April showers in Southern California? Here’s the latest forecast
LAT, GRACE TOOHEY: "A cool, wet weather pattern will probably bring some April showers to Southern California over the next few days.
The dreary trend is forecast to kick off Friday morning, with the possibility of a “patchy drizzle” developing from a deep marine layer over much of the region, according to National Weather Service forecasts. The Los Angeles area could see more significant rainfall Saturday as a low-pressure system moves in."
READ MORE -- This weekend’s California storm looks different. Here’s why -- The Chronicle, GREG PORTER
Trump orders Justice Department to investigate Democrats' top fundraising platform
AP, MICHELLE L. PRICE: "President Donald Trump has ordered the Justice Department to investigate the Democratic Party's top fundraising platform, the latest example of Trump using the tools of the government to go after his political opponents.
Trump, in an executive order signed Thursday, directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate allegations that Republicans have raised that ActBlue allows illegal campaign donations."
Gavin Newsom praises congressman’s El Salvador trip after deportation controversy
Sac Bee, LIA RUSSELL: "Gov. Gavin Newsom praised a California congressman for trying to intervene on behalf of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a week after he was criticized by his fellow Democrats for calling the fervor over Garcia’s wrongful deportation to El Salvador a “distraction.”
Newsom asked supporters Thursday to donate on behalf of Rep. Robert Garcia’s reelection campaign, saying he “made California proud” and “deserves our thanks” for flying to try and meet with Abrego Garcia, whom immigration officials initially deported on accident from Maryland to a Salvadoran prison known for human rights abuses. The U.S. Supreme Court and a federal judge found that immigration officials violated Abrego Garcia’s right to due process and have ordered him returned the U.S., which the White House is resisting."
Trump’s deportations may face challenge as prison punishment without a trial
LAT, DAVID G. SAVAGE: "President Trump has pressed for quickly deporting hundreds of Venezuelan and Salvadoran men who are said to belong to a foreign crime gang.
Those deportations have been challenged as illegal — and last week, blocked by the Supreme Court — if the detained men are not given a hearing to argue they are not gang members."
READ MORE -- Trump administration toughens restrictions on families trying to reunite with migrant children -- LAT, RACHEL URANGA; ‘Here we are again’: S.F. judge blocks Trump order targeting sanctuary cities -- The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO
Biden let California get creative with Medicaid spending. Trump is signaling that may end
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "In 2022, California made sweeping changes to its Medi-Cal program that reimagined what health care could look like for some of the state’s poorest and sickest residents by covering services from housing to healthy food. But the future of that program, known as CalAIM, could be at risk under the Trump administration.
In recent weeks, federal officials have signaled that support for creative uses of Medi-Cal funding is waning, particularly uses that California has invested in such as rent assistance and medically tailored meals. Medi-Cal is California’s name for Medicaid."
Fraud in California community colleges triggers call for Trump investigation
CALMatters, ADAM ECHELMAN: "Nine Republican U.S. representatives are calling on U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate financial aid fraud at California’s community colleges. In a separate letter sent Wednesday, state Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, a West Covina Democrat, asked the state to conduct its own audit on the matter.
This rare moment of bipartisan concern comes after CalMatters reported that fake community college students have stolen more than $10 million in federal financial aid and more than $3 million in state aid in the last 12 months."
Trump attacks a key strategy for California schools: Flagging racial disparities in discipline
EdSource, EMMA GALLEGOS/JOHN FENSTERWALD: "The Trump administration has taken aim at a key assumption of federal civil rights enforcers and California’s school discipline strategy: that large racial disparities are a red flag for discrimination.
Trump’s executive order, released Wednesday, attacks the concept of disparate impact — the idea that a policy that may seem neutral actually harms a racial or ethnic group. The order calls this approach to discipline, championed by both the Biden and Obama administrations, a “risk to children’s safety and well-being in the classroom.”"
READ MORE -- After Trump’s crackdown on DEI in schools, judge rules he can’t cut off funding -- CALMatters, CAROLYN JONES
Sacramento State cuts courses across all colleges amid budget shortfall
Sac Bee, ISHANI DESAI: "All colleges across Sacramento State must reduce course offerings to accommodate funding cuts and cost increases, according to the university.
The state has proposed $375 million in California State University funding cuts, according to Sacramento State. University officials said inflationary pressures and high benefits squeezed its budget, which faces a $31.2 million shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year which begins July 1. Layoffs struck more than a dozen management positions, President Luke Wood has said previously."
Surprise atmospheric rivers, toxic seafood: How NOAA cuts could impact California
The Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS/JACK LEE: "Coast Guard rescue missions failing after running into unexpected currents. Surprise atmospheric river storms flooding downtown San Francisco. Seafood contaminated by unseen algal blooms.
California scientists fear these scenarios, and more, are possible under the Trump administration’s recommendation to reduce the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s budget by $1.7 billion."
What should the Sutter Buttes be called? A new name has surfaced for the mountains
Sac Bee, JAKE GOODRICK: "Last year someone proposed a new name for the Sutter Buttes, raising quite the response from those who live in the foreground of “the world’s smallest mountain range.”
The outcome of that effort to dub the towering Sutter County landmark “Sacred Buttes” remains undecided amid the lengthy process of renaming natural markers. Now another proposed name has entered the fold."
L.A. County first responders fought the worst fire of their careers. Now they want raises
LAT, REBECCA ELLIS: "On the heels of the catastrophic January wildfires, L.A. County first responders are demanding raises and rebuking politicians for not moving faster to grant them.
Unions representing sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and lifeguards made a public pitch Thursday for more support in increasingly testy contract negotiations, releasing a half-hour documentary that highlighted their members’ harrowing tales from the first days of the fires."
Google pressures remote workers to return to office or risk termination
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Google has informed some employees who live within 50 miles of a company office that they must begin reporting in person at least three days per week or face losing their jobs.
According to internal documents reviewed by CNBC, several units within Google, including Technical Services and People Operations, have issued return-to-office mandates."
A lifeline for Hollywood jobs or a corporate giveaway? The film tax credit debate returns
LAT, SAMANTHA MASANUGA: "It’s showtime for Hollywood at the California Capitol.
The state’s entertainment industry has spent months begging for help from Sacramento to stem the decline of film and TV production and save thousands of jobs."
L.A.’s office market takes a hit amid trade wars, fires and economic uncertainty
LAT, ROGER VINCENT: "Tenants hunting for office space in the Los Angeles area are in the driver’s seat as vacancies plague many landlords trying to fill their buildings with people.
The greater Los Angeles office rental market started the year with a turbulent first quarter and historically high vacancies as tenant demand was persistently soft in spite of more robust return-to-office policies coming from managers."
Sacramento leaders to hold first joint homelessness meeting in 8 years
Sac Bee, MATHEW MIRANDA: "Sacramento’s two largest elected bodies will plan their first joint publicly held meeting on homelessness in more than eight years after criticism they have not collaborated effectively on the issue.
Councilmember Eric Guerra authored a letter on April 16 asking Sacramento County Board of Supervisors Chair Phil Serna for the meeting. In the letter, Guerra said it’s time to “evaluate the progress” of the city-county five-year partnership to provide services and programs to homeless communities."
S.F. plan would spread homeless shelters to all corners of the city. It’s likely to face pushback
The Chronicle, MAGGIE ANGST: "For years, Tenderloin and SoMa residents have complained that their neighborhoods have become a containment zone for San Francisco’s most vexing problems, arguing that they’re are unfairly saddled with the majority of the city’s homeless shelters and mental health facilities.
To address those complaints, Supervisor Bilal Mahmood plans to introduce legislation that would require the city to approve at least one homeless shelter or behavioral health site in every district over the next eighteen months. The supervisor’s proposal also prohibits any new sites within 1,000 feet of an existing one, essentially creating a moratorium in certain parts of the Tenderloin and SoMa that are already oversaturated with these services."
California railroads: Unions push to shorten trains, but companies warn of higher costs
CALMatters, RYAN SABALOW: "If California’s politically influential labor unions get their way, the state’s freight trains would get shorter and potentially safer under a pending legislative proposal.
But some Democratic lawmakers fear the measure could raise the price of goods in high-cost California, running counter to legislative leaders’ pledge to bring down the cost of living. They also worry that the need to run freight trains more frequently could cause delays for struggling passenger trains that rely on the same tracks and are frequently delayed by freight trains."
SFMTA chief releases 12 managers in major shake-up
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "The chief of San Francisco’s sprawling transportation agency released 12 managers Wednesday, as part of a major reorganization to make leadership more efficient and deliver better service to residents.
“These changes are necessary to reduce duplicative roles and the confusion that comes from overlapping and unclear responsibilities,” Director of Transportation Julie Kirschbaum wrote in a memo to staff on Wednesday evening. She noted that such personnel decisions “are never easy, and I take full ownership of them.”"
Deadly Marin crash: Investigators to rely on SUV’s ‘black box’ to re-create every second
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "Law enforcement officers said they are investigating multiple possible scenarios that may have led to the fatal crash last Friday that killed four teenage girls and seriously injured two others when the vehicle they were riding in veered off a two-lane road lined with redwoods in unincorporated Marin County.
Investigators are reviewing toxicology tests on the driver, gathering evidence from the crash site and accessing the Volkswagen Tiguan’s “black box” to determine what caused it to slam into a tree shortly before 7:30 p.m. on April 18, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Andrew Barclay told the Chronicle."
How nepotism allegations and a peeing puppy set the stage for a Bay Area sheriff’s removal
CALMatters, NIGEL DUARA: "To really understand the whole mess in San Mateo County, you have to start with the overtime logs. Or maybe it was the urinating puppy. Or perhaps it was the $1,200 boots.
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus is facing removal by the Board of Supervisors after a cascade of allegations — some scandalous, some concerning, some just plain odd — portrayed a chaotic picture of her two years and three months in office."
Shooting at UC Davis’ Picnic Day left the city with trauma. What’s next?
Sac Bee, ISHANI DESAI: "Rowdiness, spurred by drinking, marred celebrations across UC Davis’ highly anticipated Picnic Day celebration. Crowds shoved and pushed, overrunning the college town. Police officers, despite calling upon mutual aid agencies, barely contained rampant debauchery.
A Picnic Day about 15 years ago resulted in this violence, prompting university officials to ponder canceling the 116-year-old tradition. Elected officials, Davis business owners and UC Davis officials discussed solutions in 2010, and ultimately enhanced fines in certain areas in the city."
‘The United States is the villain of our story.’ Nationalism surges in Mexico amid Trump threats
LAT, KATE LINTHICUM/CECILIA SANCHEZ VIDAL: "At the entrance to Mexico City’s largest park lies a towering marble monument to six young military cadets killed in battle.
The Niños Héroes — “boy heroes” — died while defending Mexico’s capital during the Mexican-American War, which broke out 179 years ago this week."
