Much of California could see snow this week, possibly in Santa Monica Mountains
LA Times, GRACE TOOHEY/ALEXANDRA E. PETRI: "A powerful storm is expected to sweep across California this week, bringing cold temperatures, cutting winds and snowfall at remarkably low elevations nearly statewide.
“This is shaping up to be a very unusual event,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a virtual briefing Tuesday morning. “We are going to see low-[elevation] snow all the way from the Oregon border to the Mexican border — it’s just a question of how low.”
Though snow is not expected to accumulate in major cities, hills near the San Francisco Bay Area and the high desert around Los Angeles could see snow by Wednesday or Thursday, at elevations that don’t typically see much, if any, Swain said."
Bay Area set to see very unusual snow event. Will San Francisco see flakes?
The Chronicle, GERRY DIAZ/JACK LEE: "An unusual burst of winter weather is on tap for California later this week as two powerful back-to-back storms drop strong winds and a wintry mix of rain and snow along the entire length of the state. This includes the chance for brief snow showers in parts of San Francisco and Oakland by Thursday morning.
“Just about everybody who lives in California will probably be able to see snow, at least in the nearby hills,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and the Nature Conservancy, during an online presentation on Tuesday morning."
Court refuses to halt Trump era rule limiting states’ abilities to regulate water pollution
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "A federal appeals court refused Tuesday to halt a Trump administration rule that barred states from enforcing stricter standards than the U.S. government on pollution of waterways by pipelines and other industrial projects, rejecting arguments by California, other states and environmental groups.
For decades, the federal government had allowed states that were considering permits for pipelines, power plants and other industrial construction near navigable waters to enforce tougher restrictions than federal standards, including limits on runoff from agriculture and other wastes and a project’s impact on air quality and climate change. But in July 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency under President Donald Trump ordered states to apply only the more limited federal standards on water quality."
L.A. promised to stop wasting so much stormwater. But progress has been painfully slow
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: "Only weeks ago, Angelenos watched as trillions of gallons of precious stormwater poured into the region’s concrete waterways, slid down slick pavement and washed out to sea. After so many months of drought-related water restrictions, it seemed to many like a missed opportunity.
While officials say they’re making progress when it comes to capturing more of the county’s stormwater, a new report from watchdog group Los Angeles Waterkeeper has focused on the plan’s sluggish progress so far, and calls for improved metrics and a more proactive approach, among other recommendations.
The Safe Clean Water Program — passed by Los Angeles County voters in 2018 as Measure W — allocates $280 million annually to projects aimed at capturing and cleaning stormwater when it falls. That includes reducing the amount of asphalt and hardscape that now prevents water from percolating into the earth."
Rain, near-freezing temps will return to Sacramento — with possible snow in the foothills
Sacramento Bee, JACQUELINE PINEDO: "Time to get your umbrella back out — rain is in Sacramento’s forecast this week.
Showers are predicted to start Wednesday and continue through the week, bringing near-freezing temperatures to the region.
“From (Tuesday) to (Wednesday) there will be about a 10 degree temperature drop during the day, then another five to 10 degrees on Thursday,” said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “...high temperatures will be in the 40s for Thursday and Friday with low temperatures right around freezing.”"
Lots of snow, and very low: Here’s what to expect for this week’s storm in California
Sacramento Bee, MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "A major winter storm is sweeping through wide swaths of the U.S. this week, including Northern California, where forecasts show feet of snow piling onto the mountains and several inches or more dropping at lower elevations, including the foothills and possibly even some portions of the Sacramento Valley.
Up to 3 feet of snow is expected at elevations between 3,000 feet and 5,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada range, according to the National Weather Service, with up to 2 feet of snow between 1,500 feet and 3,000 feet. Anywhere from 2 to 8 inches could fall between 1,000 feet and 1,500 feet.
That means significant snowfall is possible in the foothills just east of Sacramento."
High winds topple tree on Bay Bridge as PG&E prepares for next Bay Area storm
BANG*Mercury News, AUSTIN TURNER/RICK HURD/JASON GREEN: "Before the Bay Area could get excited about the possibility of snow on local peaks with a storm expected to land later in the week, strong winds Tuesday pushed public agencies and the region’s major power provider to prepare for major challenges.
National Weather Service meteorologist Brayden Murdock said the first indicators of the system arrived Tuesday, with a not-so-subtle increase in the winds. Gusts were forecast to increase from 20 to 40 mph on Tuesday."
Rising Stars: Shubhangi Domokos, California Labor Federation
Capitol Weekly, LISA RENNER: "In just a few years out of college, Shubhangi Domokos became a chief of staff for first, a state assemblymember and then one of the largest labor federations in the country.
Domokos, 28, said she never planned her career to work out this way. “All I knew was I wanted to be an anti-poverty advocate,” she said.
Her life moved into high gear in 2018 when she was hired as a legislative aide by Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, who was then an assemblymember representing southern San Diego. Gonzalez Fletcher ended up promoting her to chief of staff in 2020 and then bringing her along in the same post to the California Labor Federation last year when Fletcher became executive secretary-treasurer."
East Bay Rep. Barbara Lee officially announces bid for California Senate seat
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "East Bay Rep. Barbara Lee on Monday formally entered the race to succeed Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Senate, shaking up a field of Democratic contenders vying for the powerful seat the retiring incumbent has held for 30 years.
The two other Democratic contestants, Reps. Katie Porter of Irvine and Adam Schiff of Los Angeles, are rising stars in the party. But Lee — the first candidate from Northern California and the highest-ranking Black woman appointed to House Democratic leadership — has built up a solid resume as a progressive voice in Congress over her quarter century in Congress.
“She’s deeply respected in California politics,” said University of California-San Diego political science professor Thad Kousser. “Her progressive credentials can’t be challenged.”"
Rewarding incompetence? Why Kevin Kiley is fighting against Julie Su as U.S. labor secretary
Sacramento Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Rep. Kevin Kiley is leading the fight to persuade President Joe Biden not to name California’s Julie Su as the next U.S. Secretary of Labor, and warns Gov. Gavin Newsom is quietly pushing her candidacy so he can gain more power in Washington.
Kiley, R-Rocklin, has moved on two fronts in his effort to deny Su, whose nomination for the job has been pushed by Asian American activists.
On Friday he and six other California Republican congressmen sent Biden a letter opposing her."
Californians, brace for another bill increase: your car insurance
LA Times, RONALD D. WHITE: "Some California drivers will be getting a nasty surprise when they open their car insurance bills this year.
That’s because California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara approved some big rate hikes in the last six months, ending a long COVID break after insurance companies complained they were losing money and cutting back in the nation’s largest vehicle market. Higher rates for Geico, Mercury and others are just now showing up in insurance renewal letters that customers receive.
And more increases are in the pipeline, consumer advocates say, even as some insurers have yet to refund customers for premium overcharges during the early months of the pandemic when people were driving less and getting into fewer accidents."
Supreme Court sounds wary of weakening Section 230 to allow lawsuits against internet giants
LA Times, DAVID G. SAVAGE: "Several Supreme Court justices said Tuesday they were wary of allowing lawsuits against YouTube and other social media firms over algorithms they use to direct users to related content — even if that encourages terrorists or promotes illegal conduct.
The justices had agreed for the first time to hear a challenge to Section 230, the federal law that shields websites from being sued over content posted by others. That set off alarms at Big Tech firms.
But during Tuesday’s arguments, Justices Elena Kagan and Brett M. Kavanaugh said Congress, not the court, should decide whether to change the law."
Supreme Court upholds California’s $302M penalty against Johnson & Johnson over pelvic mesh implants
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an appeal by Johnson & Johnson of a ruling requiring the company to pay $302 million in penalties to California for deceptive marketing of pelvic mesh implants that can cause serious vaginal pain and physical damage.
Pelvic mesh is inserted surgically in women to treat two conditions. One is stress urinary incontinence or bladder leakage during actions such as coughing, sneezing or exercising. The other is organ prolapse, the collapse of pelvic organs into the vagina, causing pain and pressure in urinary and bowel movements and sexual intercourse."
COVID in California: Even 1 shot can lower heart attack, stroke risks, study says
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "The latest figures from the CDC show the continued rise of the XBB.1.5 subvariant but national COVID trends are mostly flat. The number of U.S. counties classified as having “high” community COVID levels is less than 3% as of Friday. Millions of Americans who have had the bivalent booster shot are waiting for guidance from the CDC on when to get their next dose, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study. More protection might be a good thing, according to a Swiss study that found death rates 54% higher among patients hospitalized for COVID than for those with influenza."
Sacramento County’s COVID community risk rises. Here’s the latest on masks and cases
Sacramento Bee, HANH TRUONG: "In a span of a month, Sacramento County’s COVID-19 community level rose from “low” to “medium,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At the start of February, the county’s mask mandates rolled back at shelters and prisons, as the risk level hit low for the first time since November.
The community level is back to medium, as of Feb. 21."
Key lawmaker endorses transfer admissions guarantee across University of California
EdSource, MICHAEL BURKE: "Akey California lawmaker on Tuesday endorsed creating a new admission guarantee program at the University of California for community college transfer students.
Currently, six of UC’s nine undergraduate campuses offer transfer admission guarantees to students in select majors who meet specific requirements. But unlike the 23-campus California State University, where community college students can get a guaranteed spot through the Associate Degree for Transfer program by meeting certain criteria, UC does not offer a systemwide, streamlined guarantee program. Proponents of a systemwide guarantee at UC say it’s necessary to simplify the process because currently, only a small fraction of students who intend to transfer are successful.
Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, said Tuesday that it’s “way too hard for community college students” to transfer to UC and suggested that UC follow CSU’s lead and participate in the ADT."
Conflict brews over governor’s student transfer guarantee plan for ultracompetitive UCLA
LA Times, TERESA WATANABE: "For thousands of community college students who vie each year to transfer to ultracompetitive UCLA, it sounds like a dream: Complete required coursework, meet a specified grade-point average and earn guaranteed admission to the most popular university in the nation.
That’s what Gov. Gavin Newsom directed UCLA to do in his proposed budget last month — or risk losing $20 million in state funding. Newsom, along with legislators and many equity advocates, have been pushing the University of California to simplify its transfer process and widen entry to more state students, especially at UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, the system’s three most selective campuses.
Newsom’s proposal blindsided UCLA and set off a scramble to understand the governor’s intent. Neither Newsom’s office nor the state Department of Finance responded to a request for comment about the directive, which lacked details such as admission targets. At a state Assembly hearing Tuesday, Jack Zwald of the finance department said the proposal was intended to “increase access and equity” for transfer students at UCLA."
He’s bold, camera ready and loves Twitter, but has L.A.’s schools chief uplifted students?
LA Times, HOWARD BLUME: "Exhilarated, he proclaimed “I love LAUSD” in sign language during a 125-mph skydive in a Twitter video. He posed on horseback in Topanga Canyon because connecting with nature is “indispensable to the holistic education of our students.” He has stood alongside Dr. Dre, George Clooney, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore and Mayor Karen Bass. He has also been seen alongside first-graders, holding their hands, and with high schoolers, demonstrating how to extract DNA from a strawberry.
Los Angeles Unified Supt. Alberto Carvalho has curated a camera-ready persona and omnipresent social media profile as he completes his first year in charge of the nation’s second-largest school district, presenting a high-voltage style and bold agenda that evokes both applause and a few eye rolls.
Although it’s too soon to gauge progress, supporters are optimistic that Carvalho’s dizzying array of initiatives will begin to raise achievement for some 423,000 students following the brutal pandemic years. Since arriving from Miami-Dade, a district he led for some 13 years, Carvalho has earned generally high marks from education and community leaders and some advocacy organizations and retains strong school board support."
Google village real estate development partner Lendlease trims staff
BANG*Mercury News, GEORGE AVALOS: "Google’s principal real estate partner for several new Bay Area neighborhoods — including a downtown San Jose transit village whose development timing is being reassessed — has trimmed its staff levels.
Australia-based Lendlease has confirmed that it has restructured and trimmed staff in the wake of Google’s disclosures of 12,000 layoffs that include 1,600 job cuts in the Bay Area, as well as a reassessment by the search giant of the timeline for its future mixed-use neighborhood near the Diridon train station and SAP Center in downtown San Jose.
“In order to align our resources to the market, we are in the process of reorganizing, including reductions to our Google Development Ventures business,” a Lendlease spokesperson said in comments the global real estate development and services company emailed to this news organization."
Here are Mayor Breed’s picks for S.F.’s new homelessness department oversight board
The Chronicle, TRISHA THADANI: "Mayor London Breed announced her nominees Tuesday to San Francisco’s new commission to oversee the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH), an agency with a $600 million budget that has for years operated without any formal oversight or accountability.
Voters approved a November ballot measure to create the homelessness oversight commission, proposed by Supervisor Ahsha Safaí in direct response to a yearlong Chronicle investigation that exposed squalid conditions within HSH’s housing for San Francisco’s most vulnerable residents."
S.F.’s iconic Ferry Building is about to go under wraps. Here’s why
The Chronicle, JOHN KING: "If you’re an old-school San Franciscan who relies on the Ferry Building’s iconic clock tower to check the time of day, bad news.
The large clocks that adorn each side of the shaft are hidden behind scaffolding, a metal frame with wooden planking that continues to rise. As if that’s not dramatic enough, the scaffold itself will soon be draped in netting that could shroud the tower of the waterfront landmark until fall."
Mexico’s former drug czar found guilty of taking payoffs to protect cartels
AP, PATRICK J. MCDONNELL/CECILIA SANCHEZ: "Mexico’s former top law enforcement official — once tasked with fighting the country’s drug cartels — was convicted in New York on Tuesday of taking millions of dollars in bribes from traffickers.
Genaro García Luna, who headed Mexico’s federal police before serving as the nation’s secretary of public security more than a decade ago, was found guilty of cooperating with the Sinaloa cartel, which at the time was run by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.
García Luna, 54, is the highest-ranking current or former Mexican official ever to be tried in the United States. He faces a prison term of 20 years to life."