California judges could order help for homeless Californians under Newsom’s new plan
LAT, HANNAH WILEY: "As California cities struggle to address a homelessness and mental health crisis on their streets, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration on Thursday unveiled a proposal to push more people with severe psychiatric disorders and addiction issues into court-ordered care that includes medication and housing.
The proposal, which Newsom is calling the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Court, is the state’s latest effort to address one of California’s greatest struggles, and a recognition that something more robust is needed to solve the problem. Newsom allocated $12 billion for homelessness in the state budget last year and proposed an additional $2 billion in his January financial blueprint.
But implementing a court-ordered response to mental illness and substance abuse disorders would accelerate the state’s multipronged strategy to help thousands of people get much-needed services, while acknowledging that the current system is not working as it should."
The Chronicle, HEATHER KNIGHT: "The misery experienced on San Francisco’s sidewalks has long offered a case study in the failure of California’s mental health care system. Now, the dire situation is inspiring a proposal for a sweeping overhaul.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan, to be unveiled Thursday, seeks to tackle two big flaws in the system: the shortage of desperately needed care and the strict limitations on compelling treatment for people who are too sick to understand they need help.
His proposal, called Care Court, would create a mental-health-focused arm of the civil courts in every county. For the first time, the state would require counties to provide comprehensive treatment to those suffering from debilitating psychosis — and risk sanctions if they don’t. The people in the program, in turn, would be obligated to accept the care."
Killing of 3 kids spurs call to reform domestic violence cases: ‘The legal system failed’
LAT, RICHARD WINTON: "Five days after Northern California’s most wrenching spasm of domestic violence in years, questions abound about how an unstable father under a restraining order was able to obtain an AR-15-style rifle, walk into a Sacramento-area church and then kill his three daughters and a family friend designated to chaperone a visitation with them.
The deadly shooting occurred just a week after 39-year-old David Mora — who killed himself after the attack — assaulted a California Highway Patrol officer after driving drunk and crashing his car in a muddy Merced County field. After that altercation, he remained so combative that he was also booked for assaulting an emergency room technician at a Los Banos hospital.
Some 11 months earlier, Mora had been placed on a psychiatric hold by Sacramento County authorities after he became aggressive and threatened suicide."
‘The system is so broken’: State senator grills California officials over bottle deposit program.
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER: "State Sen. Bob Wieckowski grilled state officials during an oversight hearing Thursday about accounting problems involving California’s bottle deposit program after the department underreported the size of its surplus by at least $100 million.
Wieckowski, a Democrat from Fremont who chairs the budget subcommittee on environmental protection, called the hearing after The Chronicle reported that CalRecycle, the state department that runs the bottle program, has a $529 million surplus, a dramatically larger windfall than it had previously suggested.
“I’m irked that there’s so much money in the fund and we didn’t know it or we try to minimize it,” Wieckowski said during the hearing. “The public demands better performance from this program — or get a different program.”"
How early will California’s fire season come this year? These maps show a grim outlook
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "Northern California is primed for an early and fierce start to wildfire season this year.
That’s the grim takeaway from the latest monthly and seasonal outlook from the National Interagency Fire Center, which shows significant fire potential starting in June across the Bay Area and other highly populated areas in the Sacramento Valley, Sierra foothills and portions of the Coastal Range.
After sporadic bouts of precipitation in October and December, the north state suffered an “unusually long dry period” in January and February, when the region usually sees much of its winter rainfall. The outlook from the federal fire agency’s Predictive Services office forecasts near to below normal precipitation and temperatures from March until June, as well as brush and other fuels in mid- to lower elevations drying and becoming flammable by June."
High numbers of salmon expected off California coast during 2022 fishing season
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "The number of adult fall-run chinook salmon expected to swim along the California coast during the upcoming fishing season is much higher than last year’s, state wildlife managers announced Wednesday. Industry groups hope that could mean more opportunities during the recreational and commercial fishing seasons that are due to open later this spring.
The number of adult Sacramento River fall-run chinook predicted to be on the coast this season is 396,500, about 45% higher than the 271,000 that were estimated at this time last year. That led to a relatively short fishing season last year. However, the 2022 season could still face restrictions to protect another run of salmon. This one, from the Klamath River in Northern California, is a species that will also be in fishing zones during the same period, wildlife managers say.
The federal Pacific Fishery Management Council uses annual predictions of adult salmon populations to set the timing of the fishing season up and down the West Coast. The council will provide three options for the upcoming commercial and recreational seasons on March 14 and then make a final announcement about the timing of the seasons on April 13."
‘We need to do all we can’: Five key takeaways from the U.N. climate report
LAT, IAN JAMES: "In the latest United Nations report on climate change, scientists document the stark toll inflicted by global warming through more intense heat waves, droughts, floods and other disasters, and present a dire warning that humanity should act quickly to move away from fossil fuels and cut planet-heating emissions.
The report goes beyond past assessments not only by detailing the latest science but also by focusing on how the world, while reducing emissions, can better adapt to the accelerating effects of climate change to reduce risks and protect especially vulnerable people.
The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, stresses that the threats to people’s health, livelihoods and lives disproportionately affect those who lack resources to weather the blows. In pursuing climate solutions, the report’s authors say, there should be a focus on equity and justice, because the effects are exacerbating inequality and hitting especially hard for low-income people, marginalized communities and developing countries."
High winds, rain, hail and lightning expected across the Bay Area
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: "High winds, rain, pea-sized hail and lightning strikes were expected across the Bay Area Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
“It’s going to be a mixed bag today depending on where you’re at,” described Brian Garcia, a meteorologist with the weather service.
A slow-moving weather system will travel from the North Bay to the South Bay, bringing light, spotty showers, hail and evening lightning across the region Thursday."
L.A. County lifts indoor mask rule after hitting crucial milestone
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN II/LUKE MONEY: "Los Angeles County lifted its indoor mask order Friday after it officially exited the high coronavirus community level as calculated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC data published Thursday afternoon showed that the county’s coronavirus community level had officially dropped into the “low” category.
Local health authorities waited for the CDC’s update before acting. County health officer Dr. Muntu Davis issued a new health order, effective Friday at 12:01 a.m., that lifted the indoor mask order, regardless of vaccination status, in places such as bars, stores, offices, restaurants, gyms and movie theaters."
Bay Area cities want to use cameras to enforce excessive speeding. A new bill would allow it
The Chronicle, RICARDO CANO: "State lawmakers have revived an effort to allow San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland to use cameras to enforce excessive speeding amid the region’s surge in traffic violence during the pandemic.
The legislation, which is the third attempt since 2017 to allow some California cities to pilot speed cameras, comes at a time when the Bay Area’s largest cities are struggling to rein in severe and fatal crashes.
Traffic deaths in San Francisco persisted during the pandemic and, two years out from its 2024 Vision Zero deadline, the city’s goal of zero traffic deaths by then has become increasingly elusive. San Jose is on track to exceed last year’s total of 58 fatal crashes and the city marked its 10th pedestrian fatality of the year this week."
UC Berkeley must withhold thousands of acceptance letters after state Supreme Court ruling
The Chronicle, NANETTE ASIMOV and BOB EGELKO: "UC Berkeley must cut enrollment by about 3,000 students for next fall after the California Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s order that the prestigious university freeze enrollment at 2020 levels.
In a case that has drawn national attention, the ruling deals a blow to thousands of applicants to the prestigious public university and will cost millions in lost tuition, the university says. The decision favors neighbors who are trying to get the campus to stop adding new students without providing enough housing for them.
The ruling also means UC Berkeley will withhold acceptance letters from more than 5,000 qualified freshmen and transfer applicants, not all of whom would have enrolled."
What will it take for S.F. public schools to drop the mask mandate? Officials won’t say
The Chronicle, JILL TUCKER and ANNIE VAINSHTEIN: "San Francisco private schools and many Bay Area districts expect to abandon mask mandates later this month, but the city’s public school district has decided against the change and declined to provide details or dates for when their 49,000 students will be able to drop face coverings.
District officials say they will continue to require masks indoors, noting that county and state health officials “strongly recommend” students and staff continue to use them.
But require and recommend are not the same, and many families and health experts are asking for clarity on what criteria the district is using to decide when it will lift the mandate."
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "The hush that hung over Stanford University’s campus Thursday — as students huddled over laptops and textbooks at coffee shops — belied an undercurrent of anguish and unrest described by students and staff searching for answers after the death of Katie Meyer.
Meyer, captain of the women’s soccer team, died by suicide, Santa Clara County officials said Thursday evening. She was the fourth Stanford student to unexpectedly die in just over a year’s time.
“We are exceedingly saddened to hear about the death of Katie Meyer, a beloved, talented and respected Stanford student, athlete and Santa Clara County resident,” the county said in a statement."
UC Berkeley will meet court-ordered enrollment cap with online, deferred admission offers
LAT, THERESA WATANABE: "The California Supreme Court on Thursday declined to lift an enrollment cap on UC Berkeley, forcing one of the nation’s most popular campuses to scramble for ways to avoid what it initially feared could be cuts as large as one-third of its incoming fall class, or 3,050 seats, just weeks before it was set to release admission decisions.
A university spokesman said the campus would meet the court-ordered cap by offering at least 1,500 incoming first-year and transfer students online enrollment for fall or deferred admission next January for the spring semester. In addition, some students plan to be away from campus on study programs abroad or in other cities, which would help Berkeley meet the enrollment cap. And many students graduate each winter, freeing up seats for spring.
As a result, Berkeley may only need to cut its incoming 2022-23 class by a few hundred students rather than thousands as initially feared."
The Chronicle: "Not far from where Frances Haugen is sitting on Stanford’s White Memorial Plaza, a black sign taped to a lamppost asks passing students: “If you could change Google and Facebook by not working for them, would you?”
Haugen, the former Facebook, now called Meta, employee and whistleblower who disclosed thousands of pages of internal company documents, doesn’t think students at Stanford or elsewhere should go quite that far.
“I never say, don’t work at these companies,” Haugen said Thursday."
Second LAPD officer alleges commander obstructed investigation into gun store thefts
LAT, KEVIN RECTOR/RICHARD WINTON: "A second Los Angeles police officer has alleged that a high-ranking LAPD commander intentionally obstructed a criminal investigation into the theft of firearms from a gun store at the Los Angeles Police Academy, in part to protect another commander who had come under scrutiny in the case.
In a claim filed against the city last month, Det. Melchor Vergara accused Deputy Chief Kris Pitcher, who oversees the detective bureau of the Los Angeles Police Department, of giving him “unlawful orders” to “absolve” Capt. Jonathan Tom of wrongdoing in the matter. Vergara, who was involved in the Tom investigation, said he refused to follow the orders because he believed the captain had stolen one of the dozens of guns found missing from a gun store located at the police academy in Elysian Park.
After investigating him, prosecutors declined to charge Tom, who commands the LAPD’s West L.A. Division, with knowingly purchasing a stolen firearm. He was found in possession of one of the guns that went missing from the store but told investigators that he believed he had purchased it legally from a former store manager."
Minority residents can’t use gentrification fears to block a California housing project, court rules
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Minority residents cannot use housing-discrimination laws to challenge development projects that may promote “gentrification,” attracting higher-income and more racially diverse residents and businesses to adjoining neighborhoods while also increasing rents and other living costs, a state appeals court said Thursday.
The case involved a Los Angeles developer’s longstanding proposal to demolish part of a shopping mall in the southern part of the city and build new stores and restaurants, a 400-unit hotel and housing — 551 condominium units and 410 apartment units, with 10% of the housing priced as affordable for low and moderate incomes.
Approved by the City Council in 2018, the project was then challenged by the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, residents of the nearby Leimert Park and Crenshaw Corridor
neighborhoods, where 80% to 90% of the population is Black or Latino. Their lawsuit said the development would lead to an “influx of new, more affluent residents,” raising local rents as well as property values, and eventually pushing lower-income minorities out of their neighborhoods, where they already spend half their income on rent."
Russians seize nuclear power plant amid heavy bombardment of Ukraine
LAT, NABIH BULOS and HENRY CHU: "Russian forces pressed their offensive against key Ukrainian cities Friday in a heavy bombing and shelling campaign that has led to an unfolding humanitarian disaster, spurred an astonishing exodus of people and raised fears of a wider calamity after Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant was set ablaze.
Authorities said Friday morning that local firefighters had extinguished the fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex in the southeastern city of Enerhodar and that there had been no release of radioactive material. The facility has been seized by Russian forces, officials said, but its local staff continues to operate the plant and is inspecting it for damage.
None of the site’s six reactors — only one of which was in use, at about 60% capacity — was damaged, said Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Geneva."