EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: "Al Muratsuchi, the new chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, is seeking to raise pay statewide for teachers and other school workers by 50% over the next seven years. To pay for it, he’s proposing to increase base funding under the Local Control Funding Formula, also by 50%, in legislation he introduced last week.
The California Federation of Teachers, the smaller of the two unions that represents teachers, is the sole sponsor of the bill. “We went to him (Muratsuchi) with the idea to address the staffing crisis, and he agreed,” said Jeff Freitas, CFT president.
“We’re all aware of the crisis,” said Muratsuchi, a Democrat from Torrance. “Numerous studies have found that young people don’t become teachers because of pay.”"
New contract would raise average L.A. teacher salary to $106,000 and lower class size
LA Times, HOWARD BLUME: "The Los Angeles school district and the teachers union have reached a tentative agreement that provides a 21% wage increase over about three years, raising the average teacher salary to $106,000 while averting the potential of a second strike this school year.
If approved by members of United Teachers Los Angeles, the salary for teachers would range from about $69,000 to $122,000. Teachers who take on extra work responsibilities could earn more, a boost aimed at addressing the high stress and high cost of living that many teachers say they are struggling with, especially since the pandemic.
Hard-to-staff positions such as nurses would see additional salary hikes."
One California Republican signed onto a brief supporting abortion pill ban
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Republicans may be trying to downplay abortion as an election year wedge issue, but more than half of House Republicans are asking the Supreme Court to allow a lower court ruling banning an abortion pill used by millions of patients to stand.
That included only one California House member: Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale (Butte County). House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Bakersfield Republican, did not sign the brief."
Mayor Karen Bass’ first budget: more cops, more hotel rooms for L.A.’s homeless population
LA Times, DAVID ZAHNISER, JULIA WICK, DAKOTA SMITH: "Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass released the first budget proposal of her administration on Tuesday, calling for more police and greater spending on homelessness, anti-gang programs and the city’s struggling animal shelters.
Bass renewed her call for the Los Angeles Police Department to increase its ranks by 400 officers, to about 9,500. She also revealed that her plan will rely on a key recruitment strategy: persuading 200 retired officers, many of whom left recently, to return for at least 12 months.
The mayor, speaking to reporters, said those retirees would “hit the ground running.” She predicted that her overall plan for rebuilding the LAPD — which has lost nearly 1,000 officers since 2019 — will face a skeptical response from some on the City Council, particularly those who have called for money to be shifted out of the LAPD and into other programs."
Mayor Breed opposes $50 million request to create S.F. reparations office
The Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: "Mayor London Breed opposes a $50 million funding request for a potential new City Hall office that would be in charge of implementing reparations for San Francisco’s Black community.
But Breed did not say Tuesday where she stood on any of the dozens of specific actions that a committee has recommended San Francisco take to make reparations a reality, including potential cash payments. Instead, Breed suggested she would have more to say after the committee’s recommendations are finalized this summer."
L.A. County warns of possible $3-billion hit to budget from sex abuse claims
LA Times, REBECCA ELLIS: "Los Angeles County officials revealed their $43-billion recommended budget for the upcoming fiscal year this week — a spending blueprint they promised would keep the region’s social safety net intact even as the county prepares to pay a steep price for how poorly officials have historically handled the jails and juvenile halls.
At a Tuesday Board of Supervisors meeting, Chief Executive Officer Fesia Davenport warned that the county may have to spend as much as $3 billion resolving claims of sexual abuse at its facilities.
“Beyond the traumatic personal impact on the survivors of abuse, these cases could have a profound impact on the county budget for decades to come,” Davenport said."
Al Sharpton calls on AG Garland to investigate Antioch police, protect mayor
The Chronicle, JORDAN PARKER: "Reverend Al Sharpton is urging U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the Antioch Police Department and provide protection for Mayor Lamar Thorpe after racist texts between officers suggested Thorpe be shot during a 2020 protest after the murder of George Floyd.
“The hood is off for these cops, and we have seen their true colors. When you have 17 members of the Antioch Police Department offering free dinner to whoever shoots the mayor, how can you expect any of them to honestly keep him, let alone anyone else, safe?,” Sharpton said in a statement. “I am respectfully asking Attorney General Garland to take over this situation, as we have seen these incidents galvanize those who wish to cause harm against Black elected officials.”"
Rising Stars: Jorge Reyes Salinas, Equality California
Capitol Weekly, LISA RENNER: "Jorge Reyes Salinas is a fearless advocate for undocumented residents and the LGBTQ+ community.
The 29-year-old gay immigrant from Peru has lobbied for the rights of both groups in Sacramento and shared the stories of those unable to speak up for themselves.
Now serving as the communications director for Equality California, an LGBTQ advocacy group, he said the toughest challenge is doing work that is so close to his heart. “It’s hard not to get emotional and not let emotions overpower the issues you work on,” he said."
Fox News-Dominion settlement doesn’t end crisis for Rupert Murdoch’s empire
LA Times, MEG JAMES: "Fox Corp. has settled the defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, but the company’s troubles are far from over.
Beyond the $787.5-million payout to end the Dominion case, Fox now must contend with a second defamation suit filed by a rival voting machine company, Smartmatic USA, which has demanded $2.7 billion.
And Fox investors also are lining up with their own lawsuits, alleging that Rupert Murdoch and other board members were derelict in their duties by allowing Fox News to promote election lies, which harmed the network’s reputation as a news organization."
FDA authorizes 2nd COVID booster for older adults
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a second COVID-19 booster dose for older Americans and individuals with weakened immune systems to enhance their protection this spring.
The move comes amid concerns over newer variants of the virus causing the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths to tick back up in the United States, particularly among vulnerable populations."
Do I need the new COVID-19 booster? Vaccines get an overhaul from FDA
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "With COVID-19 a fading worry, the Food and Drug Administration made significant changes Tuesday in its vaccine authorization, eliminating the original formula, shifting to favor a single dose of the updated shot and allowing new boosters for older and sicker people.
Dr. Peter Marks, who directs the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said the idea is to streamline COVID-19 vaccine guidance as the country transitions to managing the virus as an endemic or ever-present concern while spurring interest in the shots, particularly among those who are most vulnerable.
“COVID-19 continues to be a very real risk for many people,” Marks said in a statement. “The available data continue to demonstrate that vaccines prevent the most serious outcomes of COVID-19, which are severe illness, hospitalization, and death.”"
Netflix to end DVD-by-mail business. Execs explain ‘Love Is Blind’ snafu
LA Times, WENDY LEE: "Netflix’s DVD-by-mail service is coming to an end.
The company announced Tuesday that it is saying goodbye to its original business — mailing out DVDs in its signature red envelopes — after 25 years.
“Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members but as the business continues to shrink that’s going to become increasingly difficult,” Netflix co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos wrote in a blog post. “So we want to go out on a high, and will be shipping our final discs on September 29, 2023.”"
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN BARON: "A longtime Silicon Valley tech executive claims in a new lawsuit that a Mountain View financial-technology firm stole intellectual property from its San Francisco rival so easily that every startup should fear the same thing happening to them.
Scott Ellison of Palo Alto alleges in his lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was wrongfully fired from Mountain View firm Stampli after reporting to its CEO that a newly hired executive had misappropriated documents from his former employer — a competitor in San Francisco named Front — and had given the materials to Stampli along with live links providing access into Front’s internal systems.
“This to me is not just beyond wrong, it’s so brazen,” Ellison said in an interview."
S.F. real estate tech company lays off another 560 workers, on top of 550 cuts last year
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI: "Opendoor is laying off 560 employees or 22% of its workforce, its second round of cuts since November.
The online buyer and seller of homes, headquartered in San Francisco, has been hurt by rising mortgage rates and weakening pricing. The company reported a net loss of $1.4 billion in 2022, compared to a $662 million net loss in 2021."
'Toiletgate 2.0': $1.7 million now buys two toilets in S.F. instead of just one
The Chronicle, HEATHER KNIGHT: "San Francisco supervisors agreed Tuesday to accept $1.7 million in state money originally slated to pay for one public toilet that will now — after considerable backlash — pay for a whopping two toilets.
Despite the unanimous vote, several supervisors said they’re not sure city bureaucrats have wiped clean their propensity to inflate costs and wrap projects in pricey red tape — even after this column broke the news that a small, single stall toilet planned for the Noe Valley Town Square was projected to cost $1.7 million."
Elizabeth Holmes lays out her appeal, attacks ‘unjust conviction’ and ‘severe’ sentence
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN BARON: "Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ fight to get her jury’s verdict overturned or her prison sentence reduced for defrauding investors has officially entered its final chapter. The convicted felon late Monday filed an appeal document claiming her conviction was “unjust” and should be thrown out, or that she should be re-sentenced.
Holmes’ legal filing also revealed the massive scale of her appeal of her conviction on four counts of fraud, and her sentence of more than 11 years in prison. Her last-ditch bid for freedom or reduced prison time will be based on nearly 10,000 pages of transcripts from her four-month trial and more than 16,000 pages from other court records, according to the filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
In the filing, Holmes, 39, claimed that although federal prosecutors in her trial focused on the allegation that she intentionally misrepresented to investors the capabilities of Theranos’ technology, “the reality differed significantly” from that argument."
Business owners speak out against violent crime in Oakland’s Fruitvale district
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: "Frustrated business owners and residents in Oakland’s Fruitvale area this week urged city leaders to create a public-safety plan to increase security in the Fruitvale Transit Village and business corridors, where at least three separate shootings occurred in the last month.
About 50 residents and merchants gathered Monday evening at the Fruitvale-San Antonio Senior Center at a tense public-safety town hall with Mayor Sheng Thao; Council Member Noel Gallo, whose district includes Fruitvale; officials from the city’s Department of Violence Prevention; and law enforcement officers from the Oakland Police Department and BART.
The purpose of the meeting, hosted by the nonprofit Unity Council, was for community members to share their experiences with violent crime in the area, suggest solutions and demand more resources from the city. The nonprofit manages the Fruitvale Transit Village, a mixed-use development across from the Fruitvale BART station that includes apartments, offices and retail spaces."
Here’s how much soda sales dropped after Oakland imposed a tax on sugary drinks
The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO: "Purchases of soda and other sugary drinks dropped 27% in Oakland in the first 2½ years after the city adopted a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, according to a new study by UCSF researchers.
That decrease, which followed the launch of the tax in 2017, is expected to translate to improved health for Oakland residents over a 10-year period, and savings in health care spending by insurers, employers, individuals and public insurance plans, according to the study set for Tuesday publication in the medical journal PLOS Medicine. Those costs are related to a projected decline in six diseases linked to sugary beverages: obesity, coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, chronic kidney disease and dental disease."
This exclusive island town might be California’s biggest violator of affordable housing law
LA Times, LIAM DILLON: "Some live in Mexico, waking up at 3 a.m. to cross the border in time for an 8:30 a.m. shift. Others board multiple buses for hours-long commutes. Those with cars idle bumper to bumper along a two-mile, softly sloping bridge.
Not one of the nearly 200 housekeepers at the Hotel del Coronado, a sprawling beach resort with a storied history, lives in Coronado, according to the union representing them.
The city is arguably the most flagrant resister of a state affordable housing law designed to give housekeepers and others, from teachers to nurses, a chance at an apartment in places that would otherwise be out of their reach."
The Chronicle, J.K. DINEEN: "San Francisco’s famously lengthy and heated Planning Commission meetings may be about to get shorter — and a lot less contentious.
Taking aim at the conditional use approval process that requires housing developers — and their lawyers and lobbyists — to make frequent appearances before the Planning Commission, Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Joel Engardio on Tuesday introduced legislation that would cut out many of the hearings that tie up proposed development for months or years."
United adding nonstop flights from SFO to this city in big South Pacific expansion
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "Bay Area travelers hoping to visit the South Island of New Zealand will soon be able to fly there directly from San Francisco for the first time, according to United Airlines.
Starting Dec. 1, the airline, which has a hub at San Francisco International Airport, will offer what it says is the first direct flight between the U.S. and New Zealand’s South Island, departing from San Francisco for Christchurch three times weekly.
The airline will also be increasing its service from San Francisco to Australia, with daily flights to Brisbane, twice daily flights to Sydney, and larger aircraft flying to Melbourne starting Oct. 28. It is also adding a flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane starting in November."
Journalist seeks dismissal of lawsuit over photos of LAPD officers
LA Times, RICHARD WINTON: "Lawyers for a journalist sued by the city of Los Angeles over his role in the publication of photographs of undercover LAPD officers are seeking to have the case dismissed as unconstitutional and retaliatory.
The legal team for Ben Camacho, a reporter for Knock LA, filed a motion this week asking a judge to toss out the lawsuit filed earlier this month, in which city officials sought the return of the photos. The motion alleges the litigation is a so-called SLAPP lawsuit — an improper lawsuit used by public officials as a way to censor or intimidate someone from exercising their free speech.
“The City of Los Angeles’ lawsuit is a thinly veiled attempt to silence Mr. Camacho and other journalists who report on law enforcement,” attorney Dan Stormer said at a news conference Tuesday. “The real motives behind this lawsuit are to shield the Los Angeles Police Department from any measure of accountability and transparency.”"