California Supreme Court rules cash bail unconstitutional for defendants who can't afford it
Sac Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH/ANDREW SHEELER: "The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that defendants in the state cannot be detained in jail while awaiting trial simply because they cannot afford bail.
“The common practice of conditioning freedom solely on whether an arrestee can afford bail is unconstitutional,” Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar wrote in the decision.
The unanimous ruling doesn’t outright ban cash bail, but says judges must consider factors such as the seriousness of charges and past criminal history and then use those factors to set bail at an amount the defendant can afford."
Pelosi: Democrats should stay out of California recall race, predicts Newsom will win
The Chronicle's TAL KOPAN: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissed the idea that another Democrat should run in a recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom, predicting that Newsom would prevail and win re-election next year.
“I think it’s an unnecessary notion. I don’t even think it rises to the level of an idea,” Pelosi told The Chronicle during her weekly news conference Thursday. “I don’t think it’s a good idea — notion — to have (another) Democrat on the ticket.”
The recall has not yet officially qualified for the ballot, but both its backers and Democrats assume supporters obtained the nearly 1.5 million signatures of registered voters they needed. As the recall election has become a foregone conclusion, Democrats have rallied to support Newsom even as some wondered whether another Democrat should run as an insurance policy."
Brazilian coronavirus variant detected in San Diego
PAUL SISSON and JONATHAN WOSEN, LA Times: "San Diego joins 18 regions nationwide that have reported cases of Brazilian coronavirus variants which have the ability to reinfect people who have been infected by other viral varieties.
County officials announced that two cases of the COV2 lineage dubbed “P.1" have been confirmed in the San Diego region.
One case is a person who recently entered the country from Mexico and is not a local resident. The second person lives in the area."
California auditor rips counties, state over failure to track $8B in jail funding
Sac Bee's JASON POHL: "A decade after California embarked on a sweeping prison overhaul that diverted thousands of inmates to county jails, state and local governing bodies have failed to adequately track billions of dollars intended for improving county lockups and rehabilitating offenders, a state audit has found.
As a result, the lack of oversight has created enormous budget surpluses, opaque spending practices and progress reports to lawmakers that are “inconsistent and incomplete,” California Auditor Elaine M. Howle’s office said in a wide-ranging report Thursday.
Called “realignment,” the 2011 law signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown was designed to drastically reduce the population of California’s prisons, which were so overcrowded the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in. The law sent billions to counties to bolster county jails and services throughout the state in exchange for housing more inmates."
USC survivors say $1.1 billion in settlements is justice for sex abuse ignored
LAURA NEWBERRY, LA Times: "Some were born in China, some in the San Fernando Valley. Some started at USC as the Berlin Wall fell, some were there when Donald Trump was campaigning for president.
They were white, Black, Latina and Asian. They were straight, gay, lesbian and bisexual. After USC, they became doctors, stay-at-home mothers, law enforcement officials, professors, accountants and lawyers.
What united them is a sorority of shared trauma in harrowing experiences in the exam rooms of the university’s student health clinic."
California to expand vaccine eligibility to all adults next month, starting with people over 50
Sac Bee's JEONG PARK/KIM BOJORQUEZ: "California is doing away with its tiered strategy for releasing COVID-19 vaccines and making shots available to all adults beginning April 15, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Wednesday.
People aged 50 and older will have more access to vaccines even earlier. They’ll be eligible as soon as Thursday, April 1.
The news comes a couple of weeks after President Joe Biden pledged to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1, and days after Newsom said the state’s tiers will be gone by early May. Some counties, such as Solano, have already lowered their eligibility requirement to vaccinate those 50 or older."
Sacramento area scrambling for COVID-19 vaccine as California expands eligibility
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER: "Congratulations to Sacramento area residents 50 and older — you’re about to become eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.
Now be patient.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision Thursday to expand vaccine eligibility opens the floodgates to millions of Californians between the ages of 50 and 64 who until now haven’t been in the queue. The decision takes effect April 1."
Vaccine eligibility will open to anyone 16 and older on April 15; is Bay Area ready?
The Chronicle's KELLIE HWANG: "Starting April 15, coronavirus vaccines will open to anyone 16 and older in California — and Bay Area counties say as long as the state comes through on supply, they’re prepared to get shots in arms.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that the state would do away with its vaccine eligibility tiers earlier than anticipated, and two weeks ahead of President Biden’s promise to ensure every American is eligible for a vaccine by May 1.
People age 50 and older will get a head start, with vaccines opening to them April 1, state officials said."
JILL TUCKER, Chronicle: "More than a dozen Oakland elementary schools and preschools will not reopen as planned Tuesday after the majority, if not all, teachers at the sites opted not to return until required to do so in mid-April, despite an $800 incentive and prioritized vaccinations.
District officials had to rescind reopening plans at six elementary schools and 10 preschools Thursday, days before preschool through second graders were scheduled to head back after seven months of distance learning.
Under an agreement between the district and the unions, preschool through second-grade students were scheduled to return to school on March 30, with all elementary and at least one middle or high school grade back in schools by April 19. High-needs students across all grades, including homeless students, foster youth, English learners, disengaged students and those with special needs, among others, would also be able to return by mid-April."
Biggest donor to Boudin recall campaign is a tech investor and former PayPal exec
The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY: "A group seeking to oust San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin has raised over $75,000 in the initial weeks of its campaign, according to the group’s campaign finance records .
More than 100 donors pitched in to the Committee Supporting the Recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin between Jan. 1 and March 15, with a single tech investor bankrolling nearly one-third of the war chest.
Richie Greenberg, a former Republican mayoral candidate and spokesman for the committee, said the campaign has raised even more than what’s been officially recorded so far — money that will be disclosed in subsequent finance reports. Greenberg said Thursday he was enthusiastic by the support but not surprised by it."
Biden plan helps employers expand family leave. Will California offer it to state workers?
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "A paid family leave expansion that helped many California state workers manage coronavirus disruptions last year remains in limbo this year under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
When Congress approved the first coronavirus relief package a year ago, it required most employers, including the state of California, to offer expanded benefits to their employees.
The package provided two weeks of paid sick leave and 10 weeks of partially paid family leave for employees who couldn’t go to work due to public health orders, doctor’s orders or because they had children stuck at home due to coronavirus restrictions. The program expired at the end of December."
SF school board votes no confidence in commissioner over racist 2016 tweets
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "San Francisco school board members, in a vote of no confidence, stripped their colleague Alison Collins of her role as vice president over racist tweets against Asian Americans.
The board also removed Collins from a role on any committees. Board members Jenny Lam and Faauuga Moliga, who authored the measure for the action, called for Collins to resign, saying she has failed to accept responsibility for her words.
The vote came less than a week after Collins’ critics unearthed a thread of tweets from 2016 in which she used a racial slur and said Asian Americans had used “white supremacist thinking to assimilate and ‘get ahead.’” Nearly 5,000 people have since signed a petition calling for Collins’ resignation, joining public officials, including the mayor and 10 supervisors."
Fact check: Would bill prevent Republicans from being police officers?
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "California lawmakers are considering a bill that would require law enforcement agencies to screen their officers for membership in hate groups, participation in hate group activities, or “public expressions of hate.”
Assembly Bill 655, introduced by San Jose Democratic Assemblyman Ash Kalra, also known as the CLEAR Act, would make such a screening part of the background check upon hiring, and also create a process where a complaint would trigger an investigation that, if sustained, could lead to that officer’s termination.
While the bill is intended to weed out white supremacists and other extremists from the ranks of law enforcement, conservative group the California Family Council argues that it goes much further than that. It argues that the bill would prevent observant Catholics and Muslims, as well as members of the Republican Party, from serving as police officers."
Four new judges appointed to Sacramento Superior Court bench by Newsom
Sac Bee's SAM STANTON: "Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the appointment Thursday of 18 California superior court judges, including four named to Sacramento Superior Court to fill vacancies created by retirements.
George A. Acero, 45, of West Sacramento was named to replace retired Judge Raoul M. Thorbourne. Acero, who is registered to vote without party preference, has owned the employment law firm Acero Law since 2016.
He previously was a partner at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP and an associate at Porter Scott. Acero graduated from the UC Berkeley School of Law."
Who will fill Rob Bonta's East Bay seat? The most prominent local official isn't interested
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "Janani Ramachandran waited roughly an hour after Gov. Gavin Newsom nominated Rob Bonta to be state attorney general to post on Twitter that she was running for Bonta’s soon-to-be-former East Bay Assembly seat.
“I wanted to get a head start,” said Ramachandran, a 2020 Berkeley Law school graduate and social justice attorney who launched her campaign three weeks ago, soon after Bonta emerged as a front-runner to replace Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
She’s not alone — with an emphasis on “she.” Most of those who say they are running for Bonta’s seat or are pondering it are women of color. If they won, they would help to better reflect California’s demographics in the Legislature, where only 31% of the members are women and just 18% identify as women of color."
BART is testing kiosks that dispense short stories. Are they worth $40,000?
The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "BART has installed short-story-dispensing kiosks at a handful of its stations meant to give riders a little literature to dig into as they wait for or ride a train.
The dispensers print out stories estimated to take one, three or five minutes to read — and they’re printed on recyclable receipt paper, according to BART. The receipts, even for a five-minute story, are noticeably shorter than a typical CVS receipt.
The free stories and dispensers are part of the flash fiction or micro-fiction scene, in which authors write bite-sized literary nuggets sometimes shorter than this sentence."