By Jeff Zeleny, CNN

(CNN) — Two decades have passed since California last elected a Republican governor, but GOP candidate Steve Hilton points to 6 million reasons why he believes it’s possible to do so again.

Those are the number of votes President Donald Trump won in California in 2024, despite losing the state to Kamala Harris by 20 points. Yet it was 1.6 million more votes than Trump earned there during his first presidential bid in 2016, a rare sign of growth in a deep-blue Democratic bastion.

One month before the California primary, a spirited free-for-all has broken out in the race for governor, with a half-dozen Democrats and two Republicans among the leading contenders vying for the top two positions that will advance to the November election. There are 61 total candidates who will be on the nonpartisan primary ballot.

If the Democratic candidates split the vote among their supporters, it’s hardly a far-fetched scenario that the Republican hopefuls – Hilton, a former Fox News host, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco – could emerge as the top two winners in the June 2 primary.

“It’s a perfect opportunity,” former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, told CNN. “The mismanagement of Gavin Newsom and such a weak field gives voters a chance to actually look at somebody new and better for California.”

While Democrats concede that such an outcome is mathematically possible, they argue it’s not politically probable in the era of Trump, toward whom disdain and disapproval run deep among the state’s electorate.

But even the prospect of an all-Republican general election is enough to rattle Democratic leaders who are trying to bring order to an unwieldy contest to succeed Newsom after his eight years as governor.

“I continue to believe there are too many Democrats in the field,” Rusty Hicks, chairman of the California Democratic Party, said. “I have deep respect for the Democrats who step forward to serve and I also know they understand the importance of electing a Democrat as our next governor, including the need to narrow the field to ensure we win in November.”

Hicks’ blunt assessment underscores the uncertainty in the race. The gubernatorial campaign in the nation’s most populous state was thrown into chaos when Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out and resigned from Congress last month amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Democratic hopefuls Xavier Becerra, Tom Steyer and Katie Porter are among the party’s candidates who are scrambling to gain the upper hand – and fighting for the same voters – in an unusual contest that could create an opening for a head-to-head match between the Republicans.

Hilton, for his part, has won Trump’s endorsement in the race.

Bianco, a sheriff who has embraced claims of election fraud, is also among the upper tier of candidates who received double-digit support in the crowded field, according to the latest CBS/YouGov California poll.

While Republicans comprise a far smaller share of California voters, only Hilton and Bianco are seriously competing for them. Even as Trump’s endorsement has given Hilton a boost among Republicans, it could also reduce the likelihood that he and Bianco may emerge as the top two

By Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN

(CNN) — For more than 30 years, the answer to who killed Cindy Wanner remained much of a mystery to loved ones and law enforcement after she vanished from a Northern California home leaving everything behind, including her baby.

Her sudden disappearance in 1991 rattled residents of Granite Bay, a suburb of Sacramento where the 35-year-old mother of two had gone to clean her sister’s home, investigators said. Wanner’s 11-month-old baby was buckled into a high chair and crying, without her mom, when a relative arrived to the home that day.

An extensive search for Wanner ended three weeks later when her body was found in a remote area about 40 miles from her sister’s home, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.

But many questions remained about who was behind Wanner’s death – and why.

Over the years, law enforcement continued testing evidence without any sufficient results until newer DNA testing technology gave them new hope in finding Wanner’s killer.

Suspect flew under the radar for decades

Detectives recently submitted a “final piece of evidence” from Wanner’s case to a neighboring sheriff’s office forensics lab, which yielded a match identifying James Lawhead Jr., 64, as a suspect, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said.

While the latest DNA match pointed them to Lawhead finding him became a challenge.

Investigators looking for Lawhead found no trace of him and “it appeared that he just disappeared since 2005,” Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said in a news conference earlier this week.

“We explored all possibilities on what could have happened, whether he was still living under a fake identity, whether he had left the country, or whether he was even deceased,” Woo said, noting the sheriff’s office checked records in both the US and Canada.

Detectives asked other agencies for help and the Scottsdale Police Department, using the Arizona Department of Transportation’s facial recognition system, identified a match, Woo said. The system is typically used to flag fake driver’s licenses, state IDs and suspected identity theft.

In Arizona, he wasn’t known by his real name. Lawhead went by the name of Vincent Reynolds, the sheriff’s office said, and was living in Bullhead City – near the state’s border with Nevada and nearly 600 miles away from Placer County.

Authorities believe suspect could be linked to other crimes

The man was arrested on the driveway of his home in Bullhead City on April 24, Woo said. After Lawhead’s arrest, investigators searched the house and found loaded firearms, a bag with $15,000 and a burner phone, the sheriff said.

Lawhead is facing charges of murder and kidnapping, Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire said. He was extradited to Placer County on Thursday. CNN has not been able to identify an attorney for Lawhead.

“This arrest is a powerful reminder that time does not erase responsibility, and it does not diminish our commitment,” Gire said in a statement following the arrest.

Lawhead’s Bullhead City neighbors told CNN affiliate KPHO they were shocked to learn the man had been living among them. Investigators later learned the home was owned by Lawhead’s sister, who previously told authorities she hadn’t heard from her brother “in more than 20 years,” the sheriff’s office said.

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By Maureen O’Hare, CNN

(CNN) — In our roundup of travel stories this week: Trump’s face will appear on some new US passports, why a Chinese city is cracking down on dim sum, plus a surprise delivery on a Delta Air Lines flight.

Psilocybin therapy

Martha Stem, a retired paralegal and grandmother in her early 70s, had a lifetime of stored trauma. A sudden death in her family hit her with a new avalanche of anguish.

She tried therapy and medication, but says the drug that finally helped her was psilocybin, the psychedelic compound in “magic” mushrooms. Her story is available to CNN subscribers here.

Stem is among the early waves of people participating in legal retreats in the United States built around the drug. CNN put a call out to hear from psilocybin retreat participants and dozens of readers responded. Here’s what they told us about their experiences, with more here:

Up in the air

Southwest Airlines has unveiled a red, white and blue plane, dubbed “Independence One,” in honor of the United States’s 250th anniversary this year. Its first flight on Monday night was to Dallas and it now joins Southwest’s fleet crisscrossing the country.

That was not the only birthday celebrated this April. A passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Portland gave birth mid-air to a healthy baby girl, who arrived two weeks ahead of schedule. Two paramedics who happened to be on board helped out, borrowing blankets from other passengers and using a shoelace to tie off the umbilical cord.

Finally, in Asia, the international airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka, this month handled its largest ever illegal narcotics bust — and from some very unlikely suspects.

Sri Lankan authorities say 22 Buddhist monks were arrested for possession of more than 110 kilograms of cannabis, with an estimated value of more than $3.45 million.

Delicacies and a Little Joy

The making of the Chinese bite-sized delicacies known as dim sum is all about craftsmanship: steady hands, nimble fingers and the finest attention to detail.

However, many teahouses in China have been turning to automated production lines to save money, meaning unsuspecting customers are getting what some say are inferior dumplings.

The southern city of Guangzhou, known as the birthplace of dim sum, is pushing back. As of May 1, its teahouses must now declare how their dim sum is made. Here’s CNN’s report on the food fight.

Over in Minnesota, a coffee shop called Little Joy has also been busy crafting gourmet delights, creating a smash-hit raspberry Danish latte with cream cheese foam.

It shared the recipe online for all the world to enjoy and more than 480 shops in 41 countries have picked it up and made their own version.

Italy’s ‘cheese bank’

In Emilia-Romagna, Italy, around 500,000 wheels of Parmesan cheese are stacked floor to ceiling in a high-security, climate-controlled vault. They’re used by cheese producers as collateral to secure bank loans. If we were ever to risk it all in a bank heist, this is the one that would tempt us.

By Dana O’Neil, CNN

Louisville, Kentucky (CNN) — Conveniently plopped just across the street from the backside stable gate of Churchill Downs, Wagner’s Pharmacy has served horsemen since 1922 – back when Leo Wagner let them buy their food and cigarettes on credit.

It is, to this day, exactly as it should be – serviceable and decidedly not fancy, with walls blanketed by horse pictures, TVs set to whatever live racing is showing somewhere or workouts on the track across the street. The only nod to present-day Kentucky Derby mayhem is the kitschy gift shop, filled with wares for out-of-towners who pop in because some influencer suggested it on TikTok.

At 6:30 on a Tuesday morning, Dale Romans is sitting in one of the mismatched chairs in the restaurant, behind a simple brown table. He is nearly as much a part of the fabric of the place as the pictures, a steady visitor who can practically use the Churchill backside as his own personal measuring stick. He made his first visit to the track as a five-month-old to see his daddy, Jerry, who trained horses out of Barn 4. He spent his childhood running around and playing in and out of the paddock and barns – becoming a licensed trainer by the time he was 18.

Romans eventually took over his dad’s barn and has since become the second-winningest trainer in Churchill history. People don’t so much know Romans around here as they assume him, as sure a thing at the track as the sun rising behind the famed twin spires.

Romans is at Wagner’s as a guest on Jerry Eaves’ radio show. Eaves is every bit the local legend as Romans, a member of the beloved 1980 University of Louisville national championship team who grew up in lockstep with Darrell “Dr. Dunkenstein” Griffith, first as high school rivals, then college and eventually NBA teammates. Blessed with the easy gift of gab, Eaves makes his radio show feel more like a kitchen confab, casually rotating guests in on the fly and even interviewing some who don’t have microphones.

It is Derby week, so naturally, everyone wants to talk horses and Eaves presses Romans for his picks. But Eaves is a basketball player, and this is Louisville. Invariably, the conversation turns to Pat Kelsey’s work in the transfer portal, what’s going on with Kentucky and the fact that the Cards went 2-0 (in football and hoops) against the ‘Cats this past year. Eaves throws up some Ls at that one.

Sitting off to the end of the table with his headphones on, Romans smiles. “I love ‘em both.’’

Eaves grins back at him: “Spoken like a true politician.’’

On May 19 of this year – Preakness week in horseman parlance – Democrats in Kentucky will cast their votes in their primary, choosing from among the seven candidates who will vie against the Republicans for Mitch McConnell’s vacated seat.

Dale Romans is on the ballot.

Aside from working as the president of the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, which advocates on behalf of horsemen around the state, he has no political experience, unless you think shoveling horse manure for a living makes you ready to sling its figurative version around in the political coliseum. He is running as a moderate straight talker who believes his advantage is that he is decidedly not a lifelong politician.

Still, with Charles Booker and Amy McGrath – who both previously won the Democratic nomination – among the candidates, Romans is a long shot.

But now you’re speaking his language.

Romans saddled up his first horse on October 19, 1986, in a claiming race at River Downs. He waited 52 starts and 16 months to get his first winner. And 15 Preakness weeks ago, he sent a horse by the name of Shackleford to the starting gate for the second leg of the Triple Cr

By Kaanita Iyer, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Aleena Fayaz, CNN

(CNN) — When tourists see a statue of Gustavus Cheyney Doane, a 19th-century explorer, at a Grand Teton National Park visitor center this spring, a marker beneath it that used to be there will now be missing.

It had asked visitors: “How do we acknowledge the good and bad of a figure?” pointing out that Doane’s expedition led to the designation of the first national park – but also that he helped lead a massacre of at least 173 members of the Piegan Blackfeet – an act he bragged about throughout his life.

Its removal was cited in a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior, which manages the country’s national parks, as one of many changes wrought by President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order directing the agency to “take action” against public content that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

The Trump administration argues the order ensures that American history is portrayed in a positive light. But critics say it is erasing elements of the nation’s past.

“We are killing them all over again,” said Tom Rodgers, a member of the Blackfeet Nation who is known as One Who Rides His Horse East, referring to victims of the massacre, which he called one of the “most despicable historical experiences” for Native Americans.

“I think we’re at a point in our country where people think that if you tell half the truth, you’ve told all the truth, and that in itself, is a lie,” he said. “It’s Orwellian.”

As the country heads into peak tourist season, evidence of the administration’s unprecedented cultural overhaul will be on display at national parks around the country. The removal of the words at Grand Teton is one of at least 45 changes that were carried out under the executive order, according to Save Our Signs, an advocacy group that tracks changes to National Park Service displays.

For example, in California’s Muir Woods National Monument, signs on the contributions of Native Americans and women have been removed, including a note informing visitors that John Muir once referred to indigenous people using racist language in his diaries and ignored “the genocide they survived.”

“This contributes to an idea that indigenous people don’t belong in parks,” the sign once said.

The administration has also taken aim at warnings about climate change, a factor that impacts monuments placed in natural landscapes.

At South Carolina’s Fort Sumter National Monument, a sign that included details on the looming impacts of climate change, including information on how “rising seas could inundate most of the fort’s walls and flood the historic parade ground” has been removed in its entirety.

The Interior Department told CNN that at Fort Sumter, it “acted to replace materials that were not grounded in real science with information that is accurate, evidence-based, and aligned with how the world actually works.”

Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, a display on George Mason, a founding father, has removed references to him “paradoxically” owning slaves despite being a champion of “individual rights.”

The removals come as America enters a moment replete with opportunity to reflect upon its history, with celebrations to commemorate its 250th birthday throughout this year.

The Trump administration’s efforts have drawn backlash from some lawmakers and advocacy groups, including the February lawsuit from a coalition of conservationists and advocates citing the Doane and other sign removals. It accused the administration of “mounting a sustained campaign to erase history and undermine science.” The case in Massachusetts is still pending.

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