A wet California boosts water allocations to 100% for first time in nearly 20 years
LA Times, GRACE TOOHEY: "For the first time since 2006, California officials have increased allocations from the vital State Water Project to 100% of requested supplies, as reservoirs across the state are nearing capacity and an epic snowpack has yet to melt.
An unusually wet winter brought unprecedented snowfall and a succession of heavy rainstorms, pulling much of the state out of a punishing years-long drought and transforming the year’s water outlook.
“It’s the biggest allocation in quite a few years now and it reflects a very, very wet year,” said Jay Lund, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis. “Even in pretty wet years, we haven’t gotten to 100% allocations.”"
What’s at stake in California with Friday’s Supreme Court decision on abortion pills?
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide Friday whether to allow lower courts’ restrictions on a medication abortion pill to take effect while legal challenges to its approval more than two decades ago play out.
So what would that mean for California, a state where two out of three voters in November approved a state constitutional amendment declaring abortion a right and where Gov. Gavin Newsom has championed abortion access?"
Lawmakers attempt crackdown on hidden fees
CALMatters, GRACE GEDYE: "If you want to visit the Great Wolf Lodge in Manteca, there’s the price you’ll see when you first search for a room — and then there are add-ons and fees you’ll discover as you click through the booking process.
When Leslie Harvey took her kids to the hotel and water park last November, she paid a “resort fee” of $39.99 per day on top of the rate for the room. That fee doesn’t cover water park passes, which are included in the cost of the room, according to the Great Wolf Lodge’s website; it covers “amenities” including life jackets, towels, Wi-Fi, and the coffee makers and mini fridges in rooms.
The fee “provides for amenities and services that enhance the guest experience, and are very much in line with guests’ expectations when visiting a family resort destination,” wrote Jason Lasecki, vice president of corporate communications for Great Wolf Resorts. “Great Wolf Lodge fully discloses room rates and any fees to our guests throughout the booking process… and in the final estimate before customers complete their reservations,” and it requires third parties to inform customers about mandatory fees. When CalMatters went through the booking process for the Great Wolf Lodge in Manteca, the resort fee only became apparent after selecting dates, choosing a room, making a decision about late check out, and clicking through options to add activities and dining credits."
Bill banning police dogs in arrests and crowd control gets next test
Capitol Weekly, BRIAN JOSEPH: "A proposal to outlaw a horrific symbol of the Civil Rights Movement continues to make steady progress through the Assembly.
Assembly Bill 742 by Assemblyman Dr. Corey Jackson, D-Riverside, would outlaw the use of police dogs for arrests or crowd control. The bill, which would not ban the use of police K-9s for search and rescue or narcotics or explosive detection, is explicitly intended to address law enforcement’s long-standing use of dogs on people of color.
Section 1 of the bill states, “The use of police canines has been a mainstay in this country’s dehumanizing, cruel, and violent abuse of Black Americans and people of color for centuries. First used by slave catchers, police canines are a violent carry-over from America’s dark past. In recent decades, they have been used in brutal attempts to quell the Civil Rights Movement, the LA Race Riots, and in response to Black Lives Matter protests. The use of police canines make people fear and further distrust the police, resulting in less safety and security for all, especially for communities of color.”"
New coronavirus subvariant Arcturus is now in L.A. Is there reason to worry?
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II, LUKE MONEY: "Los Angeles County has identified its first cases of an emerging Omicron coronavirus subvariant dubbed Arcturus, a strain global health authorities are watching closely as it has been linked to an upswing in cases in India.
Officially designated XBB.1.16, the subvariant also has attracted attention after anecdotal reports linking it to what has been a rare COVID-19 symptom: pink eye.
However, it remains unclear whether this symptom is more pronounced in Arcturus than earlier Omicron strains. The latest subvariant has not been shown to cause more severe illness."
COVID-19 outbreak hits large Bay Area hospital, prompting new mask rules
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Physicians and staff at one of the Bay Area's largest hospitals are required to mask up again following a sizable COVID-19 outbreak.
Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center has reinstated a temporary mask mandate after more than a dozen hospital workers and patients at the medical center tested positive for the coronavirus this week, officials confirmed."
Legislators step in as trust erodes between community colleges, California State University
CALMatters, ADAM ECHELMAN: "As two California higher education systems continue to feud, lawmakers have entered the equation using a route usually reserved for irate retirees: A strongly worded letter.
The matter at hand — the 1,300-student Feather River College in rural Plumas County offering a bachelor’s degree in applied fire management — has become a lightning rod issue, sparking delays and anger on both sides.
“I was quite frankly shocked and disheartened,” said California State
University Interim Chancellor Jolene Koester at a trustees’ meeting, claiming that the community college system had “acted unilaterally” and out of accordance with the law by approving the bachelor’s degree program at Feather River."
Exclusive: Nima Momeni cited in domestic battery case before Bob Lee stabbing
The Chronicle, MATTHIAS GAFNI: "Nima Momeni, the man accused of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee in downtown San Francisco, was cited on suspicion of battering a woman at his Emeryville loft last summer, records show.
Emeryville police cited and released Momeni on Aug. 1, alleging misdemeanor battery, after a woman reported she was attacked by him and needed help at his loft on the 4000 block of Harlan Street, according to the records, which The Chronicle obtained through a public records request."
Judge rejects L.A. County’s revamped homeless settlement
LA Times, REBECCA ELLIS: "A frustrated federal judge once again refused to sign off on an agreement that would have ended a long-running lawsuit over the government response to the homeless crisis, criticizing Los Angeles County officials for bringing him a settlement he felt the court had no way to enforce.
It was the second time in recent months county leaders have appeared in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge David O. Carter with an agreement they hoped would put to rest a years-long legal battle with the Los Angeles Alliance for Human Rights, a coalition of downtown residents and business groups that sued the city and county at the start of the pandemic arguing they had failed the region’s homeless population.
And it’s the second time in recent months Carter has said it’s not good enough."
‘Rust’ prosecutors drop charges against Alec Baldwin after questions over gun misfire
LA Times, MEG JAMES, ANOUSHA SAKOUI: "New Mexico prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against actor Alec Baldwin in the deadly “Rust” shooting, a dramatic reversal after numerous missteps by prosecutors.
The development came after prosecutors received new information in the case — that Baldwin’s prop gun had been modified before being delivered to the low-budget western in October 2021, according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment.
The replica of the vintage weapon — a Colt .45 revolver — had been modified , increasing the odds that the gun might have misfired, as Baldwin has said, according to the sources."
Lawsuit accuses Antioch police of ‘culture of intolerance’ after racist texting scandal
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "The city of Antioch, shaken by disclosures that its police officers exchanged racist and homophobic messages about its residents for years, now faces a damage suit from four people who say they were abused by police and a fifth who says his father was unarmed when an officer shot him to death. Antioch police are accused in the lawsuit of abusing residents through a “culture of intolerance” aided by city officials’ “deliberate indifference.”
The “culture of intolerance” in the Antioch Police Department “is rooted in the deliberate indifference of high ranking city officials, who have routinely acquiesced in the misconduct,” attorney John Burris said in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court."
Home prices are rising again in two Bay Area counties. Is it a sign of wider rebound?
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA, ADRIANA REZAL: "After eight consecutive months of declining home values in each of the Bay Area’s nine counties, data shows that decreases are beginning to soften, and two counties even saw growth in March — indicating that the region’s real estate market might heat back up through the spring, experts said.
According to data from listings website Zillow, while home values in all of the 100 biggest Bay Area municipalities or Census-defined places are lower than they were both a year ago and six months ago, decreases from month to month are starting to shrink and for some are even reversing, which experts say is a sign of recovery."
Major sargassum seaweed invasion in Playa Del Carmen triggers severe level 7 warning
Sac Bee, EVIE BLANCO: "Travelers’ beach experiences are constantly being disrupted by sargassum seaweed. It definitely makes swimming uncomfortable and detracts from a beach’s aesthetic appeal.
According to the most recent bulletin from the Mexican Secretariat of the Navy (Semar), Playa del Carmen is once more observing an upsurge in the influx of sargassum, which has placed the Mexican Caribbean on alert level 7, meaning that it is indeed overly abundant.
“The sargassum accumulates in less than 24 hours in mounds 70 to 90 centimeters high,” Semar said, covering almost the entire beach area and making it impossible to move on foot or with machines.”"
BANG*Mercury News, GRACE HASE: "The numbers are in, and Santa Clara County officials expect it will cost $15.4 million to repair the roads damaged during the recent winter storms that drenched the Bay Area the last several months.
The estimate has more than doubled since Feb. 7 — the last time the county’s roads and airports department gave a status report on the situation. At the time, county officials said there were 10 damaged sites that would cost $7.3 million to repair from the December and January storms. Two roads, Mines and Bear Creek roads, also were closed.
Since then, an additional 10 sites have been identified as needing repairs, and three additional roads, Aldercroft Heights and Clayton roads and Old Santa Cruz Highway have closed. Mines Road, which was washed out completely and is now a gravel road awaiting to be paved, reopened on Feb. 17."
Mexico’s president says the U.S. is suffering from moral decay. He offers some advice
LA Times, PATRICK J. MCDONNELL: "Mexico’s leader has some advice for the United States.
Take better care of your kids. Try more hugs.
Cut down on the drugs and guns."