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Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, March 31, 2025…
- Hundreds of police officers in California have been stripped of their badges in the last few years for serious misconduct. The offenses range from sexual assault to excessive force to racial bias. But thousands of cases still need to be reviewed.
- A pair of bills aiming to limit the harms of social media on children will face their first hearing in the California legislature this week.
Hundreds Of Officers Stripped Of Their Badges Under Recent Law, But Backlog Remains
In May of 2020, 23-year-old Amaurie Johnson was waiting for some friends outside of an apartment building in La Mesa when officer Matthew Dages started questioning him. This was just two days after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. And what happened next would become a local flashpoint in the broader reckoning over racial justice. Johnson, who is Black, answered the officer’s questions. And then Dages, who is white, grabbed Johnson’s shirt.
The exchange was captured on the officer’s body camera and video of Johnson’s arrest went viral. Days later, La Mesa was engulfed in protests…