Protests continue; Sacramento joins in.

Jul 12, 2016

The shooting of police officers in Dallas and the shootings of people by police have fueled demonstrations across the country, including silent marches in Sacramento.

 

Anita Chabria and Marjorie Kirk in Sacramento Bee report: "Riding a wave of national unrest, a social media call by two south Sacramento teenagers and their Facebook friend drew at least 300 people to downtown Sacramento on Monday to protest police brutality."

 

"Activists met at Crocker Park at Third and O streets, where many painted their hands red to “symbolize all the blood that has been shed,” said 18-year-old organizer Brianna Cormier. They headed to the state Capitol, walking silently to the Capitol steps."

 

"The event came during a period of upheaval over the sniper shooting of five police officers in Dallas and the killings of two African American men by law enforcement last week. Those deaths have sparked protests across the country and in Europe. Many are under the banner of Black Lives Matter, but others, like Monday’s, are seemingly organic uprisings."

 

SEE MORE related to Public Safety and Black Lives Matter: Panel report calls for increased transparency, accountability in SFPD -- Mercury News; Anaheim police struck homeless man in chest with Taser, causing heart to stop, family's attorney says -- Ruben Vives and Anh Do in L.A. Times; How #BLM activists are moving forward after the Dallas murders -- Molly Hennessy-Fiske in L.A. Times; 94-year-old Park Ranger to return to work after brutal assault -- Katrina Cameron with Mercury News; #BLM Portland, Oregon Rally Speaker demands the killing of cops : "Pull your pistol out and f***ing bust at them!" WARNING: VIDEO NSFW.

 

Meanwhile, local governments and schools in California may see a welcome boon this year as a promising $3 billion+ increase in revenue acquired from property taxes looms around the corner.

 

Dan Walters reports with Sac Bee: "A strong surge in real estate transactions, new commercial and residential construction and rising housing prices should generate a $3-plus billion increase in property tax revenues for schools and local governments during the current fiscal year."

 

"Local property tax assessors closed their books on June 30 and are reporting valuation gains ranging as high as 9 percent in San Francisco, which has the state’s hottest property market."

 

"Just one major county, Kern, has reported a loss of taxable property values and it’s unique in that a major portion of its taxable property is underground, in the form of oil and has reserves."

 

California's Nov. 8 election includes Proposition 54, which aims at improving public access to state government's opoerations.

 

Dorothy Mills-Greg with Capitol Weekly reports: "Want to take a deep dive into the California Legislature? You may get your chance."

 

"Millionaire Charles T. Munger, Jr. and former Republican state Sen. Sam Blakeslee crafted Proposition 54 on the Nov. 8 ballot, a constitutional amendment that would force the Legislature to record its actions and post the video on the web for the public, except for certain proceedings, such as personnel and caucus meetings."

 

"It would bar lawmakers from acting on any bill until its final form has been published online for at least 72 hours, except in states of emergency declared by the governor."

SEE MORE related to November Election: Big Pharma's $70 million tops California campaign contributions -- Tracey Seipel with Mercury News.  

 

A recently released report shows a massive disparity between early childhood educaters' wages, and the wages of their colleagues who teach later grades.

 

Cassandra Vogel reports in Daily Californian: "A report released Thursday by the UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Child Care Employment concluded that all 50 states and Washington D.C. are failing to adequately support the roughly 2 million early education professionals in America."

 

"The Early Childhood Workforce Index — a comprehensive report of early childhood employment conditions and policies across the country — is part of the State of the Early Childhood Workforce Initiative, a project launched by the center to better the lives of early child care workers. The study examined state policies regarding qualifications and compensation for educators, and it also evaluated work environments, resources available for child care services and a database to track the early education workforce."

 

"We know children require incredibly skilled and well-supported teachers,” said Lea Austin, a co-author of the report. “The ways in which we designated qualification levels in California and across the country, doesn’t reflect that.”"

 

READ MORE in Education: Top priority: the push for K-12 accountability -- Kristina Peralta, Kevin Murai and Ted Lempert in Capitol Weekly.

 

And in the technology world, ransomware -- malware injected into a network for the explicit purpose of capturing data and holding it hostage -- may soon be a crime in California.

 

Jazmine Ulloa in L.A. Times reports: "State legislation to outlaw ransomware is drawing broad support from tech leaders and lawmakers, spurred by an uptick in that type of cybercrime and a series of recent attacks on hospitals in Southern California."

 

"The bill, authored by state Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), would update the state’s penal code, making it a felony to knowingly use ransomware, a type of malware or intrusive software that is injected into a computer or network and allows a hacker to hold data hostage until money is paid."

 

"Ransomware has become a lucrative industry over the last three years, affecting schools, police departments and healthcare businesses. Trojans that work like viruses, such as CryptoLocker — which began appearing in 2013 — can be unleashed by users with few technical skills and reel in profits."

 

City of Commerce Councilwoman Tina Baca Del Rio faces the state's largest judgement ever meted out to a locally-elected official for her attempts at embezzlement. 

 

L.A. Times' Adam Elmahrek reports: "California election regulators are proposing the largest-ever financial penalty against a local elected official in the case of City of Commerce. Councilwoman Tina Baca Del Rio is accused of illegally transferring campaign funds into her personal bank account, among other violations."

 

"Baca Del Rio is facing a $104,000 judgment from the state Fair Political Practices Commission. The extraordinary action comes after the commission has accused her of wrongdoing in the past. Officials also allege she missed deadlines to respond to the allegations and come to a negotiated settlement with the watchdog agency."

 

"It’s also a rare case of the commission proposing a default action against a politician. Public officials accused of wrongdoing by the commission usually settle with the watchdog on an agreed fine. Baca Del Rio’s penalty, for example, dwarfs the $40,000 fine levied in 2011 on former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who agreed to a settlement, for failing to disclose free tickets to sports and entertainment events.  "

 

SEE MORE related to Local Politics: Oakland: Company laundered campaign contributions to mayoral, council candidates -- Matthias Gafni in Mercury News; Oakland: Activists announce intent to recall Mayor Libby Schaaf -- Katrina Cameron with Mercury News.

 

May's fatal auto-pilot car crash of Tesla driver Josha Brown has sparked an SEC investigation into the company's failure to enact corporate duty and disclose Brown's death to investors.

 

Charles Fleming and Samantha Masunaga in L.A. Times report: "The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating Tesla Motor Co. for possibly breaking securities law by failing to disclose that one of its drivers had died while using the company’s Autopilot semi-autonomous software."

 

"After the May 7 death of driver Joshua Brown, who was behind the wheel of a Model S when it collided with a big rig in Florida, Tesla said it immediately reported the fatal crash to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Brown had been using Tesla’s Autopilot mode, which when engaged will assist drivers in steering, braking and collision avoidance; the feature is still in a public beta phase."

 

"The Palo Alto electric car maker characterized the death as “the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated,” but faced criticism for not disclosing the crash to the SEC, a possible breach of its corporate duty to inform the agency – and thus, its investors – of so-called material events."

 

READ MORE in Transportation: Atherton won't seek temporary injunction in fight Caltrain -- John Orr with Mercury News.

 

Meanwhile on the Beltway, Obama's approval rating hovers around 57 percent in the Golden State.