, there’s no cap on taxable wages. This explainer outlines what workers can expect in paycheck deductions and how the funds support short-term disability and paid family leave benefits.
Dr. Jennifer Trimpey
June 2025 DHCS news roundup: $800M in behavioral health grants, updated guidance, and public meeting schedule
The Department of Health Care Services announced significant program changes in June, including a fresh round of mental health grants, revised service protocols, and expanded opportunities for public input.
Dr. Jennifer Trimpey
Education & History
California’s past and present collided in June, from a newly unearthed trove of Golden Gate Bridge renderings to a salary report that spotlights big-money college sports. Explore the month’s two most-talked-about stories below.
California’s three highest paid state employees in 2025 are all UC head coaches
Fresh public-salary data confirms that football and basketball coaches at UCLA and Cal out-earn every other state employee, including the governor. Our analysis unpacks the seven-figure contracts, compares them with faculty pay, and asks what the numbers say about higher-ed priorities.
Pat Sharyon
Golden Gate Bridge history in photos: Ceremonial entrances and decorative touches that never came to be
Step back to the 1930s and tour the ornate neoclassical arches, eagle-topped pylons, and relief sculptures that engineers once proposed for the Golden Gate Bridge. Rare planning sketches, period press clippings, and modern site photos reveal why the grand designs were scrapped—and what San Francisco might have looked like if they’d been built.
Mac Douglass
Lifestyle & Grants
Californians spent June looking for new ways to get outside—and new funding to make it happen—while planners refined a greener blueprint for moving around the state.
Applications now open for 2026 Route to Parks grants
Community and tribal organizations can now apply for a fresh round of Route to Parks funding, designed to cover transportation, programming, and outreach costs that help underserved residents visit state parks. Our explainer walks through eligibility tiers, example budgets, and application tips ahead of the fall deadline.
Pat Sharyon
Must-knows from the 2025 California State Rail Plan Fact Sheet
The 200-page rail blueprint—distilled to a five-minute read. See how zero-emission corridors, inland port links, and long-awaited Bay-to-Basin connections fit into California’s vision for a climate-aligned transport network.
Pat Sharyon
Business & Economy
June’s money headlines ranged from reclaimed tax incentives to a record-shattering sports franchise sale, all against the backdrop of sobering wage data for frontline workers.
California reclaims millions in lapsed tax credits while approving $34.4 M in new awards
State economic-development officials clawed back $63 million from companies that missed hiring targets, then green-lit a fresh $34.4 million for firms pledging new jobs. Our breakdown lists the biggest winners and industries that fell short.
Pat Sharyon
Mark Walter buying Lakers in $10 B deal: Who is the billionaire behind the NBA’s biggest sale?
The Dodgers co-owner is set to acquire a majority stake in the Lakers at a league-record valuation. We chart Walter’s rise from Guggenheim Partners CEO to multi-team sports magnate.
Pat Sharyon
California’s production workers earn below U.S. average, new federal data reveals
Fresh BLS statistics show Golden State production workers trailing national wage medians despite higher living costs. Explore percentile breakdowns and regional hot spots.
Pat Sharyon
Looking Ahead
June’s stories show how quickly California’s landscape—environmental, political, and economic—can shift in just thirty days.
If you found this recap useful, feel free to forward it to a friend or colleague who relies on clear, data-driven coverage of life in the Golden State. We welcome your feedback at info@californiatoday.com, and you can join the conversation by following us on X and Instagram and using the hashtag #ShareCaliforniaToday.
Looking ahead, July will bring our real-time wildfire season tracker, a calculator for new clean-energy rebates, and a summer road-trip series from the redwoods to the Salton Sea. Stay tuned—and thanks for reading.
