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Tech companies that create large, advanced artificial intelligence models will soon have to share more information about how the models can impact society and give their employees ways to warn the rest of us if things go wrong.

Starting January 1, a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom gives whistleblower protections to employees at companies like Google and OpenAI whose work involves assessing the risk of critical safety incidents. It also requires large AI model developers to publish frameworks on their websites that include how the company responds to critical safety incidents and assesses and manages catastrophic risk. Fines for violating the frameworks can reach $1 million per violation. Under the law, companies must report critical safety incidents to the state within 15 days, or within 24 hours if they believe a risk poses an imminent threat of death or injury.

The law began as Senate Bill 53, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, to address catastrophic risk posed by advanced AI models, which are sometimes called frontier models. The law defines catastrophic risk as an instance where the tech can kill more than 50 people through a cyber attack or hurt people with a chemical, biological, radioactive, or nuclear weapon, or an instance where AI use results in more than $1 billion in theft or damage. It addresses the risks in the context of an operator losing control of an AI system, for example because the AI deceived them or took independent action, situations that are largely considered hypothetical.

The law increases the information that AI makers must share with the public, including in a transparency report that must include the intended uses of a model, restrictions or conditions of using a model, how a company assesses and addresses catastrophic risk, and whether those efforts were reviewed by an independent third party.

The law will bring much-needed disclosure to the AI industry, said Rishi Bommasani, part of a Stanford University group that tracks transparency around AI. Only three of 13 companies his group recently studied regularly carry out incident reports and transparency scores his group issues to such companies fell on average over the last year, according to a newly issued report.

Bommasami is also a lead author of a report ordered by Gov. Gavin Newsom that heavily influenced SB 53 and calls transparency a key to public trust in AI. He thinks the effectiveness of SB 53 depends heavily on the government agencies tasked with enforcing it and the resources they are allocated to do so.

“You can write whatever law in theory, but the practical impact of it is heavily shaped by how you implement it, how you enforce it, and how the company is engaged with it.”

The law was influential even before it went into effect. The governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, credited it as the basis for the AI transparency and safety law she signed Dec. 19. The similarity will grow, City & State New York reported, as the law will be “substantially rewritten next year largely to align with California’s language.”

Limitations and implementation

The new law falls short no matter how well it is enforced, critics say. It does not include in its definition of catastrophic risk issues like the impact of AI systems on the environment, their ability to spread disinformation, or their potential to perpetuate historical systems of oppression like sexism or racism. The law also does not apply to AI systems used by governments to profile people or assign them scores that can lead to a denial of government services or fraud accusations, and only targets companies that make $500 million in annual revenue.

Its transparency measures also stop short of full public visibility. In addition to providing the transparency reports, AI developers must also send incident reports to the Office of Emergency Services when things go wrong. Members of the public can also contact that office to report catastrophic risk incidents.

But the contents of incident reports submitted to OES by companies or their employees cannot be provided to the public via records requests and will be shared instead with members of the California Legislature and Newsom. Even then, they may be redacted to hide information that companies characterize as trade secrets, a common way companies prevent sharing information about their AI models.

Bommasami hopes additional transparency will be provided by Assembly Bill 2013, a bill that became law in 2024 and also takes effect Jan. 1. It requires companies to disclose additional details about the data they use to train AI models.

Some elements of SB 53 don’t kick in until next year. Starting in 2027, the Office of Emergency Services will produce a report about critical safety incidents the agency receives from the public and large frontier model makers. That report may give more clarity into the extent to which AI can mount attacks on infrastructure or models act without human direction, but the report will be anonymized so which AI models pose this threat won’t be known to the public.

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PREVIOUSLY

• BOOKED: James Michael Whitchurch

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Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

The Eureka Police Department is aware that on December 24, 2025, the California Highway Patrol conducted an investigation involving Officer James Whitchurch, which subsequently led to his arrest.

Immediately following his arrest, Officer Whitchurch was placed on paid administrative leave. This is an ongoing personnel matter; the department will not release additional information at this time.

The Eureka Police Department is fully cooperating with the California Highway Patrol, which is the lead investigative agency in this matter. Any further information regarding the arrest must be obtained from the California Highway Patrol.

[Eureka Police Chief Brian Stephen said,] “The arrest of one of our officers for driving under the influence is a serious matter. This type of behavior is unacceptable and does not reflect the values, standards, or  expectations of this department. We hold our members to a high level of accountability, both on and off duty. The department will address this incident through the appropriate administrative and disciplinary processes as the matter moves forward.”

The dark blue line represents all homicide cases investigated by the Humboldt County Coroner’s Office. The light blue line represents cases within the jurisdiction of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. Data sourced from HCSO. 

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Humboldt County’s homicide tally hit a 20-year low this year, with three such killings recorded since the start of 2025. A fourth case remains under investigation and has not yet been ruled a homicide.

In a recent interview with the Outpost, Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said the county’s homicide rate has been on a downward trend for several years — despite upticks in 2020 and 2023 — averaging four to five cases per year. While three homicides were officially recorded in 2025, only one case is a “bona fide homicide,” he said.

“We technically only have one criminal homicide this year, and that was the sheriff’s office homicide investigation near Blue Lake,” Honsal said. “[The other] two cases are officer-involved shootings, which are classified as homicide, but not criminal homicide. … There’s another case that we’re assisting the Arcata Police Department on, but that has not been determined to be a criminal homicide as of yet. Really, only one bona fide homicide this year, and that is bucking the trend.”

The four homicide investigations include the following cases:

• June 5: Nicholas Anderson, 29, of Simi Valley was killed in an officer-involved shooting near the Bear River Recreation Center in Loleta. Anderson, who was in apparent medical distress leading up to the incident, was shot and killed after he allegedly rushed a deputy with a knife. In a critical incident video released after the investigation, Honsal said Anderson “held [the knife] above his head in a threatening manner,” prompting the deputy to shoot “in defense of his own life.” The District Attorney’s investigation is ongoing.

• July 8: Joshua McCollister, 37, of Fort Bragg was fatally shot at his home near Glendale. Following a three-day investigation, HCSO’s Major Crimes Division arrested two suspects: Arcata residents Danielle Durand, 41, and Deunn Willis, 38, both of whom were charged with murder, conspiracy and robbery. While questions remain about what led up to the fatal shooting, an HCSO press release says “preliminary findings suggest the shooting stemmed from a dispute over a civil matter involving two individuals.” The investigation is ongoing.
• July 26: Jared Nelson, 35, of Eureka was killed in an officer-involved shooting in Glendale. Deputies were in the Glendale area to serve Nelson with an arrest warrant for illegal possession of a firearm when they allegedly saw him “walk into the roadway in front of them.” Nelson fled, allegedly shooting at deputies as he ran into some bushes nearby. He was fatally shot following a brief standoff. The District Attorney’s investigation is ongoing.

• Oct. 16: An unnamed woman was found dead in a homeless encampment in Arcata’s Valley West neighborhood. A 23-year-old man was arrested in connection with the woman’s death, and released a few days later due to insufficient evidence, according to the Times-Standard. The Arcata Police Department’s investigation is ongoing. APD did not return the Outpost’s request for additional information before publication. 

In addition, there are still several missing person investigations underway that could turn out to be homicide cases.

“We have a body that was found on the Eel River early this year, and that case is still under investigation,” Honsal said. “We also have some missing persons investigations out of McKinleyville and the greater Eureka area, where we suspect the people may be deceased, but we don’t have evidence to point to [whether] they are a victim of homicide or not. We’re still investigating, and if we get evidence to prove that they were murdered, then we will pursue and request the [District Attorney’s] office to charge those cases.”

The decline in local homicides aligns with national and state statistics. In 2024, California reported its second-lowest homicide rate since 1966, according to the California Attorney General’s office. Preliminary numbers from AH Datalytics, a Louisiana-based analytics company, show a 19 percent decrease in murders in California between 2024 and 2025, which closely aligns with national stats.

While homicides are often linked with substance abuse and mental health issues, no one thing causes violence to rise or fall. Honsal thinks the reason for the drop in local cases is tied to cannabis legalization.

“I’ve always equated a lot of our violent crime to illegal marijuana, and I think legalization had a big impact on us. It was legalized in 2016, and you see this trend going down to 2019,” he said in reference to the graph up top. “Robberies are down, assaults are down and homicides are down. Organized crime is not what it once was within the county. Several of our murders over the years have been directly related to marijuana rip-offs or some kind of crime related to marijuana.”

But what about the spike of 14 homicides in 2020? And another dozen in 2023? Honsal couldn’t say.

“Did it have to do with the pandemic anxiety? I don’t know,” he said. “Last year, the sheriff’s office had two [criminal homicide cases], and this year we have one.”

Attempted homicides within the sheriff’s office jurisdiction fell from 12 cases in 2024 to just two in 2025. However, assaults and rapes are up by five percent. 

“I think drugs have a lot to do with it,” Honsal said. “We have a credible methamphetamine and fentanyl problem here … and the drug problem does have a direct effect on our violent crime as well.”

Turning back to the topic of missing people and cold cases, Honsal emphasized the crucial role the community plays in working with law enforcement to help move investigations forward. He pointed to the case of Emmilee Risling, a 32-year-old Hupa woman who went missing while suffering through a mental health crisis in October 2021.

“We don’t know what happened to her, but there’s a lot of speculation about what may have happened to her,” he said. “We believe people do know, but they don’t want to talk about it, and there’s other cases just like that within the county. People may have a piece of information that they can provide to us that can help break open these cases. We want to encourage people to trust law enforcement and call us if they see something.”

Those with information about any of the cases mentioned in this story or other ongoing investigations in Humboldt County can leave an anonymous message on HCSO’s Crime Tip Hotline at (707) 268-2539.

“We can’t be everywhere, and we rely on the community’s help when it comes to protecting everyone,” Honsal said. “Whatever information we can possibly get, even if it’s minimal. Whatever you know, it’s good to call us.”

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Hey, did you see those big U-turns in the sky yesterday? Many of you did, judging by the number of photos posted to social media. 

What’s the story? Well, a subset of you will conclude with absolute certainty that the sky-donuts were composed of noxious chemicals spooged into the troposphere by nefarious globalists to control the weather/human population/our brains. Eek!

Others will reference flight-tracking websites and see that Boeing was testing one of its new 777-9s. These twin-engine wide-body behemoths are “set to revolutionize long-haul air travel” when they go into commercial service in 2027, according to at least one industry website.

This particular jet departed the King County International Airport, aka Boeing Field, around 12:30 p.m. and cruised down the coast at speeds exceeding 500 miles per hour. The pilot(s) then pulled an aerial brodie over Humboldt Bay and did a couple of laps between here and the Coos Bay vicinity before returning to Seattle shortly after 5 p.m.

When the hot, moist emissions from jet engines come into contact with the frigid air at 40,000 feet, streams of ice crystals are formed, leaving behind the long, thin trails of condensation in the sky. That’s assuming you trust scientific consensus, of course.

Watch the video below for more information and/or indoctrination.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

Andrea “Chick”White

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office would like to announce a $20,000 reward for information leading to the location of Andrea “Chick” White.

The reward is a combination of $15,000 from the Hoopa Valley Tribe, and $5,000 from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit.

White was last seen on July 31st, 1991, on Highway 299 near the Blue Lake offramp. She is described as a Native American woman, brown hair, brown eyes, approximately 5 feet tall and weighing approximately 115 pounds. 

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Cold Case Investigator Mike Fridley with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at 707-441-3024.

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California showed it was serious about regulating Big Tech in 2025 — and Big Tech showed it was serious about coming to the statehouse and fighting back.

The upshot was a barrage of laws designed to curb tech harms but often in watered down form.

Take San Francisco Democratic Sen. Scott Weiner’s legislation to keep artificial intelligence systems from enabling catastrophes like biological weapons attacks. The original version would have mandated safeguards over AI systems and imposed possible liability on their developers.Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed it amid concerns that it would stifle innovation in the state’s booming AI industry. This year’s version, signed into law, merely requires big AI companies to publish safety frameworks and creates a pathway for reporting safety incidents.

Similar dilutions occurred over other tech proposals. Of various bills to regulate data centers, those mandating disclosure of water and power use failed while one merely letting regulators look into those uses passed. On AI chatbots talking to kids, a bill outright banning any harmful chats failed while one just requiring protocols for suicidal users became law. A similar process winnowed six bills to regulate algorithmic pricing down to one signed by the governor, forbidding tech platforms from requiring their business customers to use their pricing recommendations.

That came after another year of aggressive lobbying by tech companies, sometimes behind the scenes.

Still, advocates for more regulation won some outright victories, including a new browser setting to forbid websites from transferring personal data. Experts say this “opt out” will end up helping consumers across the U.S.

Meanwhile, California’s executive branch struggled with the process of guarding against online hackers, losing its top cybersecurity official amid discord in the office that position oversees. Law enforcement agencies across the state also struggled to correctly handle the digital data they collected, with many local police departments illegally sharing information on vehicle movements, gleaned from automated license plate readers, with federal agencies like Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

2026 outlook

Next year will see no end to the tension between protecting Californians from artificial intelligence and the impulse to protect the flow of money into the industry. An ambitious bill requiring disclosure of AI use in consequential decisions, such as in housing and education, will return. Data centers will stir controversy as AI spikes their power use, potentially opening the door to nuclear power. Lastly, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have drawn up proposals — thus far not acted upon — to preempt state laws regulating AI. If enacted, such plans would hit California hardest.

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Days after 2025 began, two fires scorched through Los Angeles neighborhoods, the most destructive in California’s history. The Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires also renewed attention to issues such as utility oversight, insurance coverage, and the broader challenges of wildfire planning in a changing climate. And their harms rippled outward, leaving thousands of low-income workers and immigrants without jobs.

But California found pushing its climate agenda forward to be an uphill battle this year: Ambitious climate goals faced a hostile federal government economic pressures.

Anticipating opposition from President Donald Trump, state leaders chose to abandon important clean-air rules before he even took office, including plans to phase out diesel trucks and transition to cleaner trains. Nearing mid-year, Trump and his allies in Congress blocked the state’s clean-car mandate, a blow to emissions reduction plans.

Nevertheless, as part of budget negotiations, Gov. Gavin Newsom sought to reauthorize California’s landmark cap-and-trade program, launching a debate that would resolve in the final hours of the legislative session.

Blaming climate and environmental regulation, Phillips 66 and Valero followed through on plans to shutter oil refineries, raising concerns about gas prices and the future of the state’s oil industry. In Wilmington, Phillips 66 is now closed. A high-profile explosion at Chevron’s El Segundo refinery nearby underscored persistent safety and environmental risks tied to remaining facilities.

By the end of the legislative session, these issues converged, as legislators passed a six-bill deal that included a plan to boost oil drilling, relief for ratepayers who fund wildfire mitigation, and an extension of the now rebranded “cap-and-invest” program.

As lawmakers passed sweeping reforms to California’s landmark environmental review law, critics warned exemptions may make it easier for potentially high-polluting advanced manufacturing facilities to take root in already vulnerable areas.

Longstanding conflicts over water continued to simmer this year. The governor continued pressing to fast-track a $20 billion tunnel around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to send more water south — to the outrage of Delta lawmakers. And dry conditions led to dire projections for the Colorado River, a vital water supply for Southern California. They ramped up the tensions — and the urgency — as negotiators from states that rely on the river tried, and failed, to reach a deal portioning out water supplies.

2026 Outlook

Affordability, the cost of climate adaptation, and pollution harms, in the skies and in the waste stream, continue to be key issues for California. As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s balancing act continues, the state will navigate tensions with environmental justice advocates unhappy with compromises. Emerging risks include the cost – in energy and water – of data centers, and the environmental consequences of the battery economy.