Sacramento’s top stories today: AI guardrails, school renaming and more

From new state action on artificial intelligence to a school renaming and a rare look inside a notorious Sacramento home, Friday brought a mix of policy, education and local history news. Here’s a quick recap of the top stories from around the region.

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• Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Friday directing state agencies to accelerate AI oversight regulations, including possible emergency shutoffs for AI systems. The order requires the Government Operations Agency and the Office of Emergency Services to convene experts and produce an AI safety guide by Nov. 16. “If Congress won’t act, California will,” Newsom said, citing the federal government’s “abject failure” to create meaningful AI oversight.

• Sacramento City Unified on Thursday approved the start of a renaming process for Cesar E. Chavez Elementary, a roughly three-month effort expected to yield a new name by December. The move follows a New York Times investigation six months earlier detailing allegations of sexual misconduct against the labor and civil rights activist. District officials said the rebranding will be completed by June 2027 and cost up to $12,000, funded through a restricted property-sales fund.

• Nearly 38 years after bodies were unearthed from her yard, serial killer Dorothea Puente’s former boardinghouse at 1426 F St. will make a rare appearance Sunday on a historic home tour organized by Preservation Sacramento. Coverage of the tour has also surfaced a long-forgotten fabrication: sisters Deborah Smith and Tamara Welch, now 73, said Puente falsely claimed in 1963 newspaper stories to have adopted them after a brief stay at her home. Puente was charged with nine killings, convicted of three and died in 2011 at 82.