Stephon Clark family blasts DA for revealing personal details. Was there a choice?
Sacramento Bee's SAM STANSTON/MOLLY SULLIVAN/THERESA CLIFT/TONY BIZJAK: "She brought up his history with domestic violence, and talked about the drugs found in his body after he was shot to death by police."
"She raised the despair Stephon Clark was facing the weekend before he died, his fear of going back to jail and not seeing his children again and the intensely personal disputes with his girlfriend as he researched methods of suicide online."
"In explaining Saturday why she was not filing criminal charges against the police officers who killed Clark last March, Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert tried to tiptoe around the edges of the couple’s troubles, but eventually acknowledged that they played into her final decision."
READ MORE related to Stephon Clark Shooting: Sacramento police chief says officers who shot Stephon Clark could be fired -- or cleared -- Sacramento Bee's TONY BIZJAK; Who is Salena Manni, the girlfriend of Stephon Clark -- Sacramento Bee's BENJY EGEL; 'Our hearts are shattered.' Clark family vows to pursue justice -- Sacramento Bee's TONY BIZJAK/SAM STANTON
Teachers in Oakland approve contract ending strike
AP: "Oakland teachers will be back in their classrooms Monday after union members voted to approve a contract deal with district officials."
"The Oakland Education Association voted in favor of the deal on Sunday after postponing the vote for a day. The agreement must also be ratified by the Oakland Unified School District."
"We look forward to being in our classrooms again after having to strike to bring our Oakland students some of the resources and supports they should have had in the first place," union president Keith Brown said in a statement."
SF District Five supervisor race's early start foretells rough-and-tumble campaign
The Chronicle's TRISHA THADANI: "When San Francisco District Five Supervisor Vallie Brown was appointed in July, she had a lot to figure out, particularly how to balance the demands of city governance while keeping her grassroots ties to her neighborhood."
"Now, nine months later, she’s facing a different task: fighting for re-election against a formidable opponent, Dean Preston. He’s a well-known, progressive activist with the campaign experience that Brown lacks — he lost the seat in 2016 to London Breed, Brown’s predecessor, by only 1,800 votes out of 41,000."
"And this time, he’s determined to win."
California backlog of prohibited gun owners drops a bit but still tops 9,000
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Nearly six years after ramping up efforts to seize firearms from tens of thousands of Californians banned from possessing them, the state is still pursuing more than 9,000 prohibited gun owners."
"The state Justice Department reported Friday that at the end of 2018, its gun confiscation program had 9,404 active cases, a drop of about 820 from the previous year. The cases included 538 people who have been on the list since at least 2013, when lawmakers provided funding to boost enforcement."
"Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the Justice Department closed a record number of cases last year — nearly 10,700 — but that even more were added during that period. He asked the state for a funding increase so he can hire additional special agents and pay them more."
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READ MORE related to Gun Violence Pandemic: Bay Area Democrat's gun bill passes House, but faces GOP obstacle in Senate -- The Chronicle's TAL KOPAN
Owning a falcon shouldn't mean sacrificing constitutional rights, lawsuit says
Sacramento Bee's GARTH STAPLEY: "Wearing a heavy leather glove on one hand, Peter Stavrianoudakis makes his way quickly through brush in a rural field outside of Hilmar, 20 miles south of Modesto. Several yards above, a sharp-clawed falcon glides in tight circles, intent on pouncing should his hunting partner’s stride flush out another bird to become the falcon’s dinner."
"It’s a graceful alliance of man and beast, a coordinated endeavor, an elegant land-and-air pas de deux."
"This is a master-servant relationship, to be sure,” Stavrianoudakis says. “And I’m the servant."
READ MORE related to Energy & Environment: 'Jen the Archer,' once a social media target, now the face of California wildlife hunting -- The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER
READ MORE related to Education: California bills target Trump rollbacks of crackdown on for-profit colleges -- The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF
Facebook funding could drive new train connecting Peninsula, East Bay
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "The idea of a southern rail crossing from the East Bay to Silicon Valley has enthralled politicians and transportation officials for decades. Yet with no money to back it up, it’s always been just a line on a map, tantalizingly snaking along the Dumbarton corridor."
"But the winds shifted Wednesday night, during a town hall-style meeting at the Veterans Memorial Senior Center in Redwood City. About 100 people filled folding chairs in the auditorium, where representatives of Facebook, infrastructure developer Plenary Group and the San Mateo County Transit District introduced plans to change the future of transbay commuting by resurrecting a railroad of the past."
"They’d start by rebuilding the Dumbarton Rail Bridge, a ragged, long-defunct structure just south of the busy car span. It’s the spine of an old Southern Pacific railway that officials are seeking to reactivate: A century ago, tracks on either side of the bay carried transcontinental freight and whisked passengers to vacation homes in Sunol."
Harris pitches populism, inspiration during first Nevada campaign stop
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "Winning the California primary is crucial to Sen. Kamala Harris’ plan to secure the Democratic nomination for president. Winning the Nevada caucuses that will be held a few days earlier in 2020 would give her the momentum to make that task a lot easier."
"Taking Nevada will be tough, given the state’s notoriously hard-to-predict electorate and chaotic caucus system, which is why Harris made her first campaign visit to the state Friday. She hopes her California-forged progressive platform will be attractive to voters in a racially diverse — but not as liberal — neighboring state, where 29 percent of the population is Latino, 10 percent is African American and a majority of state legislators are women."
"At two campaign stops, Harris pushed her tax cut plan to middle-income voters in the Las Vegas area, where Democratic politics is dominated by the 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union. Harris also met privately with union leaders."