PG&E asks California regulators for rate increase to boost shareholder profits
The Chronicle, JULIE JOHNSON/DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Thursday asked state energy regulators to increase shareholder profits because of the high risk of doing business in California after a historic year of rate hikes sent utility bills soaring.
In filings submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E asked that it be allowed a 11.3% return for investors, up a percentage point from the current limit."
New desalination technology being tested in California could lower costs of tapping seawater
LAT, IAN JAMES: "Californians could be drinking water tapped from the Pacific Ocean off Malibu several years from now — that is, if a company’s new desalination technology proves viable.
OceanWell Co. plans to anchor about two dozen 40-foot-long devices, called pods, to the seafloor several miles offshore and use them to take in saltwater and pump purified fresh water to shore in a pipeline. The company calls the concept a water farm and is testing a prototype of its pod at a reservoir in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains."
Tesla attacks mark troubling twist in political violence as Musk divides America
LAT, RICHARD WINTON/HANNAH FRY: "There were broad expectations that the widening political divides in America following Donald Trump’s second presidential victory would explode.
But few could have predicted the flash point would be electric cars."
California will launch methane-detecting satellites, Gavin Newsom announces
Sac Bee, LIA RUSSELL: "After making a show of deference to Donald Trump in the wake of deadly Los Angeles County wildfires earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom appears to be back to challenging the federal government on climate change policies.
Newsom announced Friday that his administration will launch satellite-mounted sensors to track emissions of methane, an odorless gas pollutant that is a major contribution to global warming, making good on a promise originally made by former Gov. Jerry Brown."
Billionaire-backed California Forever plots big shift: Huge shipbuilding operation
The Chronicle, JK DINEEN: "California Forever’s plan to build a new city in eastern Solano County could include the development of a major shipbuilding operation on 1,400 acres near the tiny town of Collinsville, according to multiple people familiar with the plan.
On Thursday night Rio Vista Mayor Edwin Okamura said on social media that he met with California Forever representatives, retired military leaders and county officials to “discuss a shipbuilding executive order that President Trump is expected to sign shortly.”"
S.F. suspends nonprofit that paid for top city official’s son to attend UCLA, investigation finds
The Chronicle, ALDO TOLEDO/MICHAEL BARBA: "San Francisco no longer wants to do business with a nonprofit that received lucrative city contracts from a disgraced former department head who previously worked for the organization and lived with its executive director.
City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement that his office has temporarily suspended the nonprofit, Collective Impact, from receiving city funding and will seek to prohibit the organization from getting city contracts for as long as five years."
Top San Francisco official who failed to disclose side job placed on leave
The Chronicle, MICHAEL BARBA: "A top San Francisco official who failed to disclose until recently that she worked a side job consulting for a progressive political advocacy group has been placed on administrative leave pending a city investigation, the Chronicle has learned.
Kimberly Ellis, a prominent figure in the movement to train Democratic women to run for office, was put on leave Thursday morning from her job as the director of the department on the status of women, a spokesperson for Mayor Daniel Lurie said."
Trump wants states in charge of education. California schools are already facing a unique crisis
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "President Donald Trump’s efforts to abolish the federal Department of Education are coming as California schools face a unique crisis caused by a state law that allowed a wave of lawsuits over decades-old sexual abuse allegations.
On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order directing his education secretary to dismantle as much of the Department of Education as she can."
Is California protected from the Department of Education dismantling? Here are the threats
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI/MOLLY BURKE/SHIRA STEIN: "Low-income families, disabled students and female athletes will be among those that could be most hurt by President Donald Trump’s executive order Thursday to massively shrink — and ultimately eliminate — the federal Department of Education, experts say.
“The Department of Education will be much smaller than it is today,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters ahead of the order’s signing. Although the order will not close the department — something that would require congressional action — Trump directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “greatly minimize the agency,” Leavitt said. Legal challenges are sure to follow. Trump introduced McMahon on Thursday as “hopefully the last secretary of education.”"
Students and faculty sue administrators over last spring’s UCLA pro-Palestinian protests
CALMatters, MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN: "Nearly a year after a mob attacked UCLA students and faculty who formed an encampment protesting Israel’s war in Gaza, participants in that encampment are suing senior officials from the University of California and UCLA, alleging that the system violated their civil rights and rights to free expression by summoning law enforcement to clear their protest.
The suit also alleges that UC officials discriminated against pro-Palestinian supporters and failed to protect members of the encampment from the attackers. The students and faculty, plus members of the public, are also suing individuals the legal team alleges attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment last April 30."
READ MORE -- Demonstrators sue UCLA over handling of pro-Palestinian protests -- LAT, JAWEED KALEEM
Parents can’t figure out how California schools are doing. Newsom’s plan to fix that stalls
CALMatters, ADAM ECHELMAN: "In his first year as governor, Gavin Newsom made the creation of a comprehensive, statewide education data system one of his top priorities, but its debut is behind schedule.
In 2019, he launched the Cradle-to-Career Data System, a multi-year initiative to collate data from preschools, K-12 districts, colleges and job training programs, culminating in a series of public dashboards that track students’ progress. A few years later, during his 2022 re-election campaign, “cradle to career” was the tagline of his education platform."
Madera drama teacher sees the arts as a gateway to improving literacy skills
EdSource, KAREN D'SOUZA: "A few years ago, when Julian Ramos first started teaching drama, he was hoping to explore Greek tragedy with his sixth graders. Then he realized only three out of his 30 students were reading at grade level. So, Sophocles was off the table.
A practical soul, he pivoted to “The Country Mouse and the City Mouse,” a charming fable popular with his second graders. The sixth graders loved it too, but Ramos still worries about their reading skills."
Palos Verdes may charge toll on famed coastal highway to pay soaring landslide costs
LAT, GRACE TOOHEY: "Motorists love it for its rugged cliffs and stunning coastal vistas, but this Southern California highway is also a critical evacuation route for thousands of Palos Verdes Peninsula residents — not to mention a key artery for commuters and emergency vehicles.
Yet maintaining scenic Palos Verdes Drive South has become an increasingly costly, and practically constant, endeavor as the forces behind a relentless landslide continue to crack, shift and warp the two-lane roadway."
Point Reyes’ historic dairies ousted after legal battle. Locals say it’s conservation gone mad
LAT, JESSICA GARRISON: "With fog-kissed streets featuring a buttery bakery, an eclectic bookstore and markets peddling artisanal cheeses crafted from the milk of lovingly coddled cows, Point Reyes Station is about as picturesque as tourist towns come in California.
It is also a place that, at the moment, is roiling with anger. A place where many locals feel they’re waging an uphill battle for the soul of their community."
This Bay Area city wants to become a premier destination for LGBTQ people fleeing intolerance
The Chronicle, CONNOR LETOURNEAU: "To some longtime Bay Area residents, El Cerrito is just another bedroom community — the type of suburb with little to distinguish it beyond two BART stations, a large stock of Mid-Century Modern homes and a relatively low crime rate.
But in a metro area with one of the nation’s highest percentages of LGBTQ adults, few towns are more queer-friendly than this idyllic burg of about 25,000 just north of Berkeley. At a time when President Donald Trump is waging a culture war on LGBTQ rights, especially those of transgender people, El Cerrito has become a trailblazer in local queer politics."
Speed cameras are now up in S.F. Here’s how much speeding drivers could get fined
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN/NORA MISHANEC/ANNIE VAINSHTEIN: "Speed cameras went up at 33 San Francisco roads and intersections Thursday, marking the city’s most ambitious attempt yet to stave off traffic deaths — and permanently change drivers’ behavior.
Strategically placed near freeway exits or on busy waterfront arteries, these devices will automatically snap photos of rear license plates when motorists drive too fast. People who exceed the speed limit by 11 to 15 miles per hour should brace for $50 citations after a two-month grace period and one initial warning. Fines will rise as high as $500 for people who drive over 100 miles per hour."
S.F. street parking could soon get more expensive: ‘These are really steep increases’
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "The cheapest piece of real estate in San Francisco might be a metered parking space — provided that it’s nowhere near Fisherman’s Wharf, or outside Chase Center when the Warriors are playing.
Any driver can rent a 9- by 18-foot swath of asphalt for a base rate of 50 cents an hour, with prices fluctuating according to demand. A person who stops on Beach Street to grab a sourdough bread bowl could pay up to $7.50 an hour. Motorists might fork over $12 an hour for meters by Oracle ballpark. Yet the rate would fall to two quarters an hour for someone parking in the Outer Sunset on a quiet weekday morning."
