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    California lawmakers have approved a budget that slashes spending and temporarily raises taxes on businesses. The budget closes an estimated $46.8 billion budget deficit. It's the second year in a row the nation's most populous state has had a multibillion-dollar shortfall. The budget includes $16 billion in cuts. It temporarily raises taxes on businesses with more than $1 million in revenue. The taxes are expected to bring in more than $5 billion to the state. The budget reflects an agreement between Democrats in the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom. The governor is expected to sign it into law in the coming days.

      A proposal that would require California universities to pay their athletes through a “degree completion fund” has been withdrawn. The plan would have required schools earning at least $10 million in athletics media rights revenue each year to pay $25,000 to certain athletes through the degree funds. The plan was dropped after the NCAA and the nation’s five biggest conferences announced a $2.8 billion settlement plan to address antitrust claims. Among other things, that plan allows each school to spend up to some $22 million each year in direct payments to athletes.

        A jury in U.S. District Court ordered the NFL to pay nearly $4.8 billion in damages Thursday after ruling that the league violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service. The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class. The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV.

          The California Legislature has approved bills that would amend a 20-year-old law allowing workers to sue their bosses over labor violations. The 2004 law required employers found liable for violations to pay employees and the state. The bills came out of a deal between Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, lawmakers, business groups and labor leaders to remove a ballot measure that would have asked voters to repeal and replace the law. The new legislation would lower the financial penalty for some employers and compel them to correct violations. The bills would still need final approval by the other chamber before they can reach Newsom's desk. Newsom has said he will sign the bills.

            U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland says federal officials are investigating a weekend demonstration against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that spiraled into violence outside a Los Angeles synagogue. Fighting between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and counterprotesters erupted Sunday outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood and police were called in to break it up. One person was arrested and police say their investigation is ongoing. Garland says the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California are collecting evidence.

            Families of the 346 people who died in two crashes of Boeing 737 Max jetliners are waiting to hear if the Justice Department will prosecute the U.S. aerospace company. In both the October 2018 crash in Indonesia and the March 2019 crash in Ethiopia, software pitched the plane's nose down based on faulty readings from a single sensor. Boeing avoided a trial when prosecutors approved an agreement that meant a felony fraud charge they brought could be dropped in three years. California residents Ike and Susan Riffel lost two sons in the Ethiopia crash. Ike Riffel fears that instead of putting Boeing on trial, the government will offer the company another shot at corporate probation.

            A female capybara has arrived at a Florida zoo as part of a breeding program to bolster the population of the large South American rodents. Iyari the 10-month-old capybara went to the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society in May from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. She’s in a mixed-species habitat while zoo workers slowly introduce her to the park’s 2-year-old male capybara, Zeus. Capybara gestation is about five months with an average litter of four. Palm Beach Zoo officials aren’t sure when to expect baby capybaras. They say it will all depend on how long it takes Iyari and Zeus to get to know each other.

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