State's affirmative action ban targeted for repeal
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "California is about to wade back into the fight over affirmative action, nearly a quarter-century after state voters banned the consideration of race and sex in public education, employment and contracting.
Lawmakers and civil rights groups said Tuesday they would try to repeal Proposition 209, the 1996 state constitutional amendment that they argue has been devastating for women and people of color.
They will ask the Legislature to put ACA5 on the November ballot. It would strip language from the state Constitution prohibiting universities, schools and government agencies from using race or sex in their admissions criteria, hiring and procurement decisions."
Hotels are being used for coronavirus quarantines, Newsom announces
Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Coronavirus patients who are not sick enough to need hospital care but could be contagious are being quarantined in hotels in San Mateo and Monterey counties, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday.
The hotels are “100 percent secure, 100 percent segregated from the general public,” Newsom said during a news conference at the Capitol.
Those quarantined in the hotels are among the 26 people who tested positive for the coronavirus aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship docked at the Port of Oakland. Once they were evacuated from the ship, they were all taken to hospitals, where some were determined to be well enough to be released."
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Long lines, voting problems prompt an investigation, grilling of LA's elections chief
LA Times's MATT STILES: "The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday ordered an investigation into complaints about long waits and equipment malfunctions that hampered voting at many poll centers during last week’s primary election.
At a hearing on Tuesday, the supervisors ordered the county’s chief elections official, Dean Logan, to explain what they called “serious problems” for voters — and to address them before the general election in November.
They didn’t mince words in telling Logan that they were dissatisfied and concerned with the performance of a new $300 million electronic voting system that his office unveiled for the primary."
10 must-see giant redwoods in California
The Chronicle's TOM STIENSTRA: "Most people go to the Redwood Empire for one reason: to see giant trees, the bigger the better.
Last week, a new organization, Redwood Coast Parks, released its top 10 list of most significant tall trees as part of its launch. At the top of the list is Iluvatar, a giant redwood that has inspired millions of people to visit Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, north of Eureka.
“We ranked the trees based on visitor feedback, visual aesthetics and scientific value,” said Richard Stenger, a former national park ranger who is now chief of Redwood Coast Parks. The group is a collection of outdoor professionals that includes former rangers, naturalists, arborists and outdoor guides. Their mission, Stenger said, is to promote and protect redwoods parks, and share the conservation ethic among visitors."
California's new state-run retirement program survives taxpayer group's challenge
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a California conservative tax group’s effort to block the implementation of a state-run financial savings program that was created to help lower-income workers save for retirement.
The judge’s ruling in favor of the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program, or CalSavers, allows the program to continue operating. The program comes from a 2016 law that that allowed the state to offer a retirement savings plan to people whose employers do not provide pensions or 401(k) plans.
More than 1,500 employers have registered for CalSavers since the program’s launch in 2019, according to Executive Director Katie Selenski."
Biden has another big primary night
AP's WILL WEISSERT/LAURIE KELLMAN: "Joe Biden decisively won Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary, seizing a key battleground state that helped propel Bernie Sanders’ insurgent candidacy four years ago. The former vice president's victory there, as well as in Missouri, Mississippi and Idaho, dealt a serious blow to Sanders and substantially widened Biden's path to the nomination.
Biden again showed strength Tuesday with working-class voters and African Americans, who are vital to winning the Democratic nomination. Sanders' narrow hopes for good news rested on North Dakota and Washington state. Washington's primary was too early to call, and because all votes there are cast by mail or by dropping them off in a ballot box, many ballots were marked for candidates who have since dropped out of the race.
The six-state contest Tuesday marked the first time voters weighed in on the primary since it effectively narrowed to a two-person race between Sanders and Biden. And the first four states on Tuesday went to Biden, a dramatic reversal for a campaign that appeared on the brink of collapse just two weeks ago. Now it is Sanders, whose candidacy was ascendant so recently, who must contemplate a path forward."
DMV faces lawsuit after rejecting custom license plates
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "Think “OG” and “Queer” are too extreme for a license plate? The California Department of Motor Vehicles did.
Now it’s getting sued by five Californians who believe the department unfairly censored their requests for vanity license plates.
The Pacific Legal Foundation on Tuesday announced the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It’s the libertarian legal organization’s second lawsuit in two years contesting the DMV’s rejection of vanity license plate requests."
Valenzuela defeats Hansen in Sac City Council race
Sac Bee's THERESA CLIFT: "The Sacramento City Council’s most high-profile seat officially has a new occupant.
State environmental lobbyist and activist Katie Valenzuela has unseated Steve Hansen, the city’s first openly gay council member, who’s held the District 4 seat since 2012. While there are votes left to be counted, The Sacramento Bee is calling the race in Valenzuela’s favor.
“It doesn’t actually feel like my feet are touching the ground right now if I’m being real,” Valenzuela said Tuesday after the latest batch of election results were posted by the county. The results showed Valenzuela had 53 percent of the vote with more than 13,000 votes tallied."
Mayor Breed looks to fire SF building inspection head in wake of Nuru probe
The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA: "San Francisco Mayor London Breed is urging that Tom Hui, the chief of the city’s Department of Building Inspection, be removed after the city attorney’s office alleged Hui abused his official position. The city attorney’s allegations came out of an investigation into corruption launched after the arrest of former Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru.
Breed sent a letter to the president of the Building Inspection Commission, Angus McCarthy, on Tuesday, recommending the commission remove Hui. Only the commission has the power to fire the building inspection director, though the mayor appoints four of the commission’s seven members. The Board of Supervisors appoints the other three.
“While this recommendation is pending, I have placed Mr. Hui on paid administrative leave from his position,” Breed wrote in the letter, which was reviewed by The Chronicle."
Berkeley bans criminal background checks in most rental housing applications
The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI: "The Berkeley City Council voted Tuesday to prohibit landlords of most rental properties in the city from asking potential tenants about their criminal histories and conducting criminal background checks. City officials said the ordinance is meant to eliminate housing barriers for formerly incarcerated people looking to find a place to rent.
“I really see this as not only a moral issue but as a key homelessness issue,”said Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín. “So many people on our streets are not able to access housing because of a criminal record.”
Landlords are prohibited from asking prospective renters of their criminal histories and are unable to take “adverse action” against a housing applicant based on their history."
Sacramento agrees to $500,000 settlement in Fab 40's Stephon Clark protest
Sac Bee's SAM STANTON: "Sacramento officials have reached a tentative deal to pay out more than $500,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of 84 people who were arrested during a march in the city’s Fab 40s neighborhood last year as they protested the decision not to prosecute the police officers who shot Stephon Clark to death, the plaintiffs’ lawyer says.
Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Merin said Tuesday that the agreement, which still must be approved by a judge, calls for most of the plaintiffs to receive payments from the city of $4,000 each, with four named plaintiffs in the case to receive payments of $7,000 apiece.
Sacramento County, which had deputies backing up city police during the protest and transported people who were arrested to a holding area at Cal Expo, will pay another $595 to each person, Merin said."
Jury convicts John Lee Cowell in Nia Wilson murder trial
The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY: "It took less than four hours Tuesday for an Alameda County jury to reach a verdict in John Lee Cowell’s murder trial — and it took a split second for victim Nia Wilson’s family to absorb the words they had waited to hear for two years: Guilty.
Guilty of first-degree murder. Guilty of attempted murder.
The courtroom erupted in loud sobs as the family of the slain 18-year-old woman hugged and wiped tears with crumpled tissues. Cowell, who had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and had been removed from the courtroom because of outbursts during the trial, sat silent and still after the verdicts were declared."
Thunderstorms, hail and waterspouts possible as rain douses SoCal
LA Times's HANNAH FRY/PAUL DUGINSKI: "A slow-moving storm crept into Southern California overnight, bringing widespread showers that dampened the morning commute, slowing traffic across Los Angeles County early Tuesday and threatening to unleash thunderstorms across the area.
Rainfall thus far has been relatively light and spotty in coverage over land during the overnight and morning hours, but rain has been falling more steadily off the coast and several thunderstorms have been observed, according to an update from the National Weather Service at noon Tuesday.
As the storm moves to the east, thunderstorms were expected to come ashore Tuesday afternoon and evening."
Congress skeptical of Trump's payroll tax cut to address coronavirus as first bipartisan talks begin
LA Times's JENNIFER HABERKORN: "One of President Trump’s key proposals to confront the economic fallout of the novel coronavirus — a payroll tax cut — got mixed reviews from Senate Republicans on Tuesday during a Capitol Hill strategy-planning lunch that ended without agreement on the details of a possible stimulus plan.
But in the first sign of bipartisan cooperation to address the growing health crisis, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin was dispatched to begin negotiating an economic package with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco).
The pairing of Mnuchin and Pelosi (D-San Francisco) on a coronavirus bill comes as Republicans and Democrats are at loggerheads on an economic response. In addition to the payroll tax cut, the White House supports tax relief for the travel and tourism industries."