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President Trump is keeping the media in the dark once again but this time its a tradition.

Trump told a gathering of White House senior staffers on Sunday that he found the letter former President Barack Obama left for him in the Oval Office a tradition among presidents on their final day in office but, as did his predecessor, he wont divulge its contents.

It was really very nice of him to do that and we will cherish that. We will keep that and we wont even tell the press whats in that letter, said Trump, whos had a contentious relationship with reporters since he announced his candidacy in June 2015.

He has routinely referred to the media as dishonest, suggested moving the press corps out of the White House, blamed news outlets of reporting fake news about him and refused to answer questions from some reporters at news conferences.

The National Archives and Records Administration doesnt typically release the letters between presidents but just last week released the missive President George W. Bush left for Obama eight years ago.

During the East Room ceremony, Trump told the staffers that we must devote ourselves to the national good.

This is not about ideology. Its about our country, said Trump, who was accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence and many of his top advisers including Steve Bannon, son-in-law Jared Kushner and former Apprentice star Omarosa.

Talking about his upcoming meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pea Nieto, Trump said they will start working on NAFTA.

Were going to start renegotiating, having to do with NAFTA, Trump said. Anybody ever heard of NAFTA? Were going to start renegotiating on NAFTA, on immigration and on security at the border.

Eight years ago, President George W. Bush also left a note for Obama.

There will be trying moments. The critics will rage. Your friends will disappoint you. But, you will have an Almighty God comfort you, a family who loves you, and a country that is pulling for you, including me, Bush wrote. No matter what comes, you will be inspired by the character and compassion of the people you will lead.

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Trump receives note from Obama but won't divulge its contents - New York Post

On its way out the door, the Obama administration quietly released the numbers on its $7 billion effort to turn around failing US schools which failed.

The Bush administration actually started the School Improvement Grants program, but President Barack Obama upped the funding massively, spending billions more on it than on the higher-profile Race to the Top. It handed three-year grants (up to $2million a year per school) to states that embraced its preferred intervention models for low-performing schools.

Oops: Last weeks numbers reveal that the schools that got the help showed no different results in test scores, graduation rates and college enrollment than did similar schools that didnt receive the aid.

Part of the problem was surely that only 1percent of the schools chose the most drastic change converting to a charter. Most just replaced a principal, some staff and/or adopted new instructional strategies.

Yet the devil is in the details that Team Obama didnt even try to monitor which strategies work? Is the new principal really any different?

The $7 billion only proved that tossing cash at schools by itself makes no real difference despite all the cries from teachers unions and their allies that the only problem in US public education is underfunding.

American Federation of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten was already calling the program a terrible investment in 2015 but her main prescription is to focus the funds on community schools. Sadly, thats just what Mayor de Blasio has done in his Renewal Schools program which is likewise failing to make a difference.

President Trumps approach will center on parental choice, with greater support for public charter schools and (potentially) vouchers that parents can use for either public or private education. Thats at least an effort to see that the moneys spent wisely, which has to be an improvement.

Because by now it ought to be clear that simply spending more on failure factories doesnt change a thing.

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Obama's final education lesson: over-spending fixes nothing - New York Post

A motorcade believed to be carrying former President Barack Obama arives at Thunderbird Heights in Rancho Mirage Saturday night. (Jan. 21, 2017) Sherry Barkas/The Desert Sun

Former president Barack Obama's motorcade leaves Thunderbird Heights in Rancho Mirage Sunday morning, Jan. 22, 2017.(Photo: Zoe Meyers/The Desert Sun)Buy Photo

Only two days out of the White House, and already it sounds like he kind of misses it.

Former president Barack Obama paused from his vacation in the Coachella Valley Sunday to reminisce about reading letters from everyday Americans, which he called one of the best parts of the job.

Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama are currently vacationing at Thunderbird Heights in Rancho Mirage. They flew into the desert Friday after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Obama has called the trip a quick vacation. It is unclear how long he will stay.

On Sunday morning, Obama tweeted a New York Times Magazine story about the White House mailroom. As president, Obama famously read 10 letters from constituents every day. The story described the process of choosing those letters in detail.

I read letters like these every single day, Obama tweeted. It was one of the best parts of the job hearing from you.

Other than this tweet, Sunday was a quiet day for the visiting president. Obama's motorcade visited the Thunderbird Country Club gym, where the former president has been known to exercise, at about 9:30 a.m., but hasn't traveled otherwise. Obama frequently golfs during his vacations to the desert, but a rainy forecast likely cancelled any plans to tee-off.

OBAMA VISIT:A golf outing on Saturday|Obamas arrive at Thunderbird Heights in Rancho Mirage|

READ MORE:The Obamas are returning to Palm Springs. Will they finally make a home here?

Former president Barack Obama's mortorcade leaves the Thunderbird Country Club gym in Rancho Mirage Sunday morning, Jan. 22, 2017.(Photo: Zoe Meyers/The Desert Sun)

Rainalso disrupted the Obamas' flight on Friday, which was expected to land at the Palm Springs airport but was instead diverted toMarch Air Reserve Base in Riverside. A small motorcade delivered the couple to Thunderbird Heights, where a crowd of about three dozen well-wishers were waiting in the downpour to welcome the former president and first lady.

On Saturday, Obama golfed at Porcupine Creek, the Rancho Mirage estate of billionaire Larry Ellison.

Desert Sun photographer Zoe Meyerscontributed to this report.

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Obama remembers 'one of the best parts of the job' on his second day of vacation - The Desert Sun

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President Trump expects to sign up to 200 executive orders Monday, following the first tranche of orders he signed over the weekend.

Turning from Obamacare and mortgage deductions, Trump at some point in his first week in office will begin to implement his America First Energy Plan.

Trump plans to eliminate restrictions on U.S. energy production, mainly through dismantling President Obamas so called Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule. The White House says repealing these rules will boost wages more than $30 billion over the next 7 years.

But thats only the beginning. Trump is likely use more executive actions to rollback many Obama-era environmental policies.

Here are some of the major executive actions Trump is expected to take:

Repeal EPA Regulations

Trump promised to eliminate Obamas the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule once in office. Hell likely need Congress, or the courts, to fully repeal Obamas agenda, but he can issue executive orders effectively nullifying keypolicies.

The Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP) is the cornerstone of Obamas global warming policies, and is expected to further cripple the coal industry. Coal-fired power plants that dont meet strict CO2 limits will be shut down under the CPP, and new coal plants cant be built unless they use CO2 capture technology.

Constitutional attorneys and CPP opponents David Rivkin and Andrew Grossman argued Trump can adopt a new energy policy that respects the states role in regulating energy markets and that prioritizes making electricity affordable and reliable.

That executive order should direct the EPA to cease all efforts to enforce and implement the Clean Power Plan, Rivkin and Grossman wrote in a November op-ed. The agency would then extend all of the regulations deadlines, enter an administrative stay and commence regulatory proceedings to rescind the previous order.

Trump could do something similar for the EPAs Waters of the U.S. rule (WOTUS), which, like the CPP, is being challenged by dozens of states in federal court over worries it further extends federal control over state and private property.

Pull Out Of The Paris Accords

Obama officially signed onto a United Nations agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions last year, called the Paris accords. The former president pledged the U.S. would cut emissions 26 to 28 percent by 2025.

Obama never brought the Paris accords before Congress, however, and instead his administration called it anon-legally binding executive agreement. That means Trump can tear up the agreement all on his own.

Trump promised to pull out of the accords on the campaign trail, later doubling down with a pledge to eliminate billions in global warming payments to the United Nations and spend that money in the U.S. instead.

Though not in full agreement, Trumps administration seem to share his views on the Paris accords. Former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, Trumps pick for Secretary of State, said the U.S. should keep a seat at the table regarding Paris. But it remains to be seen, if confirmed, he pushes this view with Trump.

Open Up Federal Lands

Trump is also likely to unilaterally reverse Obama administration policies to keep vast swaths of federal lands off-limits to mining and drilling.

Trump is expected to order the Department of the Interior to lift a moratorium placed on new coal mines instituted under Obama last year, according to Bloomberg. The Obama administration temporarily banned new coal mines to consider ways to increase mining costs on federal lands.

The former administration said it was to get taxpayer a fair return on mines on public lands.

Trump could also reverse the Obama administrations taking Arctic and Atlantic ocean offshore lease sales out of the latest five-year offshore drilling plan, as well as an Obama order permanently making portions of those same seas off-limits.

Undo National Monuments

Republican lawmakers have alsourged Trump to undo national monuments created by Obama through executive order.

Obama used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate more than 550 million acres of federal lands and waters as national monuments. Such a designation makes it much harder to ranch, mine or drill on federal lands. Locals often oppose monument designations since they severely limit economic activity.

No president has ever reversed a predecessors monument designation, so there is some legal uncertainty though presidents have modified past designations.

Obama, for example, expanded monuments created by President George W. Bush.

Update The Endangerment Finding

Obamas Climate Action Plan is supported by a 2009 EPA report claiming greenhouse gases threatened public health by warming Earths temperature. This endangerment finding imposes major regulations on vehicles and power plants.

Trumps EPA could update the 2009 endangerment finding to incorporate more recent scientific work, and take a more skeptical view of global warming.

Recent evidence suggests climate models over-predicted global warming for the past six decades, and that theres been little link between warming and a long-term increase in extreme weather.

Social Benefits Of Carbon?

Trump is expected to order the White House Office of Management and Budget to suspend the so-called social cost of carbon (SCC) estimate, according to Bloomberg. The Obama administration created the SCC to put a monetary figure on the costs of emitting CO2.

The SCC is the linchpin to Obamas climate agenda, used by regulators to claim massive financial benefits from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, cars, appliances and even oil wells.

RestructureNEPA

Trump can also repeal a White House Council on Environmental Quality 2016 guidance on how federal agencies should consider global warming when reviewing projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Republicans argued the guidance would only make it harder for any sort of development to go through and give environmentalists another avenue to sue federal agencies to kill projects they dont like.

Approve Pipelines

Trump wants to repeal a 1968 executive order giving the Department of State authority to approve pipelines that cross an international border. Basically, this is a way to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

Obama declined to give TransCanada, the company building Keystone XL, the necessary permit they needed to complete the pipeline in 2015. Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry agreed thatapproving the project would damage the U.S. image as a fighter of global warming.

Trump could also have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approve the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.

The Corps initially approved the oil pipeline in summer, 2016, but then declined to issue the project the easement it needed to cross a federally-owned lake after environmentalists and American Indians protested it for months.

Trump told Fox News in December he would have the issue solved very quickly once he took office.

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Trump Can Immediately Repeal These Obama Energy Policies - Daily Caller

For Joe Hooper, it was a moment of glee accompanied by grief. Eight years ago, Hooper, the head pastor of the Center for Spiritual Living Palm Desert, cast a ballot for Barack Obama, proud to support a man he believed represented the best of America diversity, inclusion, progress and change.

But as the nation elected Obama, Californians also voted to passProposition 8, which barred same-sex couples from marrying.

It was difficult. It was a celebration for Obama, but also a reality check that the fight continues, Hooper recalled. The president has mostly been right there in the fight.

That fightoften ended in success, and Hoopers life now is different in ways that were unimaginable eight years ago. Proposition 8 is no more, hes married, and he and his husband have raised a daughter.

As progressives nationwide mourn the end of Obamas tenure, here in the Palm Springs area where the former president is vacationing with family as he embarks on life as a private citizen his exit from the White House has special resonance in a vibrant gay community thats thrived for decades.

Every spring,thousands flock here for the Dinah Shore Weekend, a music festival that caters to lesbians. And in the fall, Cinema Diverse, an annual film festival, showcases the work of gay and lesbian directors and actors. Dozens of gay-friendly restaurants and bars dot the city.

According to Census data crunched by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, Palm Springs is in the top 10 of cities nationwide with the highest number of same-sex couples per 1,000 people.

For Obama, his relationship with the LGBT community has evolved.

During the 2008 election, he did not voice support for same-sex marriage. Still, in his first term, Obama helped champion 2009 legislation that makes it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. The measure, named in honor of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming teenager who died after being kidnapped and severely beaten in 1998, was lauded by many LGBT activists as the first major federal piece of gay rights legislation.

Obamas Affordable Care Act, along with mandating that insurers cannot discriminate against anyone because ofpreexisting conditions, also included a provision barring insurers from discriminating against people because theyregay or lesbian.

In 2010, Obama helped lead the repeal of the dont ask, dont tell policythat banned openly gay men, lesbians and bisexuals from military service.

Sarah McBride, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates and seeks expansion of gay rights, said Obama has done more for the LGBTQ community than any other president.

We had a president who saw us and respected us. Were certainly going to miss him, McBride said.

While in office, Obama visited the Coachella Valley nearly a half dozen times, often staying at the Thunderbird Estates home of interior designer Michael Smith and his partner, James Costos, who served as ambassador to Spain under the Obama administration.

Still, it wasnt until months before the 2012 election that Obama came out in support of same-sex marriage, saying he concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.

It was welcome progress to Robb Wirt, who owns Bongo Johnnys, a gay-friendly restaurant, along a corridor here where many businesses flyrainbow flags.

He made big steps, Wirt said of Obama as patrons packed an outdoor patio Saturday morning, sipping mimosas and munching on pancake sandwiches drenched in syrup.

Wirt, who has owned the restaurant for two years with his partner, described Obamas tenure with a simple phrase: positive.

He was authentic and seemed to always speak from the heart, not just for the gay community, but everyone, Wirt said.

As Steve Mandeville walked along the corridor past a clothingstore proudly named Gay Mart USA, hepaused when asked if he would reflect on Obamas presidency.

Hes here, right? said Mandeville, who is gay and is a librarian from Riverside. He was walking along the street showing a friend from Washington, D.C., local shops and restaurants.

This is a city that prides itself on gay culture, and its cool hes here to spend time in his first few days out of office, Mandeville, 51, said.

Hooper remembers how,afterthe Supreme Court decision that made same-sex marriage a right nationwide in 2015, the White House was lit up in rainbow colors to celebrate the ruling. Years before, lower courts had ruled Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional.

All of this has been progress, said Hooper, who noted that about 20% of his churchs congregants are gay or lesbian.

As for Obama, hes kept a low profile since arriving here Friday after attending the inauguration of President Trump. He and his wife, Michelle, have said theyll remain in Washington while their youngest daughter, Sasha, finisheshigh school. That hasnt stopped hopeful speculation here that the Obamas might be shopping for a house in the desert.

That would suit Hooper just fine. Obama, he said, will always be welcome here.

kurtis.lee@latimes.com

Twitter:@kurtisalee

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In Palm Springs, a special sadness in the LGBT community for the Obama era's end - Los Angeles Times