Here's a quick look at Gov. Brown's budget blueprint, which was unveiled as a deficit looms over California.
L.A. Times' JOHN MYERS: "Gov. Jerry Brown’s newly unveiled state budget calls for spending $179.5 billion in the coming fiscal year, while offering ways to avoid what he believes would otherwise be California’s first deficit in more than three years."
"Here’s an overview of some of the most important proposals outlined by Brown in the budget he presented to the Legislature on Tuesday. "
"Brown’s budget pegs spending on K-12 schools and community colleges at $73.5 billion for the coming school year, about $2 billion more than this year. Per-pupil spending in elementary, middle and high schools would rise to $15,216. That’s $394 more per student than this year."
President Obama has added six areas to the California Coastal National Monument.
L.A. Times' BETTINA BOXALL: "President Obama on Thursday added six areas to the California Coastal National Monument, including a prized parcel on the Santa Cruz County coast and some small islands off the coast of Orange County."
"All of the sites, totaling 6,230 acres, are currently managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The monument designation adds another layer of protection by closing the areas to new development, such as gas and oil drilling."
"The 5,785-acre Cotoni-Coast Dairies parcel extends from the slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains to terraces overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The land includes Native American archaeological sites, wetlands, coastal prairie grasslands and stands of coast redwoods."
READ MORE related to Parks & Recreation: Park Service names 24 diverse national landmarks -- New York Times' JENNIFER SCHUESSLER
How effective is the Consumer Watchdog at keeping insurance rates low?
Sacramento Bee's JIM MILLER: "Nearly 30 years ago, consumer activist Harvey Rosenfield wrote and helped qualify Proposition 103, the November 1988 ballot measure that overhauled state regulation of home and auto insurance rates."
"The initiative, dubbed by supporters as the “Voter Revolt to Cut Insurance Rates,” also contained a provision that got little attention during one of the most expensive campaigns in state history: outsiders could challenge proposed insurance rates and get reimbursed for their costs."
"The so-called intervenor process has become a significant source of revenue for the nonprofit founded by Rosenfield and its successor, Consumer Watchdog – and a major thorn in the insurance industry’s side."
The U.S. Drought Monitor has reported that nearly half of California is now drought-free.
Sacramento Bee's DALE KASLER, PHILLIP REESE and RYAN SABALOW: "After five years, is the drought over? The feds seem to think so, at least as far as Sacramento and most of Northern California are concerned."
"Thanks to an unusually wet winter, the closely watched U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday that 42 percent of California now is considered free of drought. That includes Northern California from the Bay Area to the Oregon border. When the “water year” began in October, only 17 percent of the state was drought free, and a year ago the figure was 3 percent."
"Several other experts agreed that considerable progress has been made in alleviating the drought."
READ MORE related to California Water Crisis: Feds: more than 40% of California out of drought -- The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER; Call it the Southern California drought. Rain and snow end Northern California water woes -- L.A. Times' JOSEPH SERNA, MATT STEVENS; Bay Area storm: Drying out expected as storm cleanup continues -- East Bay Times' MARK GOMEZ
Legislation has been introduced to help students achieve media literacy in the era of fake news.
Sacramento Bee's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Here’s something that absolutely, undeniably, 100 percent happened: California lawmakers introduced legislation to help students become more media literate."
"Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, and Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, on Wednesday both announced bills that would direct a state curriculum board to develop resources for schools to teach students how to distinguish what news stories they can trust."
“Recently, we have seen the corrupting effects of a deliberate propaganda campaign driven by fake news,” Gomez said in a statement. “When fake news is repeated, it becomes difficult for the public to discern what’s real. These attempts to mislead readers pose a direct threat to our democracy."
Diabetes is now a serious health issue for people 55 and younger.
Sacramento Bee's PHILLIP REESE: "Deaths from Type II diabetes in California among people under age 55 were practically unheard of 15 years ago. Just 24 people in that age group died from the disease in California in 1999."
"Times have changed. In 2015, 390 Californians under age 55 died from the disease, according to new figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
"Deaths from Type II diabetes have risen across all age groups. About 4,900 Californians died from the disease last year, for a rate of 12.5 deaths per 100,000 people, up from 2 deaths per 100,000 people in 1999."
READ MORE related to Healthcare: GOP should entice Dems to help replace Obamacare -- National Review's DEROY MURDOCK; Jerry Brown doesn't want to give doctors a cut of new tobacco tax money -- Sacramento Bee's TARYN LUNA; Levi Felix, a proponent of disconnecting from technology, dies at 32 -- New York Times' CHRISTOPHER MELE
CIA nominee Mike Pompeo said that LGBT workers at the alphabet agency would have a tolerant and fair work environment.
Sacramento Bee's CURTIS TATE: "Newly minted Sen. Kamala Harris of California used her time Thursday to question CIA nominee Mike Pompeo about his views on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees at the agency."
"Pompeo, a three-term Republican congressman from Kansas, had opposed gay marriage and had sponsored bills to let states prevent same-sex couples from marrying and protect nonprofit organizations that opposed gay marriage."
"But at his confirmation hearing in the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, Pompeo assured Harris that he’d treat every CIA employee “in a way that is appropriate and equal” and not work to undermine the benefits same-sex married couples have gained."
READ MORE related to Beltway: Eloquence and literary power make President Obama one of the nation's great orators -- L.A. Times' JEFFREY FLEISHMAN; Obama surprises 'brother' Joe Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- L.A. Times' MICHAEL A. MEMOLI; Ben Carson at confirmation hearing: Too many people live in public housing, and I want to help -- L.A. Times' JOSEPH TANFANI; Trump's pick for secretary of State raises concern with aggressive comments about China -- L.A. Times' BARBARA DEMICK; Watchdog probe to bring new scrutiny for FBI's Comey -- AP; Mexico's president warns that if Trump wants to talk trade, he'll have to talk security, too -- L.A. Times' KATE LINTHICUM; Hillary's e-mails and the Justice Department -- National Review's ANDREW C. MCCARTHY; Rex Tillerson sets off alarm bells in the human-rights community -- The Nation's GEORGE ZORNICK
There's now definitive evidence that cannabis has medicinal value, but not without its drawbacks which largely depend on how the substance is administered (ie. smoked or eaten).
The Chronicle's DAVID DOWNS: "Marijuana can be an effective medicine in some cases for treating pain, nausea, muscle spasms and other conditions, but the drug that is wafting into the mainstream is not harmless, and more research is needed, the nation’s top scientists concluded in a landmark report released Thursday."
"The nonprofit National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine issued its report, “The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids,” summarizing the body of research into the efficacy of medical pot. The 395-page paper stands as the most official medical review of the botanical drug, which an estimated 8 percent of American adults used in the past month."
"Chief among the findings, researchers criticized the U.S. government’s continued listing of marijuana as a “Schedule 1” drug, meaning it has no established medical use and a high potential for abuse. Pot ranks above prescription opioids, such as Vicodin and OxyContin, that were linked to more than 180,000 deaths from 1999 to 2015."
READ MORE related to Cannabis: Experts have only a hazy idea of marijuana's myriad health effects, and federal laws are to blame -- L.A. Times' MELISSA HEALY
Sacramento State's student newspaper has won its battle to stay on the main campus.
Sacramento Bee's DIANA LAMBERT: "Sacramento State’s student-run newspaper will stay on the main campus while its current office is renovated, avoiding a scenario in which staff would have been relocated a mile away, to the other side of Highway 50."
"The State Hornet this week was offered a temporary 750-square-foot space in the former university bookstore warehouse. The newspaper staff will return to the University Union in 18 months to two years, after renovations on that building are complete, said Brigett Reilly, director of property services for University Enterprises Inc., a nonprofit arm of Sacramento State that owns the building."
"This is exactly the resolution we were hoping for,” said faculty adviser Stu VanAirsdale. “I’m excited and relieved that we are keeping The Hornet’s newsroom on campus. Del Norte Hall is a terrific location for our students to maximize their time at Sac State and do great work for their audience."
An issue common on campuses today is perceived censorship enforced through large-event security fees, and controversial conservative Milo Yiannopoulos may be the latest speaker to have to have an engagement canceled at UC Berkeley because of it.
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "The scheduled appearance of right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos at UC Berkeley is in jeopardy because the students who invited him are balking at the $6,372 security fee demanded by the campus."
"In a letter this week to Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, the Berkeley College Republicans called the fee “arbitrary and excessive,” and said the group “sincerely hopes that this is not a case of obstruction on the part of the university administration, as it would undoubtedly set a precedent for denying student groups their right to invite speakers of all political and ideological persuasions.”
"Yiannopoulos, a gay conservative and editor for the right-wing opinion site Breitbart News Network, is on a college tour across the country he’s dubbed the “Dangerous Faggot” talks. He is scheduled to speak Friday night at UC Davis and at UC Berkeley on Feb. 1."
READ MORE related to Education: Pittsburg schools make themselves immigration 'safe haven' -- East Bay Times' SAM RICHARDS
Airbnb found itself in a standoff against affordable housing advocates at an Oakland city meeting.
East Bay Times' MARISA KENDALL: "Airbnb landlords came out in force Thursday evening to defend the short-term rental platform, occasionally sparring with affordable housing advocates as they implored city officials not to restrict their ability to rent their homes."
"During a two-hour meeting at City Hall, two-dozen Oakland residents — most of them Airbnb supporters — talked about how the platform helped them afford to keep their homes, or about how their guests brought money to neighborhood businesses."
"Short-term rentals changed my life in a positive way,” said William Shuford, who said he would have lost his Oakland home if he had not been able to rent it on Airbnb while he was in Detroit making arrangements after his father’s death."
A police beating victim has filed suit against the city of San Francisco and the officers involved.
The Chronicle's JOHN KING: "The victim of a highly publicized beating by several San Francisco police officers has filed suit against the city and the officers involved, charging that their behavior was “malicious, wanton and oppressive.”
"The lawsuit by Brandon Simpson alleges civil rights violations because of the incident, which occurred in the Tenderloin on Dec. 1, 2015. Gun possession charges against Simpson were dismissed six months later after a video was shown in court that contradicted prior testimony about the incident by one of the officers involved."