US and Taliban sign historic agreement

- Washington (CNN) After a week-long "reduction in violence," the US and Taliban signed a historic agreement Saturday which sets into motion the potential of a full withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and could pave the way to ending America's longest-fought war.

The agreement was signed in Doha, Qatar, by US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad -- the chief US negotiator in the talks with the Taliban -- and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar -- the Taliban's chief negotiator. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo witnessed the signing.

The "Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan" outlines a series of commitments from the US and the Taliban related to troop levels, counterterrorism, and the intra-Afghan dialogue aimed at bringing about "a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire."

"This is a hopeful moment, but it's only the beginning," Pompeo said at a news conference in the Qatari capital Saturday. "There's a great deal of hard work ahead on the diplomatic front."

The Taliban "will start intra-Afghan negotiations with Afghan sides on March 10, 2020," according to the text of the agreement.
The agreement lays out a 14-month timetable for the withdrawal of "all military forces of the United States, its allies, and Coalition partners, including all non-diplomatic civilian personnel, private security contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting services personnel."
An initial drawdown to 8,600 troops would occur within the first 135 days, according to the agreement. US officials have stressed that any downsizing of US troop presence would be "conditions based."

'Guatemala has not been good': Trump threatens tariffs, fees on migrant cash

WASHINGTON/GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he is considering a “ban,” tariffs and remittance fees after Guatemala decided not to ink a safe third country agreement that would have required the poor Central American country to take in more asylum seekers.

“Guatemala ... has decided to break the deal they had with us on signing a necessary Safe Third Agreement. We were ready to go,” Trump tweeted.

“Now we are looking at the ‘BAN,’ Tariffs, Remittance Fees, or all of the above. Guatemala has not been good,” Trump wrote.

In response, Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales blamed the country’s top court and political opponents for undermining his close ties to the United States.

Morales was due to sign a deal with Trump last week that would have made the country act as an asylum buffer zone to reduce immigration to the United States.

Instead he canceled the planned summit with Trump at the White House after the country’s Constitutional Court ruled he could not ink such an agreement without prior approval from Congress, which is on a summer recess.

Migrant remittances accounted for 11% of Guatemalan GDP in 2017, according to the IMF, a total of $8.2 billion. The United States is Guatemala’s main trading partner, with bilateral trade of some $4.7 billion through May this year, Central Bank data shows.

“The Constitutional Court, without any understanding and without the right to interfere in foreign relations, wrongly took a stance against the national interest,” Morales said in a statement posted on Facebook.

In the past the Morales government has clashed with the court, which it considers aligned with the opposition. The case against the third safe country deal was brought by several former foreign ministers, the country’s rights ombudsman and a former presidential candidate.

Morales called the politicians “petty” and said they were attacking the country’s governability.

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

Illinois Legalizes Marijuana

ILLINOIS ON TUESDAY officially became the 11th U.S. state to legalize recreational marijuana.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into a law a bill that legalizes the possession, purchase and sale of cannabis and allows for the expungement of low-level cannabis convictions. The law will take effect Jan. 1.

"I'm so proud that our state is leading with equity and justice in its approach to cannabis legalization and its regulatory framework," Pritzker tweeted. "Signing this bill into law won't undo the injustices of the past or make whole the lives that were interrupted. We can't turn back the clock – but we can turn the page."

Illinois is the first state to legalize recreational marijuana sales through legislation, a process that has proved tricky even in states with Democrat-controlled statehouses that have been more receptive to changing drug laws. Legalization efforts in New York and New Jersey fizzed this year despite support from top lawmakers.

The measure passed the Illinois legislature late last month, just hours before the end of the year's legislative session.

It allows residents over the age of 21 to possess 30 grams of marijuana and sets up a regulated retail scheme. It also contains provisions aimed at helping cannabis start-ups owned by residents of areas disproportionately affected by cannabis prohibition and those with marijuana convictions.

Prtizker, a Democrat, campaigned on the issue and his election boosted an existing effort for legalization in the state.

U.S. measles cases reach highest level in 27 years

nbcnews.com - The number of measles cases reported in the U.S. this year has now reached a level not seen in 27 years, causing concern among public health officials that the country could soon lose its measles elimination status.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that there have been 971 cases of measles reported in the first five months of 2019. That surpasses the 963 cases for the entire year in 1992.

By far, the greatest number of measles cases this year has been reported in two areas of New York: Rockland County and New York City. The CDC said that those outbreaks have been ongoing for nearly eight months.

And if they continue through the summer and fall, officials said, the country could lose an important public health victory: its status as a nation that has eliminated measles. The U.S. officially made that declaration in 2000, which meant there was no longer sustained local transmission of the disease.

"It’s like turning back the clock," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

However, Schaffner said that the current outbreaks could be stopped quickly with swift action.

"If every unvaccinated child in the U.S. were vaccinated today, Friday, May 31," Schaffner told NBC News, "the outbreak would be over across the country by June 15."

But thanks to a vocal anti-vaccine contingent, that's easier said than done. ContinueReading

Maine becomes the first state to ban Styrofoam

(CNN)Food containers made of Styrofoam, also known as polystyrene, will be officially banned from businesses in Maine after governor Janet Mills signed a bill into law Tuesday.

The law, which will go into effect January 1, 2021, prohibits restaurants, caterers, coffee shops and grocery stores from using the to-go foam containers because they cannot be recycled in Maine.
Maine has become the first state to take such a step as debate about banning plastic bags or other disposable products is spreading across the nation.

While states like New York and California have banned single-use plastic bags, others such as Tennessee and Florida have made it illegal for local municipalities to regulate them. ContinueReading

Horror!: CDC blames spike in teen tobacco use on vaping, popularity of Juul

- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is blaming nicotine vaping devices like Juul for single-handedly driving a spike in tobacco use among teens, threatening to erase years of progress curbing youth use.

Over the course of a year, the number of high school students using tobacco products, which include e-cigarettes, increased by about 38 percent, the CDC found in its annual National Youth Tobacco Survey released Monday. That translates to about 27 percent of high school teens using tobacco products in 2018, the CDC said.

Of all the tobacco products the CDC surveys students about, including cigarettes and hookah, only e-cigarettes saw a meaningful increase in use. Among high school students, e-cigarette use surged nearly 78 percent. In 2018, nearly 21 percent of high school students vaped, up from close to 12 percent in 2017. ContinueReading

Pop music's Katy Perry faces criticism over shoe design resembling blackface

(CNN) First it was Prada. Then Gucci. Now, Katy Perry is being called out for creating fashion that evokes blackface.

The singer's namesake brand faces criticism over two styles of shoes that some say feature racist imagery.

CNN has reached out to Perry for comment. Perry debuted her line of whimsical shoes in 2017. They are available on her website and through retailers around the world including Dillard's and Walmart in the United States.

The Ora Face Block Heel and Rue Face Slip-On Loafers come in black and beige. The vamps in both styles include the same protruding eyes, nose and full red lips. They were released in 9 colors last summer, according to Katy Perry Collections account director Brittany Clarke, and were "envisioned as a nod to modern art and surrealism."

U.S. presses China to halt militarisation of South China Sea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Standing side by side, top U.S. officials urged their Chinese counterparts on Friday to halt militarization of the disputed South China Sea, drawing a rebuke from the Chinese for sending U.S. warships close to islands claimed by Beijing.

During a round of high-level talks in Washington, the two sides aired in sometimes blunt terms many of their main differences, including a bitter trade dispute, freedom of navigation in Asia-Pacific waters, self-ruled Taiwan, and China’s crackdown on its Muslim minority in Xinjiang.

Two visiting senior Chinese officials also seized the opportunity to warn publicly that a trade war between the world’s two largest economies would end up hurting both sides and to call for keeping channels of communication open to resolve an issue that has unsettled global financial markets.

Despite the airing of grievances, the talks appeared aimed at controlling the damage to relations that has worsened in recent months and at paving the way for an encounter between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina at the end of November.

“The United States is not pursuing a Cold War or containment policy with respect to China,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a joint news conference.

Even as the United States and China confront difficult challenges, “cooperation remains essential on many issues,” he said, citing efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme.

Arizona boy, 11, kills grandmother before killing self after being asked to clean room: police

- An 11-year-old boy in Arizona fatally shot his grandmother in the back of the head Saturday evening and then turned the gun on himself after she asked the boy to clean his room, police said.

Doyle Hebert, who along with his wife Yvonne Woodard, 65, had custody of their 11-year-old grandson. Herbert told authorities that his grandson fired a bullet into the back of his grandmother's head, FOX 10 reported. Herbert was sitting on the couch at the time, the report said.

Hebert told police that he first chased after his grandson, but heard another gunshot when he went back to tend to his wife, The Arizona Republic reported. The boy had turned the gun on himself.

The weapon reportedly belonged to the grandfather.

Authorities are investigating the incident that occurred at a home in Litchfield Park, AZ., which is about 21 miles east of the state’s capital. Police said they have found nothing that would indicate the boy wanted to commit acts of violence prior to the shooting, the station reported.

First FDA-approved cannabis-based drug now available in the US

- Epidiolex, the first cannabis-based medication approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, is now available by prescription in all 50 states.

The twice-daily oral solution is approved for use in patients 2 and older to treat two types of epileptic syndromes: Dravet syndrome, a rare genetic dysfunction of the brain that begins in the first year of life, and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a form of epilepsy with multiple types of seizures that begins in early childhood, usually between ages 3 and 5.

“Because these patients have historically not responded well to available seizure medications, there has been a dire need for new therapies that aim to reduce the frequency and impact of seizures,” said Justin Gover, CEO of GW Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Epidiolex, in a written statement. “We are committed to ensuring that these patients can access this novel cannabinoid medicine that has been thoroughly studied in clinical trials, manufactured to assure quality and consistency, and is eligible to be covered by insurance for appropriate patients.”

Epidiolex was recommended for approval by an advisory committee in April and approved by the FDA in June. In September, the US Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration classified Epidiolex as a Schedule V substance, clearing the final hurdle for it to be legally prescribed by doctors in the United States. (Marijuana and CBD remain Schedule I substances.)

ContinueReading

US VP Pence accuses China of interfering in US policies, politics

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence is accusing China of trying to undermine President Donald Trump as the administration deploys tough new rhetoric over Chinese trade, economic and foreign policies.

In prepared remarks for an appearance Thursday at the Hudson Institute, Pence says China is using its power in "more proactive and coercive ways to interfere in the domestic policies and politics of the United States."

"China wants a different American president," Pence says.

Pence's speech comes a week after Trump accused China during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council of interfering in American elections to help his Democratic rivals.

"Regrettably, we found that China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election," Trump said. "They do not want me, or us, to win because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade." As proof, Trump later referenced a paid advertising insert in The Des Moines Register by Chinese government-affiliated entities.

In the prepared remarks provided by his office, Pence charges that China is targeting "industries and states that would play an important role in the 2018 election" as it responds to Trump's protectionist trade tariffs on China. "By one estimate, more than 80 percent of U.S. counties targeted by China voted for President Trump in 2016; now China wants to turn these voters against our administration," Pence says.

U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to boost Trump over his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton through hacking and releasing sensitive documents and social media manipulation.

Trump signed an executive order in September authorizing sanctions against those found to be involved in election interference, but U.S. officials have said repeatedly they have not seen nearly the same level of activity by Russia and others in the midterms as in 2016.

Much of Pence's remarks are meant to inform the public of what the U.S. government terms as China's covert and overt influence campaign.

Since Trump took office last year, his administration has escalated pressure on China, most recently with several rounds of tit-for-tat economic trade tariffs on hundreds of billions in goods. And Trump's first national security strategy released last year labeled China a "revisionist power" alongside Russia.

In his prepared remarks, Pence quotes an assessment from the U.S. intelligence community that "China is targeting U.S., state and local governments and officials to exploit any divisions between federal and local levels on policy. It's using wedge issues, like trade tariffs, to advance Beijing's political influence." ContinueReading

China is waging a 'quiet kind of cold war' against US, top CIA expert says

cnbc.com - China is waging a "quiet kind of cold war" against the United States, using all its resources to try to replace America as the leading power in the world, a top CIA expert on Asia said Friday.

Beijing doesn't want to go to war, he said, but the current communist government, under President Xi Jinping, is subtly working on multiple fronts to undermine the U.S. in ways that are different than the more well-publicized activities being employed by Russia.

"I would argue ... that what they're waging against us is fundamentally a cold war -- a cold war not like we saw during THE Cold War (between the U.S. and the Soviet Union) but a cold war by definition," Michael Collins, deputy assistant director of the CIA's East Asia mission center, said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

Rising U.S.-China tension goes beyond the trade dispute playing out in a tariff tit-for-tat between the two nations.

There is concern over China's pervasive efforts to steal business secrets and details about high-tech research being conducted in the U.S. The Chinese military is expanding and being modernized and the U.S., as well as other nations, have complained about China's construction of military outposts on islands in the South China Sea.

"I would argue that it's the Crimea of the East," Collins said, referring to Russia's brash annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, which was condemned throughout the West.

Collins' comments track warnings about China's rising influence issued by others who spoke earlier this week at the security conference. The alarm bells come at a time when Washington needs China's help in ending its nuclear standoff with North Korea.

On Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray said China, from a counterintelligence perspective, represents the broadest and most significant threat America faces. He said the FBI has economic espionage investigations in all 50 states that can be traced back to China.

"The volume of it. The pervasiveness of it. The significance of it is something that I think this country cannot underestimate," Wray said.

Is Trump trying to collapse Britain’s government?

washingtonpost.com - On Thursday night, British Prime Minister Theresa May treated President Trump to a lavish dinner with 150 guests at Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, one of Trump’s great heroes. Just as the dinner was winding down, the Sun, a British newspaper, released a bizarre and breathtaking interview with Trump during which he sneered at May’s latest Brexit plans, praised her main political rival and gave another jolt to her teetering government. It’s the old story: Who needs enemies when Trump is your friend?

The interview — equal parts insane, insulting and incendiary — essentially derailed Trump’s visit to Britain almost before it even began. The American president is doing everything he can to collapse the government of the United States’ most important ally. And in the process he’s imperiling relationships that are crucial to American and international security. (Now he’s trying to backpedal by calling the interview “fake news,” blithely ignoring the fact that the Interview was taped.)

It was insane when Trump falsely claimed that U.S. gross domestic product “has doubled and tripled” since he took office. (Tripling GDP takes decades, not 18 months.) Or when he absurdly claimed that his poll numbers are better than Abraham Lincoln’s. (Presidential approval ratings didn’t exist when Lincoln died in 1865.) Or when he wondered aloud why we don’t hear the “beautiful name” of England as much anymore, compared with the United Kingdom. (The answer, Mr. President, goes back to the 1707 Acts of Union; and when people mention Wales this week, they’re not talking about belugas.)

It was insulting when he insinuated that he has a secret Brexit strategy that May ignored. That seems highly unlikely given that his ignorance about the European Union’s basic functioning is on display every time he discusses it. He also caused offense with a highly personal attack on London Mayor Sadiq Khan, whom he accused of weakness on migrants and terrorism. (The mayor of London has as much control of British immigration policy as the mayor of Toledo, Ohio, has control over the United States’ borders.)

Finally, the interview was incendiary — for British politics and for the “special relationship” between the United States and Britain, a pillar of the current system of international security.

May’s government is already teetering as a result of the Brexit negotiations, which are not going well. Trump just gave her a shove. May already faces the risk of an internal party challenge that could topple her government. When Trump casually dropped the remark that her latest plan, a compromise designed to soften the blow of withdrawal from the E.U. for British businesses, would lead to the United States abandoning or downgrading trade relations with Britain, it was 10 Downing Street’s worst nightmare come true. That makes an internal revolt by the hard-core “Brexiteers” more likely.

Trump’s interview also imperils international security. When his questioners pressed him about Dawn Sturgess, a British woman who recently died from the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, Trump continued to play up the value of a good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mind you, this is just one week after the British government again accused the Kremlin of using the nerve agent to murder British citizens on British soil. By failing to clearly and unequivocally condemn the Russians’ action, Trump is simply emboldening them. Why shouldn’t Moscow just do it again? As long as it’s Putin who’s pulling the trigger, apparently, no one is softer on terrorism than Trump.

It’s astonishing to think that Trump arrived in Britain only yesterday, considering the amount of political and diplomatic wreckage he is already leaving in his wake. It’s imperative that someone — anyone — on either side of the Atlantic stand up to him before he blows apart the “special relationship.”

PR China: The US has started 'the biggest trade war' in history

CNN - China on Friday accused the United States of starting "the biggest trade war in economic history" as the two sides imposed steep new tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of each other's exports.

The Trump administration's 25% tariffs affect more than 800 Chinese products worth $34 billion such as industrial machinery, medical devices and auto parts. They kicked in just after midnight ET, which is noon in Beijing.

China's tariffs on US goods came into effect immediately afterward, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Trump and his advisers argue the tariffs are necessary to pressure China into abandoning unfair practices such as stealing intellectual property and forcing American companies to hand over valuable technology.

Beijing insists it's the injured party.

"China is forced to strike back to safeguard core national interests and the interests of its people," the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Friday. It accused the United States of "typical trade bullying."

The government said previously it would hit more than 500 US export items — including cars and major agricultural goods such as soybeans and meat — worth the same as the Chinese products targeted by the United States.

Trade war looms as Canada announces billions in retaliatory tariffs against U.S.

TORONTO — Canada announced billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. on Friday in a tit-for-tat response to the Trump administration's duties on Canadian steel and aluminum.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government released the final list of items that will be targeted beginning July 1. Some items will be subject to taxes of 10 or 25 percent.

Trudeau and President Donald Trump spoke late Friday, in what may have been their first direct conversation since Trump tweeted that Trudeau was "weak" and "dishonest" after leaving the G-7 meetings in Quebec earlier this month.

"As he has said in past conversations and in public, the Prime Minister conveyed that Canada has had no choice but to announce reciprocal countermeasures to the steel and aluminum tariffs that the United States imposed on June 1, 2018," Trudeau's office said in a statement.

"The two leaders agreed to stay in close touch on a way forward."

California Enacts Nation’s Strictest Data Privacy Law

- In a move that will have broad ramifications for any company that does business in the US, the California legislature has passed the nation’s strongest data privacy law.

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which takes full effect in 2020, will limit how big companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook, among others, collect and use personal data. It mimics the effects of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which took effect May 25 and resulted in a flood of email notifications to consumer inboxes.

Companies will be required to disclose the types of data they collect about consumers and with whom they share that information, and let consumers opt-out of having their data sold. If a consumer opts-out of having data sold, they cannot be treated differently under the new law. Any data collected must be stringently secured or fines will result.

California has long been a leader in privacy protections, and the new law is expected to serve as a template for other state legislatures in the US. The bill passed the legislature unanimously and was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Anticipating the effects of the GDPR and the possibility of other countries and states enacting strict new laws, many larger companies have already been pro-actively preparing enhanced consumer privacy tools and regulations.

Protests in Iran as Rouhani says US wants 'economic war'

abcnews.com - Angry protesters in Iran's capital held a third day of demonstrations on Tuesday over the country's anemic economy as President Hassan Rouhani told the nation that it faces an "economic war" with the United States following America's pullout from the nuclear deal.

While online videos showed demonstrators again confronting police on Tehran's streets and alleyways, the protests looked far smaller than those on Monday, when security forces fired tear gas on crowds in front of parliament.

Earlier on Monday, demonstrators forced the temporary closure of Tehran's Grand Bazaar and on Sunday, protests forced two major shopping centers for mobile phones and electronics to close in Tehran.

Rage persists over the plunging of the Iranian rial to 90,000 to the dollar — double the government rate of 42,000 rials to $1 — as people watch their savings dwindle and shopkeepers hold onto some goods, uncertain of their true value.

Part of the economic uncertainty comes from President Donald Trump's decision to pull America out of the nuclear deal and re-impose sanctions on Iran, even though other world powers have pledged to stand by the accord.

Similar economic protests roiled Iran and spread to some 75 cities and towns at the end of last year, becoming the largest demonstrations in the country since the months-long rallies following the 2009 disputed presidential election. The protests in late December and early January saw at least 25 people killed and nearly 5,000 arrested, but took place largely in Iran's provinces rather than in the capital, Tehran.

US: FDA approves first medicine made from marijuana

- The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the country’s first drug derived from marijuana, a medication that treats two rare and devastating forms of epilepsy.

The drug, GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex, is made of cannabidiol, or CBD, a component of marijuana that does not give users a high. It is given as an oil, and in clinical trials, it was shown to reduce the number of seizures by about 40 percent in patients with Dravet or Lennox-Gastaut syndromes.

“This approval serves as a reminder that advancing sound development programs that properly evaluate active ingredients contained in marijuana can lead to important medical therapies,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement. “And, the FDA is committed to this kind of careful scientific research and drug development.”

The FDA’s decision was expected. FDA officials had indicated they supported approving Epidiolex, and an advisory panel had unanimously recommended it get the green light. There was some concern about the drug’s effects on the liver, but experts have said this risk could be addressed by doctors as they monitor their patients during treatment.

Strength!: Trump's 'zero tolerance' immigration policy sparks outrage in Central America

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy — which has separated more than 2,000 children from their parents as they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border — has sparked outrage in the Central American countries that most of the immigrants are fleeing.

In Honduras, La Prensa newspaper featured a political cartoon Thursday with the title "Nation of Immigrants" that showed the Statue of Liberty using her flame to burn an immigrant. A front page story earlier in the week proclaimed "Separation of Families is Cruel and Inhumane."

In El Salvador on Friday, the No. 1 most-viewed story in La Prensa Gráfica was about the Time magazine cover showing President Trump looking down on a crying 2-year-old Honduran girl, with the headline "Welcome to America."

In Guatemala, an editorial in La Hora newspaper denounced the "xenophobia" of the Trump administration.

"Trump has called our people rapists, criminals, drug dealers and gangsters, among other things," an editorial said.

And, in Mexico, the newspaper El Universal said: "The United States treats migrant children as Taliban" — a reference to the Afghan terrorist group.

The presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have all condemned the U.S. policy.

"When a policy...ends up in the separation of the family and in the pain of so many human beings, especially children, not only must it be revised, it must be corrected as soon as possible," Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said on his Facebook page this week.

Immigrants from the three Central American nations have been fleeing their homelands because of the high murder rates and widespread violence by gangs and drug cartels.

Central American leaders generally praised Trump's announcement Wednesday that U.S. officials would no longer separate children from their families, but wanted to know more details about what would happen to the more than 2,000 children already separated from their parents. It's not clear when or if all those children will be reunited with their mothers and fathers.

Radical plan to split California into three states earns spot on November ballot

latimes.com - California’s 168-year run as a single entity, hugging the continent’s edge for hundreds of miles and sprawling east across mountains and desert, could come to an end next year — as a controversial plan to split the Golden State into three new jurisdictions qualified Tuesday for the Nov. 6 ballot.

If a majority of voters who cast ballots agree, a long and contentious process would begin for three separate states to take the place of California, with one primarily centered around Los Angeles and the other two divvying up the counties to the north and south. Completion of the radical plan — far from certain, given its many hurdles at judicial, state and federal levels — would make history.

It would be the first division of an existing U.S. state since the creation of West Virginia in 1863.

“Three states will get us better infrastructure, better education and lower taxes,” Tim Draper, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist who sponsored the ballot measure, said in an email to The Times last summer when he formally submitted the proposal. “States will be more accountable to us and can cooperate and compete for citizens.”

In the initiative’s introductory passage, Draper argues that “vast parts of California are poorly served by a representative government dominated by a large number of elected representatives from a small part of our state, both geographically and economically.”

The proposal aims to invoke Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, the provision guiding how an existing state can be divided into new states. Draper’s plan calls for three new entities — Northern California, California and Southern California — which would roughly divide the population of the existing state into thirds.