Oakland's guaranteed income program to start accepting applications. Who's eligible?
SARAH RAVANI, Chronicle: "Oakland will open the first round of applications Tuesday for the city’s guaranteed income program — one of the largest of its kind in the country.
The program, Oakland Resilient Families, will send $500 cash payments with no strings attached for 18 months. The first round of applications will be for 300 families who live in East Oakland, who must live within a one square-mile boundary. Applications will open citywide for an additional 300 families later this summer.
Low-income families, with at least one child under 18, are eligible for the program. Applicants who are Black, indigenous or people of color will be prioritized. The application is open to anyone whose income qualifies — a shift after the program’s initial announcement spurred criticism that white residents wouldn’t be eligible."
Will saving for retirement soon get simpler? Here's what Congress has planned
Sac Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Saving for retirement — and understanding your benefits — could get a lot simpler soon.
Older people could contribute more to their retirement savings. Part-time workers could find it easier to build retirement accounts. Small businesses could get help offering employees retirement accounts.
Congress is moving in a deliberate, bipartisan fashion to craft legislation that would do all that and more."
CW Podcast: Inside the horseshoe with Jim Deboo
STAFF: "Capitol Weekly’s John Howard and Tim Foster are joined today by Gov. Newsom’s Executive Secretary, (aka chief of staff) Jim Deboo. Deboo joined the governor’s office in January, just as the pandemic surged in the wake of the holidays.
Unemployment was at record highs, predictions for the state’s economy were dire, and the Recall effort was gathering steam. Six months later, Deboo surveys a very different landscape: California leads the nation in COVID vaccinations, the economy is rebounding and an improbable budget surplus has made predicted service cuts largely unnecessary.
The Recall, however, still looms. We spoke to Deboo about governing under such unpredictable circumstances, how the horseshoe works under lockdown rules, and asked him who he'd put on the Top 100."
‘Breakthrough’ COVID death: Fully-vaccinated Napa woman dies from virus
LISA M. KRIEGER, Mercury News: "A Napa woman has died of COVID-19 despite being fully inoculated, offering a sharp reminder that vaccinated people are not invincible, especially if they are medically vulnerable and the virus is still circulating widely.
“No vaccine is 100% effective, but this does not diminish the urgency and importance of getting vaccinated, especially as more variant strains emerge,” said Napa County Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Relucio. “Vaccines provide exceptional protection against death and illness from the virus and all residents should continue to get vaccinated to protect themselves and others.”
The woman, who was not identified, died Wednesday after a prolonged hospitalization. She had underlying medical conditions and was over the age of 65."
California has one of the lowest coronavirius transmission levels in the US
LA Times, LUKE MONEY/RONG-GONG LIN II: "California continues to record one of the lowest COVID-19 case rates in the nation, underscoring its sustained progress toward extinguishing the pandemic a week ahead of the state’s planned reopening.
As of Monday, California’s seven-day case rate per 100,000 people was 11, tied with Nebraska for the third-lowest among all states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California is behind only Vermont, with a 6.9 seven-day case rate, and South Dakota, with 9.2
The latest update knocked California just outside the threshold necessary to meet the CDC’s definition of having a low level of community coronavirus transmission, an assessment based on the number of new cases confirmed statewide over the last week as well as the rate at which conducted tests were coming back positive."
120 houseboats pulled off Lake Oroville as reservoir is expected to reach lowest level ever
AMY GRAFF, Chronicle: "Northern California's Lake Oroville is becoming the poster child of drought in the Golden State.
The state's second-largest reservoir in Butte County was at 37% of capacity as of Monday. Photos taken over the Memorial Day weekend show dozens of houseboats sitting on cinder blocks because there wasn't enough water to hold them.
"Blackened trees lined the reservoir's steep, parched banks."
Water shortage emergency declaration, mandatory restrictions coming in Santa Clara County
JESSICA FLORES, Chronicle: "The Bay Area’s most populous county likely will soon face mandatory water use restrictions, as officials from its main provider announced Monday they would declare a water shortage emergency this week.
With drought conditions worsening in California, the Santa Clara Valley Water District said it planned to make the declaration and urge water companies and city and county officials to impose mandatory water use rules at a meeting Wednesday.
The district — a public agency and water provider that sells to private companies and other agencies — cannot impose restrictions, only recommend them."
Understanding California's new COVID workplace rules
Sac Bee, JEONG PARK: "California has new COVID workplace safety standards, but only after weeks of delay, nine-plus hours of discussion and multiple votes.
Here is what to know about the updated standards from the standards board of the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, commonly called Cal-OSHA. They are scheduled to go into effect around June 15 pending administrative approval.
Have more questions? E-mail us at jpark@sacbee.com."
City says PG&E's plan for service changes in SF could cost over $1B
The Chronicle, JD MORRIS: "San Francisco and PG&E are at it again, this time with city officials pushing back against what they say are expensive changes in the way their infrastructure connects to the utility’s poles and wires.
City leaders say the alterations Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is seeking are far too costly and may force the government to install unnecessary equipment, such as meters on streetlights that currently lack them.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission estimates that the upgrade costs could exceed $1 billion and that the city’s monthly electric bill from PG&E could ultimately rise by several million dollars."
Buscaino launches run for mayor with focus on homelelssness. Woman with a knife interrupts
LA Times, BENJAMIN ORESKES/DAKOTA SMITH/DAVID ZAHNISER: "One of the first in-person events in the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election centered on the issue likely to animate the entire race: homelessness.
It ended with a homeless woman being arrested Monday after she pulled out a knife a few feet from City Councilman Joe Buscaino.
Buscaino had trekked from his harbor area district to the Venice boardwalk, where he spoke starting at 7:15 a.m. about how tents on sidewalks, in parks and beaches were inhumane and should be banned more forcefully. He spoke for 10 minutes as supporters — fed up with the state of homelessness in Venice — held signs and cheered him on."
Gascon promised to review controversial police killings. After 6 months, is he too late for some?
LA Times, JAMES QUEALLY: "In his bid to unseat Jackie Lacey as head of the nation’s largest prosecutor’s office last year, George Gascón didn’t simply attack her record of declining to prosecute police officers who killed unarmed people — he promised to go a step further and undo what he saw as her mistakes.
Gascón identified four shootings that he believed should be reviewed, including the 2015 killing of a homeless man by an LAPD officer whom former police Chief Charlie Beck asked Lacey to file charges against. After his election, Gascón moved to hire a decorated special prosecutor, Lawrence Middleton, to review the cases.
But nearly six months into Gascón’s tenure as Los Angeles County district attorney, Middleton has yet to sign his employment contract, and the delay could severely hinder Gascón’s ability to bring charges against officers in any of the cases he singled out."
Review of NorCal police squad 'toxic culture' is expanding
Sac Bee, JASON POHL: "The sergeant and officers compared people living on the streets to pigeons.
They likened them to troglodytes who could be organized like bowling pins or corralled into a burning building.
They joked about decapitating them with helicopter blades while they slept downtown."
SF City Hall reopens to the public with Pride festivities and weddings
The Chronicle, RYAN KOST: "The front steps of San Francisco City Hall were full Monday, with politicians and a marching band, all there to mark the beginning of Pride month, a few days belated, with a flag-raising ceremony. It was standard fare: The Lesbian and Gay Freedom Band — the city’s official band — banged out the classics, like “Dancing Queen” by Abba, while somebody in the crowd passed out mini Pride flags and politicos made speeches.
But it also marked a turning point — San Francisco City Hall was finally open to the public for the first time since shelter-in-place orders were issued in March 2020. After more than a year spent at home and over Zoom, a group had gathered in joy looking very much to the future while acknowledging the past.
“We’re reopening,” said Clair Farley, the director of the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives, to the crowd. “We’re still coming together to celebrate Pride.”"
Many Black Latinos feel as though they live in two worlds
Sac Bee, KIM BOJORQUEZ: "Marie Nubia-Feliciano wanted to know about Latino student organizations when she arrived at UC Irvine in 1990 and visited the school’s multicultural center.
Before she could finish her inquiry, Nubia-Feliciano, an Afro-Borinqueña who presents as Black, was told by a student: “The Black student organization is a couple of doors down.”
When Nubia-Feliciano attended her first meeting with the Latino group, students asked her questions about where her parents were born, what music she listened to and whether she spoke Spanish."
In Guatemala, Harris tells would-be immigrants to US, 'You will be turned back'
LA Times, NOAH BIERMAN/TRACY WILKINSON: "Speaking from Guatemala’s capital with its president at her side, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a stark message Monday to would-be migrants from Central America, saying they “will be turned back” if they attempt to cross the U.S. border illegally.
Harris, on her first foreign trip as vice president, also gently chided her host, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei. He and other regional leaders, she said, must work to reduce poverty, violence and corruption and give their citizens reasons to stay in their home countries — to create “hope” for citizens about their futures there.
“I believe if you come to our border, you will be turned back,” Harris said during a joint news conference with Giammattei. “So let’s discourage our friends or neighbors or family members from embarking on what is otherwise an extremely dangerous journey.”"
Trump not liable for 'crude' remarks about accuser E. Jean Carroll, DoJ lawyers say
AP, LARRY NEUMEISTER: "Donald Trump cannot be held personally liable for “crude” and “disrespectful” remarks he made while president about a woman who accused him of rape, Justice Department lawyers said Monday in arguing for him to be replaced by the United States as defendant in a defamation lawsuit.
The lawyers told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that responding to allegations of misconduct falls within activities that form part of any president’s office.
Trump was acting “within the scope of his office” in denying wrongdoing after White House reporters asked him about claims by columnist E. Jean Carroll in a June 2019 book that he attacked her in the mid-1990s at an upscale Manhattan department store, the lawyers from the Washington office of the Justice Department wrote."
FBI-made messaging app tricks gangs, leads to hundreds of arrests in global sting
AP, MIKE CORDER/NICK PERRY: "A global sting involving an encrypted communications platform developed by the FBI has sparked a series of raids and arrests around the world, delivering “an unprecedented blow” to crime gangs, authorities said Tuesday.
Operation Trojan Shield involved police swoops in 16 nations. More than 800 suspects were arrested, and more than 32 tons of drugs — cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines and methamphetamines — were seized along with 250 firearms, 55 luxury cars and more than $48 million in cash and cryptocurrencies.
Australian Federal Police Commander Jennifer Hearst called the operation “a watershed moment in global law enforcement history.”"