The days of forgetting your lunch money are gone — at least in California.
The state’s department of education is implementing a Universal Meals Program for schoolchildren. Starting this school year, 2022-2023, all public school students can get free lunch and breakfast, according to the department’s website.
California is the first state to have a statewide free school meals program.
Kindergarten students Alan Corona Olguin, left, and Aidan Chang enjoy a school lunch at an elementary school in Sacramento, Calif., on April 14, 2016.
The meals will be served during the school day for students regardless of income status or eligibility for free or reduced programs. This includes students in state public school districts, county offices of education and charter schools that teach students in transitional kindergarten to grade 12.
The program is part of state Assembly Bill 130, which focuses on education finance and was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021. Funding comes from the department of education.
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This morning's top headlines: Friday, Aug. 12
Former President Donald Trump is calling for the “immediate” release of the federal warrant the FBI used to search his Florida estate. In messages posted late Thursday on his Truth Social platform, Trump writes, “Release the documents now!” The Justice Department had asked a court to unseal the warrant earlier Thursday, with Attorney General Merrick Garland citing the “substantial public interest in this matter." Garland said he had personally approved the search warrant, which was part of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into the discovery of classified White House records recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this year.
A law enforcement official says a gunman who died in a shootout after trying to get inside the FBI’s Cincinnati office appeared to have posted calls on social media for FBI agents to be killed and for people to take up arms in the wake of the search at Donald Trump’s home. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The gunman has been identified as 42-year-old Ricky Shiffer. He was killed on Thursday. The official said investigators are examining whether he had ties to far-right extremist groups such as the Proud Boys.
Democrats have pushed their landmark climate and health care bill through Congress, handing an election-year victory to President Joe Biden. The House approved the bill over solid Republican opposition Friday, five days after the Senate did the same. The vote means a win for Biden that until late July seemed out of reach. The package is much smaller than Biden's original environment and social legislation that failed in Congress last year. But after long, bitter talks, Democrats agreed to a smaller but still substantive compromise. It includes Washington's biggest ever effort on climate change, pharmaceutical price curbs and tax boosts on big corporations, long-held party goals.
A spokesperson for Anne Heche says the actor is on life support after suffering a brain injury in a fiery crash a week ago and isn't expected to survive. The statement released on behalf of her family said she is being kept on life support to determine if she is a viable organ donor. Earlier Thursday, police said they are investigating Heche for driving under the influence of drugs. Heche crashed her car into a Los Angeles area house on Aug. 5. A police spokesman said Thursday that detectives with a search warrant took a blood sample from Heche, and it showed narcotics in her system. A spokeswoman for Heche declined comment on the investigation.
Dozens of firefighters are battling a large wildfire in a rural area of Hawaii's Big Island. No homes are threatened. Gusts and arid conditions are making it difficult to contain the blaze. The fire started in the western reaches of the U.S. Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area, which is above the town of Waikoloa and between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea volcanoes. The fire has burned more than 39 square miles as of Friday. Strong winds have been recorded across the area, some in excess of 30 mph.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants taxpayers to foot his legal bills to defend himself against a sexual harassment claim brought by one of his state trooper bodyguards. The Democrat sued Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday, arguing that James violated state law by denying him public assistance for his defense. The unnamed trooper filed the lawsuit earlier this year in a federal court in Manhattan asserting that Cuomo and others on his staff violated her civil rights. The suit says the allegations stem from a time when Cuomo "was acting within the scope of his employment or duties."
After the Griffeys played catch in Iowa, Drew Smyly took over. Smyly struck out nine in five scoreless innings, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 in Major League Baseball’s second “Field of Dreams” game. Seiya Suzuki reached three times and Nick Madrigal had three hits for Chicago in a throwback ballpark a short walk away from the main field for the 1989 movie. The night began with Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. and his father emerging from the iconic cornstalks to play catch in the outfield, delighting the sellout crowd of 7,823.
