Fire weather watch, Newsom budget and more. Top Sacramento stories for May 14
From a guilty plea in a federal corruption probe to the season’s first fire weather watch, Sacramento-area news on May 14, 2026, spanned politics, public safety and sports.
Here’s a quick rundown:
- The National Weather Service issued the Sacramento area’s first fire weather watch of the year, covering much of California’s Central Valley from 3 a.m. Saturday through 8 p.m. Monday. Winds could reach 35 mph, gusting to 50 mph near the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, with humidity dropping to 15% or less.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom’s final revised budget proposal projects California will close its structural deficit and maintain a balanced budget through July 2028. The outlook relies on $16.5 billion in projected capital gains taxes from Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX going public in the next year.
- Dana Williamson, former top aide to Newsom, pleaded guilty in an FBI corruption probe to bank fraud, filing a false tax return and lying to the FBI. She admitted helping to siphon about $225,000 from Xavier Becerra’s dormant campaign account and faces up to 38 years in prison.
- The University of California and AFSCME Local 3299 reached a last-minute tentative deal hours before more than 40,000 workers were set to strike across 10 campuses. The agreement raises minimum wages from $25 to more than $30 per hour by April 2029 and includes 19% in total annual wage increases between 2026 and 2029.
- Sacramento police have scheduled a drunken driving checkpoint in the city from 8 p.m. Friday, May 15, to 1 a.m. Saturday, May 16. Locations are chosen based on impaired-driving crashes, and first-time DUI offenders face average fines and penalties of $13,500.
- The San Francisco 49ers’ 2026 regular season schedule is out, with international stops in Australia and Mexico and more than 38,000 miles of air travel. Read The Bee predictions, including how Week 17 against the Eagles will be the must-watch game of the year.
This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Fire weather watch, Newsom budget and more. Top Sacramento stories for May 14."