Californians marked Martin Luther King Day with parades, rallies, protests, volunteer work and, in Orange County, KKK fliers. From Matt Hamilton in the Los Angeles Times:
“According to the Santa Ana Police Department, about 40 homes near the 2600 block of North Linwood Street received the fliers, which were placed in plastic bags with a rock and some candy.
“The flier urged residents not to commemorate King’s birthday, referring to the late Nobel Peace Prize winner as a “communist pervert.” A business card in the bags listed contact information for the Loyal White Knights of the KKK, including the white supremacy organization’s hotline and Web address.
The California State Parks system, still rebounding from deep budget cuts and a 2012 scandal following the revelation that the department had hoarded $50 million in the midst of a funding crisis, is in line for major changes. The Governor’s new budget includes funding for a one year turnaround as a state commission prepares to release a report proposing ways to modernize the system. Ben Adler has the story at Capital Public Radio.
“[A] state commission is just days away from releasing a final report that’s expected to call for an outside parks funding partner. And [Acting Parks Director Lisa Mangat] has responded to the commission’s draft report by creating a “Transformation Team” to lead the system’s overhaul.
“We can’t keep putting off the heavy lift and taking a really good, hard look at ourselves as a department and reset things," says Mangat. "And so that’s where we look to the Transformation Team."
No big news (i.e. new candidates) in the race for Barbara Boxer’s Senate seat, but Matier and Ross report that Kamala Harris is working to keep Tom Steyer out of the race, and The Hill reports on the role Silicon Valley will play in the upcoming contest.
Julian Hattem and Cory Bennett: “It remains to be seen whether Harris’s ability to speak techies’ language will translate to statewide support, aside from potentially helping to fill her campaign coffers...”
“The election is still 22 months away, and there is plenty of time for other candidates to jump into the race.
“Leaders within the tech industry have rarely agreed on much beyond a few select priorities such as reform to the nation's immigration, patent and tax codes.
“Instead of forcing an established front-runner to embrace their priorities, the industry could decide to vault up someone in its own mold and hope that they catch fire statewide.”
Pete Chacon, a former assemblyman, World War II B-17 gunner, and an icon in Latino politics, died in December. Tony Perry looks at the life of the man known as the father of bilingual education in California for the Los Angeles Times:
“When she was a high school student in the 1980s, Lorena Gonzalez was asked to write an essay about the person who had most influenced her plans for the future.
“She did not hesitate: Assemblyman Peter Chacon, long a leader in the Latino political movement, considered the father of bilingual education in California and author of numerous efforts to better the lives of the economically disadvantaged….”
And, speaking of high school students, in Florida, a school district has abandoned plans to allow Christian groups to distribute bibles to schools – because the local Satanists demanded the right to distribute their literature as well.
“Orange County Public Schools had planned to allow outside religious groups to take part in Friday’s observance of Religious Freedom Day by giving Bibles to students who wished to take them.
“But they placed those plans on hold after the Satanic Temple and Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) said they would hand out pamphlets and coloring books promoting non-belief, reported WFTV-TV.
“The Satanic Temple intended to distribute the “Satanic Children’s Big Book of Activities” to students, while the FFRF planned to give them pamphlets describing the Bible as “An X-Rated Book.”
“The school board decided to review its policy about materials made available for students after the groups announced their plans.”
h/t Raw Story