By JEANNE KUANG/CalMatters

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday signed a bill allowing a broad range of relatives to step in as children’s caregivers if their parents are deported, a measure that had provoked a firestorm of conservative criticism.

Assembly Bill 495 will also bar daycare providers from collecting immigration information about a child or their parents, and allow parents to nominate a temporary legal guardian for their child in family court.

“We are putting on record that we stand by our families and their right to keep their private information safe, maintain parental rights and help families prepare in case of emergencies,” Newsom said in a press release.

It was one of several measures the Democratic-dominated Legislature pushed this year in response to the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation crackdown in Los Angeles and across California. Newsom, a Democrat, signed several of those other bills — banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from wearing masks in the state and requiring schools and hospitals to require warrants when officers show up — in a ceremony in L.A. last month.

He left AB 495 undecided for weeks, prompting a flurry of advocacy by immigrants’ rights groups to secure Newsom’s signature in the face of intense pushback from conservative activists. The governor announced his decision the day before his deadline to sign or veto the over 800 bills lawmakers sent to his desk last month.

The most controversial aspect of the bill concerns an obscure, decades-old form called a caregiver’s authorization affidavit. Relatives of a child whose parents are temporarily unavailable, and with whom the child is living, can attest to being the child’s caregiver; the designation allows the adult to enroll the child in school, take them to the doctor and consent to medical and dental care.

The new law will broaden who is allowed to sign the caregiver affidavit, from more traditional definitions of relatives to any adult in the family who is “related to the child by blood, adoption, or affinity within the fifth degree of kinship,” which includes people like great aunts or cousins. Parents can cancel the caregiver designation, which is intended to be a temporary arrangement and does not give that person custody.

Proponents said parents at risk of deportation should get to choose someone trusted to care for their children if ICE detains them. Expanding who is eligible for the caregiver form, they said, gives immigrant parents more options because they may not have close relatives in the country but benefit from strong ties with extended family or informal community networks.

The legislation was backed by immigrants’ rights groups and children’s advocates such as the Alliance for Children’s Rights and First 5 California.

“I introduced this bill so children do not have to wonder what will happen to them if their parents are not able to pick them up from school,” bill author Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez, an Arleta Democrat, said at a recent press conference.

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Critics claim strangers could get custody

But Republicans, the religious right and parental rights’ activists argued the bill would instead endanger children.

They claimed it would allow strangers to sign the affidavit and claim the child into their care. Hundreds of opponents showed up at the Capitol by busload to rally against the legislation, organized by Pastor Jack Hibbs of the Calvary Chapel Chino Hills megachurch, who called it “the most dangerous bill we’ve seen” in Sacramento. Some of the blowback stemmed from false claims that the bill would allow strangers to get custody of children to whom they’re not related.

Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, a San Diego Republican, called the legislation “a human trafficker’s dream.”

In an email, Greg Burton, vice president of the California Family Council, took issue with the fact that parents might not be there when the affidavit form is signed.

“What are parental rights?” he wrote. “These rights are nothing if someone else can claim them by simply signing a form.”

Over the summer Rodriguez narrowed the legislation to exclude “nonrelative extended family members” but it was not enough to quell the controversy. The legislation passed along party lines.

In comparison to a fairly progressive Legislature, the governor has often positioned himself as a moderating force on child custody and protection issues, which regularly galvanize conservative activists and put California Democrats on the defensive. In 2023 he vetoed a bill that would have required family court judges to consider a parent’s support of a child’s gender transition in custody disputes.

At a press conference last week where activists urged Newsom to sign the bill, Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrants’ Rights Los Angeles, asked the governor “to not listen to the lies, to not listen to all the other stuff that’s being said about this bill.”

Newsom, announcing his decision, quietly acknowledged the controversy in a press release. He included statements he said were “correcting the record” on mischaracterizations and said the new law does not change the fact that parental rights and legal guardianships must be decided by family court judges.

This story was originally published by CalMatters and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Personnel from a U.S. warship boarded a Venezuelan tuna boat with nine fishermen while it was sailing in Venezuelan waters, Venezuela’s foreign minister said on Saturday, underlining strained relations with the United States.

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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tensions between the two nations escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump in August ordered the deployment of warships in the Caribbean, off the coast of the South American country, citing the fight against Latin American drug cartels.

While reading a statement on Saturday, Foreign Minister Yván Gil told journalists the Venezuelan tuna boat was “illegally and hostilely boarded by a United States Navy destroyer” and 18 armed personnel who remained on the vessel for eight hours, preventing communication and the fishermen’s normal activities. They were then released under escort by the Venezuelan navy.

The fishing boat had authorization from the Ministry of Fisheries to carry out its work, Gil said at a press conference, during which he presented photos of the incident.

Along with the statement, Venezuela’s foreign affairs ministry distributed a short video, taken, according to the ministry, by the Venezuelan fishermen. In the video, it is alleged that part of the fishing boat, U.S. Navy personnel and the U.S. warship can be seen.

“Those who give the order to carry out such provocations are seeking an incident that would justify a military escalation in the Caribbean,” Gil said, adding that the objective is to “persist in their failed policy” of regime change in Venezuela.

Gil said the incident was “illegal” and “illegitimate” and warned that Venezuela will defend its sovereignty against any “provocation.”

The Venezuelan foreign minister’s complaint comes days after Trump said that his country had attacked a drug-laden vessel and killed 11 people on board. Trump said the vessel had departed from Venezuela and was carrying members of the Tren de Aragua gang, but his administration has not presented any evidence to support that claim.

Venezuela accused the United States of committing extrajudicial killings. The South American country’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, said Washington’s version is “a tremendous lie” and suggested that, according to Venezuelan government investigations, the incident could be linked to the disappearance of some individuals in a coastal region of the country who had no ties to drug trafficking.

The Trump administration has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading a cartel to flood the U.S. with drugs, and doubled the reward for his capture from $25 million to $50 million.

The U.S. government has given no indication that it plans to carry out a ground incursion with the more than 4,000 troops being deployed in the area.

But the Venezuelan government has nonetheless called on its citizens to enlist in the militias – armed volunteers – in support of its security forces in the event of a potential incursion. On Saturday, it urged them to go to military barracks for training sessions.

Riding a 5-1 start, the Nebraska Cornhuskers have entered the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time this season, coming in at No. 25 after a 34-31 win at Maryland on Saturday.

That upswing, however, isn’t the hottest topic in Lincoln as the Cornhuskers prepare for Friday night’s game against the Gophers (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium. In the wake of James Franklin’s dismissal from Penn State on Sunday, Cornhuskers coach Matt Rhule is answering questions about whether he is a candidate for the vacancy in Happy Valley.

There are some strong connections. Rhule played linebacker at Penn State from 1994-97, and he coached under Nittany Lions athletics director Pat Kraft when both were in the same roles at Temple from 2013-16.

“I absolutely love it here,” Rhule said about Nebraska during his Monday news conference. “I want us to continue to take the steps needed for us to turn this thing into a beast and players all across the country want to come here. The best facilities. Elite fans. I’m just looking at the future.”

On his alma mater, Rhule said, “I love that place. I love Pat. I love James Franklin. Sad that that came to an end. I wish him the absolute best. But I’m really happy here and excited to get going this week on Minnesota.”

Rhule isn’t the only sitting Big Ten coach mentioned for the Penn State job. Indiana coach Curt Cignetti is a Pittsburgh native and has the Hoosiers ranked No. 3.

Coaching fraternity

Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck considers Rhule one of the Big Ten coaches with whom he’s closest. Along with UNLV coach Dan Mullen, they attended a Kenny Chesney concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas last summer.

This weekend, Rhule and Fleck plan to bring awareness to breast cancer.

“We could talk about the game,” Fleck said. “We could talk about our quarterbacks. (But we) talked about (breast cancer awareness) in the offseason, knowing we’re going to play each other, and kind of team up on that. I think it says a lot about him and where his heart is always at.”

Petersohn reconsider?

Triton High School athlete Pierce Petersohn, the No. 2 in-state recruit in the 2026 class, picked Penn State over the Gophers in June, but the ouster of Franklin might reopen the door for Minnesota.

During the summer, the Gophers promised Jackson County Central’s Roman Voss, the No. 1 in-state recruit, he would play tight end at the U.

Under Franklin, the Nittany Lions planned to put Petersohn, of Dodge Center, Minn., at tight end, while the U had him penciled in first at linebacker.

McMillan’s commitment level

Due to injuries, Gophers nickel back Jai’Onte’ McMillan was thrust into a bigger cornerback role for the 27-20 win over Purdue on Saturday. He had four tackles in 48 total defensive snaps, including 31 snaps at wide corner.

McMillian, a second-year transfer from Texas Christian, produced a big fourth-down pass break-up in the end zone to stop a Boilermakers’ drive with 2 minutes left in the game.

“I’m just really proud of the selfless teammate that he is,” Fleck said. “We have versatility. That is one position we have depth. … Hopefully in the next few weeks we can get some guys back, but we’ll see on that. I really like where Jai’Onte’ is mentally. He’s really worked very hard at making himself the player that he is and (in) his commitment level to his teammates.”

The Gophers lost cornerback Mike Gerald to a hamstring injury in their 42-3 loss to Ohio State on Oct. 4, and Naiim Parrish also was also sidelined for the Purdue game. John Nestor and Za’Quan Bryan were the U’s starting corners vs. the Boilermakers.

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As a retired admiral and former supreme allied commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, I was thrilled when Sweden and Finland joined the alliance. My first thought was about the vast coastline the two Nordic states provided, essentially turning the Baltic Sea into a “NATO lake.”

Russia has a sliver of land on the eastern corner of the sea where Saint Petersburg sits, and another slice with its Kaliningrad territory, located between Lithuania and Poland. But nearly all the Baltic coast is firmly in the hands of the alliance.

This is significant for several reasons. First it is the only interior sea fully within NATO territory: All the other maritime venues for allied forces — the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans — are borderlands. Control of the Baltic gives NATO the ability to bottle up the Russian Baltic fleet; vital sea and communications lanes between seven key northern allies; and lots of maritime infrastructure, from huge liquified natural gas terminals and offshore oil and gas facilities, to fiber optic cables on the sea floor.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin intends to contest the Baltic, make no mistake. His Baltic Sea fleet is the oldest Russian naval flotilla, dating back to the early 1700s when it was established under Czar Peter the Great. It is headquartered in the Kaliningrad (which made sense when the three Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — were part of Russia and later the Soviet Union). Today, it hosts a few surface combatants (destroyers and frigates), a handful of diesel submarines of questionable effectiveness, and a dozen missile-armed patrol craft. Hardly a significant naval force.

However, the Russian Navy often brings in powerful vessels from the Arctic-based Northern Fleet to stage joint exercises. But even with such reinforcements, the conventional Russian naval forces are vastly outgunned — and NATO air forces could likely destroy the Kaliningrad base in the initial hours of a live conflict.

So given that the Russian navy is seriously outclassed by NATO maritime forces, what might Putin do to gain leverage in the Baltic Sea?

As he has in other places around the periphery of the Russian Federation — when he is either outmatched or wants to maintain a level of plausible deniability — Putin will turn to hybrid warfare. This is the potent mix of unconventional combat tactics, techniques and procedures he used to invade Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014; to meddle with recent elections in Moldova; and to put pressure on the Baltic states.

On land, hybrid warfare can consist of a witch’s brew of unmarked combatants in fatigues or even civilian clothes (the so-called little green men); propaganda campaigns and manipulation of social media to sow seeds of dissent and internal confusion; the planting of explosives including car bombs and industrial sabotage; assassinations of civilian and military leaders; and unmarked drones to harass civilian air traffic.

Now Putin is turning to hybrid warfare at sea.

This has taken several forms not just in the Baltic but also in the Black Sea, to threaten Ukraine. It involves adapting the land versions of hybrid war to the salt-water environment and adding new twists. Of note, Russia has been using civilian merchant ships to collect intelligence (a sort of modern version of the UK’s Q-Ships in World War I); to harass legitimate cargo and tanker traffic; to damage and destroy vital undersea internet and other communication cables; to stage drones for launch against civilian targets ashore; and to hold at risk the sea lanes of communication.

Putin’s forces are no doubt developing plans for even more aggressive activities involving supposedly civilian ships. Such vessels could embark Russian Marines (probably in unmarked uniforms) who could assault civilian shipping; carry disguised surface-to-surface missiles that could hit NATO targets ashore; release drone swarms from deep cargo holds; conduct electronic jamming; and disable aids to navigation such as buoys, channel lights, and radio communications between merchant ships, tugs and pilots.

Earlier this year, Norwegian police seized (and then released) a Russian-crewed vessel suspected of sabotage. It was a start, but temporarily holding ships will hardly deter Russia. Rather, NATO should stand up a maritime task force with capabilities, personnel and warships designed to counter hybrid warfare in the Baltic. The alliance’s new Operation Baltic Sentry, a standing force including frigates, patrol aircraft, drones and other assets largely for protecting seabed infrastructure, is a good beginning, but not enough.

Russia’s gray-zone activities complement the operations of its “shadow fleet” of tankers, which illegally transport hydrocarbons (largely to Asia) to avoid the severe sanctions placed on Moscow. Recently, Finnish special forces seized a Russian shadow tanker and investigated whether it had been involved in cutting undersea cables. Such cases are hard to prove in court, however, given the opaque nature of the Russian merchant fleet.

NATO needs to redouble its maritime patrols by including allies from outside the Baltic — French, Italian, Spanish, American and Canadian naval and coast guard forces — for surveillance and seizure roles. The alliance should also increase its training with an eye toward degrading or destroying the Kaliningrad facilities should direct hostilities break out.

But the most urgent goal is meeting the hybrid threat with commensurate and proportional forces, mostly directed against the shadow fleet. This means identifying ships engaged in possible illegal operations, shadowing them relentlessly within NATO waters, and using maritime special forces (U.S. Navy SEALS, British Special Boat Service, and their equivalents) on clandestine missions to “tag” such vessels with trackers.

NATO should gather ironclad evidence of malevolent actions by Russian ships claiming civilian status; impound them for thorough searches; prosecute crew members proven to be involved in hostile activity; and even destroy ships where the evidence of illegal action is clear. That would send Putin a message about the price of undertaking hybrid warfare.

As always in dealing with Moscow, the key is simple: Respond with judicious but serious levels of force. We need to show Putin that the cloak of hybrid maritime warfare will not hide his illegal and hostile maritime forces in the heart of Europe.

James Stavridis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a retired US Navy admiral, former supreme allied commander of NATO, and vice chairman of global affairs at the Carlyle Group.