We posed your questions to the candidates for governor on high tax payers and greenhouse gas emissions.

The big picture: Below are their responses. The top two vote-getters in June will advance to the November runoff.

• We got responses from Democratic businessman Tom Steyer, fellow Democrat and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and Republican political commentator Steve Hilton.
• Axios also reached out to Xavier Becerra, Chad Bianco, Katie Porter, Tony Thurmond and Antonio Villaraigosa and did not get a response.

Q: How do you plan to keep the highest-tax paying Californians in the state?

Steyer thinks California has a two-tiered tax system where the wealthy exploit loopholes while working people pay their fair share. He would:

• 🔒 Close corporate loopholes to raise $20 billion in new annual revenue.
• 📚 Fund education, health care, child care and home care without raising taxes on working people.

Mahan thinks tax proposals that sound good politically often backfire economically.

• "Billionaires have the resources to move, shift assets, or hire lawyers and accountants to avoid poorly designed taxes," he told Axios. He would:
• 🎯 Close loopholes, like wealthy individuals borrowing against unrealized gains or hiding money offshore, rather than broad tax hikes that the rich can dodge.

Hilton thinks California needs to cut taxes and regulations to stay competitive. He would:

• 💵 Eliminate state income tax on the first $100,000 of income to help working-class Californians.
• 📉 Move to a flat 7.5% tax rate above that to keep and attract businesses.

Q: How will you ensure California meets its legal requirement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2035?

Steyer would:

• ☀️ Make home batteries, rooftop solar, heat pumps and EVs accessible to all Californians.
• 🔬 Continue California's leadership in climate R&D, clean energy technology and carbon sequestration.

Mahan would:

• ⚡ Fast-track clean energy, transmission and EV charging projects to support electrification without raising electricity costs.
• 🏘️ Build more housing near jobs and transit to reduce time spent in traffic.

Hilton would:

• 🚢 Reduce oil imports to cut emissions from supertanker shipping, one of the most polluting forms of transportation.
• 🌲 Improve forest management. "In 2020, more CO2 was emitted from those mega wildfires than was saved through climate policy in the previous 20 years," he said.

This is part 3 of our series asking California gubernatorial candidates how they would address our state's most pressing issues. Go here for part 1 and here for part 2.

Local households need to earn about $50 per hour to afford the average monthly asking rent of $2,606 in San Diego County, according to a new housing report.

The big picture: San Diego is the 12th-priciest rental market in the U.S., and while renting is cheaper than homeownership, it's unaffordable for many.

Zoom in: The income needed to afford rent is nearly three times San Diego's minimum hourly wage of $17.75, per the San Diego County 2026 Affordable Housing Needs Report released Friday. Those employees earn about $3,077 per month.

• Home health and personal care aides, child care workers, janitors and cleaners, and retail sales employees all earn less than $4,000 a month, per the report.
• Asking rents in San Diego County increased by about 22% or $466 between 2020 and 2025, per the report.

More details

🕵️ Del Mar's school district officials thought a student lived outside their boundaries, so they hired a private eye to surveil the family's home and follow them to school.

• It's not the first time that happened. Records show the district's relationship with the PI go back to at least 2021. (Voice of San Diego)

🌬️ A lawsuit says the county bought ineffective air purifiers for people in the Tijuana River Valley and ignored data to accept the lowest bid. (Times of San Diego)

⚾ A city councilmember floated slashing the city's share of Petco Park operating costs as budget headaches deepen at City Hall. It's unclear whether that's actually possible. (Union-Tribune)

📚 Oak Park finally broke ground on a long-awaited $37 million library, replacing a cramped branch with a bigger community hub and teen center. Construction is expected to wrap in 2027. (10News)

A growing number of Gen Zers and baby boomers are quitting social media for their digital well-being, as political polarization intensifies online.

The big picture: It's part of a wider digital detox drive away from screens and toward analog options that Gen Z is helping to lead.

• Research suggests that social media use is waning and that more people are embracing products to block distracting apps and turning to dumbphones, with more affordable options on the market.

Case in point: Dumb.co "burst out" of a challenge called Month Offline six months ago due to the popularity of the flip phones it used to replace smartphones, Lydia Peabody, who oversees the firm's marketing and organization, tells Axios.

How it works: These phones sync contacts, calls and texts from smartphones via smart text and have "essential" apps like Uber, maps, two-factor authentication, a camera and an alarm installed. Audio bundles can be placed on the phones as add-ons.

State of play: A study out last month found the average number of social media platforms American adults are using is declining, with 12% of over-65s and 7% of 18- to 29-year-olds using no social media at all.

Zoom in

Kids in Southcrest and Lincoln Park have a fresh place to play sports thanks to San Diego FC.

Zoom in: The colorful sport court and public art piece opened at the Willie Henderson Sports Complex over the weekend.

• SDFC refurbished two basketball courts and made them multi-sport for basketball and futsal, or street soccer.
• The club installed new hoops and hired a local artist to help design the new surface.

The big picture: The project is the second installment of SDFC's Parks & Pitches program to turn public parks and play spaces into community hubs centered on soccer.

• The program's first court opened in Colina Del Sol last fall.

Tell a parent