California Supreme Court curbs a pension benefit but preserves 'California Rule'
LA Times's MAURA DOLAN: "The California Supreme Court made it clear Monday that state and local governments may reduce pension costs by repealing certain benefits without running afoul of constitutional protections for public pensions."
"In a unanimous decision written by Chief Justice Tani-Cantil Sakauye, the court upheld California’s 2012 repeal of an “air time” benefit that allowed state workers to buy credits toward retirement service."
"The decision was the court’s first in a series of pending pension disputes it has agreed to review."
READ MORE related to Pensions: What does the California Supreme Court pension ruling mean for you? -- Sacramento Bee's WES VENTEICHER
BANG's GEORGE AVALOS: "PG&E’s top finance boss was grilled by wildfire victims and creditors at a bankruptcy court hearing on Monday during which the power company revealed it had been considering a bankruptcy filing for “months” prior to actually starting the proceeding."
"The meeting in San Francisco on Monday of wildfire victims and creditors affected by PG&E’s bankruptcy case raised questions about precisely how and when the embattled and disgraced utility intends to compensate victims of the infernos that roared through the North Bay Wine County and nearby regions in October 2017 and Butte County in November 2018."
“I don’t trust a word PG&E says about this,” Kirk Trostle, a former Paradise resident who is now living in the Shasta County community of Happy Valley south of Redding, said in an interview with this news organization after the meeting of creditors. “I’m very concerned about whether PG&E is going to pay the wildfire victims. We lost everything.”
Police end Stephon Clark protest in East Sacramento with arrest of 84 people
From the Sacramento Bee: "What began as a relatively mellow Stephon Clark protest outside a Trader Joe’s supermarket in East Sacramento turned into a spectacle as more than 100 riot police arrested 84 protesters and detained a Sacramento Bee reporter Monday night."
"About 100 protesters, organized through The Table Sacramento, started marching shortly before 7 p.m. in opposition to Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert’s recent decision not to charge the police officers who shot Clark in his grandparents’ backyard last March. Clark, 22, had been holding a cell phone police thought was a gun."
"On Monday, the trouble started when a Tahoe Park resident named Dan Iverson arrived at 40th and J streets in a “Make America Great Again” hat and quickly found himself facing several angry protesters. The protesters shouted Clark’s name at Iverson and blew whistles before stealing the hat off his head. Iverson, who came to the protest with his teen daughter, said he was shocked at the reception."
Cannabis conundrum: California researchers struggling to get their hands on it
Chico ER's PHILIP SANTOS: "While Humboldt State University is located in the heart of cannabis country, undergrad students who want to study the county’s biggest cash crop say they aren’t allowed to touch the stuff or even get near it in a research setting."
"The policy is drawing concerns from both university students and local researchers, including those at Humboldt State’s Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research, the expressed objective of which is to “serve as a clearinghouse of marijuana-related research."
"Fletcher Kennamer, a sociology student, said it’s kind of an absurd policy that makes local cannabis research an arduous process."
Juan Corona, California's most prolific serial killer, dies of natural causes
The Chronicle's MATTHIAS GAFNI: "Juan Vallejo Corona, California’s most prolific serial killer, died of natural causes Monday morning in a hospital, more than four decades after he hacked to death 25 farmworkers and buried most of them in a prune orchard near Yuba City in Sutter County, prison officials announced."
"Corona, 85, was serving 25 concurrent life sentences after being convicted of 25 counts of first-degree murder. There was no death penalty in California when he was sentenced in 1973."
"Corona was denied parole eight times since 1984 and was next eligible for a hearing in 2021. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced his death Monday and released his most recent mug shot from California State Prison-Corcoran, showing a frail old man with a droopy left eye caused by a 1973 stabbing attack at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville that nearly killed him."
Disney donates $5M to help fund housing for OC's homeless
OC Register's JEFF COLLINS: "The Disney Resort donated $5 million to a revitalized housing trust fund, kickstarting a business-backed campaign to raise cash for housing the homeless, Orange County business leaders said Monday, March 4."
"The low-key Orange County Housing Trust, incorporated in 2010 and operating on a small budget, will “rise as a Phoenix” under a partnership between the Orange County Business Council and NeighborWorks Orange County, a nonprofit housing assistance agency, said Lucy Dunn, business council chief executive."
Post Hurricane Harvey, NASA tried to fly a pollution-spotting plane over Houston. The EPA said no
LA Times's SUSANNE RUST/LOUIS SAHAGUN: "In the weeks after Hurricane Harvey’s catastrophic sweep through the Houston area — which resulted in chemical spills, fires, flooded storage tanks and damaged industrial plants — rescue crews and residents complained of burning throats, nausea and dizziness"
"Fifteen hundred miles west in the high desert city of Palmdale, NASA scientists were preparing to fly a DC-8, equipped with the world’s most sophisticated air samplers over the hurricane zone to monitor pollution levels."
"The broad investigation could be setting the stage for an impeachment effort, although Democratic leaders have pledged to investigate all avenues and review special counsel Robert Mueller's upcoming report before trying any drastic action."
LA County sues to keep sheriff's deputy accused of domestic violence off the department
Daily News: "The power struggle between Sheriff Alex Villanueva and the county over the reinstatement of a deputy who was fired after being accused of domestic violence landed in court Monday, with the county asking a judge to uphold the deputy’s termination."
"The county filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court challenging Villanueva’s reinstatement of Caren Carl Mandoyan, who was fired in 2016 by then-Sheriff Jim McDonnell."
"According to the Los Angeles Times, a fellow deputy alleged Mandoyan grabbed her by the neck, tried to break into her home and sent her harassing text messages. Prosecutors investigated the woman’s claims but declined to charge Mandoyan."
Fight over CASA: Some cities push back against plan to overhaul Bay Area housing market
BANG's MARISA KENDALL: "From Cupertino to Pleasanton, small cities around the Bay Area are challenging a massive regional plan to fix the housing crisis, worried they will lose control over what gets built within their borders and be forced to pay for solutions they don’t want."
"Officials are gearing up for what promises to be a long and contentious battle over the “CASA Compact” — a set of 10 emergency housing policies that could force Bay Area cities to impose rent control, allow taller buildings, welcome in-law units and pay into a regional pot to fund those changes. The plan was penned by a group of power brokers known as “The Committee to House the Bay Area,” which includes elected officials from the region’s largest cities, transportation agencies, housing developers, local tech companies and others. The group was pulled together by the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission."?
House panel opens sweeping probe of Trump, his associates
AP's MARY CLARE JALONICK: "Democrats launched a sweeping new probe of President Donald Trump, an aggressive investigation that threatens to shadow the president through the 2020 election season with potentially damaging inquiries into his White House, campaign and family businesses."
"House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Monday his panel was beginning the probe into possible obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power and is sending document requests to 81 people linked to the president and his associates."
READ MORE related to POTUS: Trump tweets that Omar's Israel remarks mark a 'dark day' -- AP
Ex-White House counsel calls Robert Mueller 'American Hero'
AP: "A former White House special counsel considers special prosecutor Robert Mueller "an American hero."
"Attorney Ty Cobb says he does not share President Donald Trump's opinion that Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the election is "a witch hunt" during an ABC News podcast "The Investigation" that aired Tuesday."
"Cobb says Mueller is a "very justice-oriented person."