Byrhonda Lyons

🥳 Happy Birthday to my #FOIAFriday @TikToks. It's a little over a year, but who's counting? Anyway, prepare to be sick of me because here's a recap! My first one!

Popular opinion: mocktails should not cost the same as cocktails

After the Taliban retook control in 2021, tens of thousands of Afghans resettled in California. But in his second term, President Trump has withdrawn legal protections and erected new obstacles that threaten their future in their adopted home. calmatters.org/politics/2025/…

A California addiction center found a way to compel Anthem to cover patients it rejected. Their dispute reflects a broader tug-of-war in mental health treatment. cal.news/4lH5eP1 📝 @jocelynwiener & @ByrhondaLyons

BREAKING: Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath lead singer and the godfather of heavy metal, dies at 76 just weeks after farewell show. apnews.com/article/ozzy-o…

Concerned about California's drug addiction crisis? Read this insane story about one treatment center's quest to get insurers to pay for services, by @ByrhondaLyons + @jocelynwiener: calmatters.org/health/mental-… via @CalMatters

'The Cosby Show' Star Malcolm-Jamal Warner Dead At 54 tmz.me/PKqIbFr

FOIA Files is back! When DOJ seized Wu-Tang Clan's Once Upon a Time in Shaolin from Martin Shkreli & later sold the album the agency concealed the sale price citing “trade secrets.” Now, after a four year FOIA battle, I got DOJ to reveal the price bloomberg.com/news/newslette…

Today is the 10th anniversary of CalMatters’ debut as a nonprofit California news site. I joined two years later and have never regretted it. It’s a minor miracle that such an organization exists solely to inform Californians about politics, thanks to readers and contributors.

Well….

Atlanta Night 4 2027:

"It was Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday, and Ghislaine Maxwell was preparing a special gift to mark the occasion. She turned to Epstein’s family and friends. One of them was Donald Trump." (gift link) wsj.com/politics/trump…

Just In: California state lawmakers @SenStricklandCA @carldemaio sign paperwork to launch initiative process to get Voter ID requirement on the CA ballot in 2026. They’ll need about one million signatures.

Ohhh. @CAgovernor, @GavinNewsom cussin’, cussin’ on my @Instagram. 😆 Chile!

Monday ain’t got no business being tomorrow.

BREAKING: FEMA removed dozens of Camp Mystic buildings from their 100-year flood map in Texas in response to appeals. apnews.com/article/texas-…

Judge says immigration agents must stop ‘roving patrols’ that have upended Southern California W/@WendyFry_ calmatters.org/justice/2025/0…

🚨POST EXCLUSIVE: Kerr County, where 100 people died and 160 remain missing, had the technology to turn every local cellphone into a blaring alarm but officials did not do so before or during rapidly rising river levels that overtook campsites and homes. shorturl.at/xSFxL

NEW: The L.A. D.A.'s office has charged an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent with resisting arrest and battery on a police officer following a drunken scene at a Long Beach bar earlier this month.

Today, I spoke w/Anat Rubin of @CalMatters to discuss her recent reporting about California's severe lack of Public Defender investigators. To show how vital these investigators are, Anat walked us through the remarkable story of how one investigator unsolved a murder.

Trump's changes to health care funding are expected to significantly roll back coverage in California. Up to 1.4 million people could be forced off Medi-Cal in the first year, while Covered California premiums will rise by an estimated 66%. calmatters.org/health/2025/07…