Jury finds Trump liable for sexual abuse, awards accuser $5 million
AP, LARRY NEUMEISTER, JENNIFER PELTZ, MICHAEL R. SISAK: "A jury found Donald Trump liable Tuesday for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in a judgment that could haunt the former president as he campaigns to regain the White House.
The verdict was split: Jurors rejected Carroll’s allegation that she was raped, finding Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual assault. But the judgment adds to Trump’s legal woes and offers vindication to Carroll, whose allegations had been mocked and dismissed by Trump for years.
She nodded as the verdict was announced in a federal courtroom in New York City just a few hours after deliberations had begun, then hugged supporters and smiled through tears. As the courtroom cleared, Carroll could be heard laughing and crying."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein returns to D.C. after extended absence
LA Times, MELANIE MASON, BENJAMIN ORESKES, KWASI GYAMFI ASIEDU: "Sen. Dianne Feinstein flew back to Washington on Tuesday, her spokesman said, after her extended absence due to the shingles virus threatened to derail Senate Democrats’ agenda.
The senator’s absence caused mounting heartburn for the Democratic majority, which has few votes to spare to confirm President Biden’s Cabinet and judicial nominees, as well as potential legislation to avert a default on the national debt.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that after talking with Feinstein several times in recent weeks, “it’s clear she’s back where she wants to be and ready to deliver for California.”"
As Santos reportedly faces charges, bill to oust him gains support, California lawmaker says
LA Times, NOAH GOLDBERG: "Federal prosecutors reportedly filed criminal charges Tuesday against freshman GOP Rep. George Santos, a move that has reignited interest in a California Democrat’s resolution to expel him from Congress.
The charges were filed under seal, according to CNN, so it was not clear what crimes Santos is charged with committing. Questions raised about Santos (R-N.Y.) include whether he financed his campaign legally.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) said he’d heard from “numerous” House members Tuesday about his resolution to oust Santos. It has about 40 co-authors, with a few Republicans showing interest as well."
Could D.A. Brooke Jenkins’ earlier statements on Walgreens shooting case come back to haunt her?
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins says she may still file charges against a security guard who fatally shot an alleged shoplifter, despite declaring a week earlier that the guard had produced “credible evidence of reasonable self-defense.” So if Jenkins decides to prosecute Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony, could his lawyers introduce evidence that she had previously cleared him?
Maybe not. But they’ll certainly try.
While witnesses testifying at a trial can be “impeached,” or challenged, by an opposing lawyer based on contradictory statements they have made in the past, Jenkins “isn’t a witness to the crime,” noted Robert Weisberg, a Stanford University criminal law professor and co-director of the school’s Criminal Justice Center."
This university is the first in the Bay Area to unveil a free Narcan vending machine
BANG*Mercury News, SCOOTY NICKERSON: "As lawmakers in Sacramento debate solutions to the fentanyl crisis, public health students at Santa Clara University unveiled their own unique approach on Tuesday: a free on-campus vending machine that dispenses canisters of the opioid-overdose reversing medication Narcan to anyone who wants it.
It’s the first of its type on a Bay Area campus, with Stanford University expected to introduce one in a few weeks.
Students who helped lead the effort say its an important first step in addressing growing use of the powerful drug, which is blamed for one-in-five youth deaths statewide."
Health officials warn people against walking on these Martinez streets due to mercury contamination
The Chronicle, JULIE JOHNSON: "Martinez police Tuesday said they still don’t know how 1 pound of liquid mercury ended up near a public garbage can at the East Bay city’s new Amtrak train station.
Firefighters spotted a silvery puddle in the train station parking lot Monday afternoon and closed the station while the county’s hazmat team launched a cleanup. In addition to the police, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was also investigating the hazardous spill.
Mercury is the silvery liquid metal in some thermometers. The amount at the train station was more likely an industrial quantity, estimated at 1 pound or 1½ pounds, county health officials said."
California has money for school arts education, but not enough teachers
Capitol Weekly, LISA RENNER: "California’s public schools are getting a huge new infusion of funding for arts education starting this fall, but a teacher shortage and other factors may slow progress in offering classes to students.
While an estimated 15,000 new arts teachers are needed statewide, less than 5,000 are currently credentialed in music, dance, theater, visual arts and media arts, said Allison Gamlen, visual and performing arts coordinator for the San Mateo County Office of Education.
“It’s going to take some time to recruit and train teachers,” said Tom DeCaigny, executive director of Create California, an advocacy organization for arts education. “We’re all eager to see students have access to the arts and have a well-rounded education.”"
Calbright College launches first apprenticeship partnership
EdSource, ASHLEY A. SMITH: "For the first time since it opened, Calbright College isn’t facing an attempt to shut its doors – amid much criticism. In fact, the state’s online-only community college has launched its first apprenticeship partnership.
In April, the college announced that its first group of nine students would be placed in a yearlong paid tech apprenticeship in customer relationship management skills with Fresno-based Bitwise Industries, which bridges people from underserved communities to tech companies. It’s the first such apprenticeship offered by Calbright to its students, who tend to be older, working adults seeking certifications to help them move to higher-paying jobs.
Paige Davis, 36, who moved from Oklahoma to Sacramento in September, enrolled in Calbright in January to earn her customer relationship management certificate. Davis, one of the nine Bitwise apprentices, had her sights set on getting the apprenticeship as soon as she learned about the opportunity, she said."
In the shadow of the writers’ strike, Hollywood studios turn to directors for deal on pay
LA Times, ANOUSHA SAKOUI: "Hollywood’s fraught labor negotiations will enter a new and uncertain phase on Wednesday as the major studios begin negotiations with the Directors Guild of America while striking writers continue to stage protests nationwide.
In years past, the studios have turned to the DGA — which has gone on strike just once (for a few minutes) and has a history of settling contracts quickly and peacefully — to craft an agreement that could serve as a framework for other unions, including the Writers Guild of America, whose members are now in their second week of a walkout.
Such a scenario played out in January of 2008, when the DGA reached a deal with the studios over internet compensation that laid the groundwork for a rapprochement with writers that ended their 100-day strike."
What comes next for S.F.’s emptying downtown? Here’s the inconvenient truth
The Chronicle, JOHN KING: "Turn back the clock to early 2021, when vaccines to contain COVID were reducing the palpable danger of being among other people, and it was reasonable to expect that the “new normal” would look pretty much like what came before.
San Francisco’s Union Square shows how naive such hopes were. The question is what comes next. And, honestly, it’s hard to think that anyone really knows what that answer will be."
18-year-old dies of overdose in L.A. County juvenile hall, as state suggests shutdown
LA Times, JAMES QUEALLY: "A state oversight agency issued a report Tuesday calling for Los Angeles County’s juvenile halls to be shuttered in the wake of a staffing crisis and reports of increased violence and drug use, just hours after an 18-year-old was found dead of an apparent overdose in one of the deteriorating facilities.
The young man was found unresponsive in his room at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, according to a statement issued late Tuesday morning by the L.A. County Probation Department. Staff deployed Narcan, a nasal spray that can reverse an opioid overdose, but he could not be revived and was pronounced dead a short time later.
The victim’s identity was not immediately released, and the department did not comment further on the cause of death or the type of drug that caused the overdose. He lived in the Secure Youth Treatment Facility, where those accused of serious and violent crimes are housed, according to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the Probation Department. The young man was convicted of attempted murder and transferred to SYTF just six weeks ago, several of the sources said."