Ninth Circuit upholds immigration law deemed unconstitutional, discriminatory by federal judge
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "A longtime federal law that makes it a crime to re-enter the United States after deportation was declared unconstitutional in 2021 by a federal judge, who said it was based on discrimination against Mexicans and other Latin Americans. But a federal appeals court ruled Monday that the law, regardless of its impact, was not motivated by bias.
Although nearly everyone prosecuted for illegal re-entry is from Mexico or Central or South America, “disproportionate impact on an identifiable group is generally not adequate to show a discriminatory motive,” said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in a 3-0 ruling."
California foie gras ban will remain in place after Supreme Court rejects challenge
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "The Supreme Court rejected a poultry industry challenge Monday to California’s ban on foie gras, a gourmet food produced by force-feeding ducks and geese.
Foie gras is made from duck and goose livers that are enlarged by forcibly feeding the birds through tubes. California’s ban on production and sales of foie gras within the state, enacted in 2012, was backed by the Humane Society and allied groups but has been challenged since it took effect by industry groups. They argue that it conflicts with federal law, which regulates the production of foie gras but does not prohibit it.
That argument was rejected last year by a conservative panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which said the state was entitled to require humane treatment of animals within its borders."
California has $200 million left from its inflation relief plan. Where will the money go?
Sac Bee, BRIANNA TAYLOR: "California will pocket millions from un-issued Middle Class Tax Refunds to balance its budget shortfall.
In a live presentation of the state’s budget plan on May 12, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said one of the solutions to balance the budget’s roughly $32 billion deficit is to “pull back” $1.1 billion in unspent one-time funds including the tax refunds.
“No one who was eligible was shorted,” said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman with the California Department of Finance."
Room rate was $249, but didn’t mention $90 in fees. California bill aims to stop that
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "Ted Mermin booked a hotel room for his family of four, advertised online at a reasonable-sounding $249 a night. But when they checked out, they were told there was an additional $50 “resort fee” plus a $40 charge for “incidentals.”
There wasn’t a “resort” at the place, and the hotel couldn’t tell Mermin what the “incidentals” fee covered, though he noted it wasn’t the empty soap and shampoo dispensers. As executive director of the California Low-Income Consumer Coalition, he pushed back, and the proprietor waived the additional fees. But Mermin cited it to explain why his organization backs a California bill aiming to outlaw hidden or “junk” fees.
“In my case it’s an inconvenience,” said Mermin, who would not identify the hotel or its location. “But for many Californians, hidden fees like this are the difference between whether a person can make it through the month and pay for the necessities of life. That’s not the way we should be operating.”"
The State of Black Health; Plus, Worst Week: Suspense File Edition (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "Got a two-fer this week: First we speak with Rhonda Smith, the Executive Director of the California Black Health Network. Smith weighs in on the state of Black health in California, including a look at how the Fentanyl crisis is impacting the Black community.
Next up, we bring you an expanded “Suspense File” edition of our Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics feature. We were joined by Mackenzie Mays, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, who covered last week’s Suspense drama in real time and offered a closeup view of some of the bills that failed to make it out of Appropriations."
LA Times, LOUIS SAHAGUN: "It didn’t take long for a team of highway archaeologists to mark their first find while searching for buried human remains on an aging stretch of U.S. Highway 395 that cuts along the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada range.
That alone was enough to concern local tribal leaders, but they went on to hit more bones missed by earlier archaeological surveys required to start construction of a $69.7-million Caltrans project to convert 12.6 miles of 395 from a two-lane road to a safer four-lane expressway.
State and federal laws prohibit public disclosure of information related to the locations of Native American cultural places to reduce their vulnerability to various types of theft, including grave robbing. But as of last week, tribal leaders say, more than 30 tangled human skeletons had been unearthed at the site near the Inyo County community of Cartago, many of them adorned with artifacts: glass beads, abalone shells and arrowheads."
Colorado River deal: What does it mean for California?
CALMatters, ALASTAIR BLAND: "After nearly a year of intense negotiations, California, Nevada and Arizona reached a historic agreement today to use less water from the overdrafted Colorado River over the next three years.
The states agreed to give up 3 million acre-feet of river water through 2026 — about 13% of the amount it receives. In exchange, farmers and other water users will receive compensation from the federal government.
The Biden administration has been pushing the states since last spring to reach an agreement to cut back on Colorado River water deliveries. The three-state deal is a historic step — but it is not final: The U.S. Interior Department must review the proposal. And everything will have to be renegotiated before the end of 2026."
Is landmark deal over the Colorado River enough to stave off disaster?
LA Times, IAN JAMES: "The groundbreaking deal announced Monday to cut water use from the Colorado River comes after months of negotiations.
But is it enough to deal with the drought crisis on the Colorado?
Here is what we know:"
California’s once-dead Tulare Lake is nearly as large as Lake Tahoe
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "Tulare Lake, the historical lake that surprisingly reemerged in the San Joaquin Valley with this year’s wet weather, could grow to a peak of 182 square miles next week, nearly the size of Lake Tahoe.
Even so, the new state flood projections released on Monday don’t call for the worst-case scenarios that had anticipated the lake getting much bigger, inundating more fields of cotton, tomatoes and pistachios as well as the Kings County city of Corcoran."
Huge Santa Clara County dam project dealt another setback
BANG*Mercury News, PAUL ROGERS: "In the latest stumble for plans to build a massive $2.8 billion dam in Southern Santa Clara County near Pacheco Pass, a judge has ruled that the Santa Clara Valley Water District violated state environmental laws over the dam’s preliminary geological work.
The ruling could lead to further delays in the proposal to construct the largest new dam in the Bay Area since Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County was built in 1998.
The district, based in San Jose, wants to build a 320-foot-high earthen dam on the North Fork of Pacheco Creek in the rugged canyons about 2 miles north of Highway 152 near the border of Henry W. Coe State Park."
A plant smaller than a penny is rediscovered on a Lompoc military base. Here’s why we should care
LA Times, NATHAN SOLIS: "Researchers have rediscovered a California plant species that remained elusive for years because it’s so small that five can fit on the face of a penny.
Thousands of Santa Ynez groundstars — with their clusters of furry, white, spoon-shaped leaves — were found at the Vandenberg Space Force Base near Lompoc in Santa Barbara County, the only place on Earth the species is known to exist.
“It really is currently only known from this one very small location,” Kristen Nelson, rare plant program manager with the California Native Plant Society, said in an interview Monday."
There's a big environmental downside to lab-grown meat, UC Davis study finds
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "The cultured meat industry, which has deep roots in the Bay Area and began with the promise of solving environmental pitfalls in meat production, is probably 25 times more energy intensive than traditional beef in its current form, a new UC Davis study has found. And even when production becomes more widespread, the authors have doubts about its potential climate benefits.
“It's not a given that it's going to be a totally different environmental impact than beef,” said Edward Spang, co-author of the study, which is not yet published or peer reviewed, and associate professor of Food Science and Technology at UC Davis.
Cultured meat, also called cultivated or lab-grown meat, is produced in bioreactors with real animal cells but does not require animal slaughter. The main reason it’s energy intensive is that the nutrients and other ingredients required to feed the cells need to be highly purified, a process that is closer to pharmaceutical-grade rather than food-grade production, though companies are working on changing that, said Spang."
LAUSD shakes up a highly praised academic initiative, angering parents and teachers
LA Times, HOWARD BLUME: "A Los Angeles public school program that officials portrayed as a major success for helping struggling young students improve academically is being substantially dismantled by Supt. Alberto Carvalho, who says it’s too costly and not particularly effective.
The abrupt and unannounced change of direction to Primary Promise, which was launched in 2020, has angered many parents and teachers who viewed the effort as transformative in raising achievement in reading and math for students in kindergarten through third grade. Supporters are campaigning to save the program, which provided individually tailored reading and math instruction in small groups.
Using his authority as Los Angeles Unified superintendent, without a public discussion or action by the Board of Education, Carvalho has sharply reduced the budget for services provided by Primary Promise. The program served students at 305 of the district’s 450 elementary schools this year. Next year, the budget will cover 168 schools, according to preliminary numbers. Those remaining schools are considered to have the greatest need."
UC disability services understaffed, students say
CALMatters, MEGAN TAGAMI: "When Cyn Gomez arrived on UC Berkeley’s campus as a second-year student in fall 2022, they realized they’d taken the benefits of online learning for granted. Their depression and anxiety, in addition to their learning disabilities, made the transition to in-person classes difficult. So they turned to the university’s Disabled Students’ Program, seeking accommodations that would excuse some class absences and provide them access to recorded lectures.
But it took Gomez almost three weeks to schedule and undergo an intake appointment with a disability specialist. By the time the office had approved Gomez’s accommodations, the first two months of their sophomore year had already gone by.
The experience left them discouraged and reluctant to recommend the Disabled Students’ Program to other students dealing with similar challenges."
EdSource, MICHAEL BURKE: "Without significant changes to the transfer process, California’s community college system will struggle to meet its own goals for transferring students to the state’s public universities, the system’s interim chancellor said Monday.
Interim Chancellor Daisy Gonzales told the system’s board of governors that in 2022, the number of California community college students earning an associate degree for transfer declined by about 4,600 students.
That may be partly because of a drop in enrollment at the community colleges since the onset of the pandemic. But the system is far short of its goal, set in 2017, to increase the number of students transferring to the University of California and California State University by 35% over five years. Transfers have only increased by about 14% since then."
Semiconductor manufacturer to invest $4B for new facility in California
The Hill, ALEX GANGITANO: "Semiconductor manufacturing company Applied Materials will invest up to $4 billion in new research and a new facility in California for chipmaking, the White House announced Monday.
Applied Materials will establish the EPIC Center for development with the goal to design the next generation of tools for semiconductor manufacturing, including in collaboration with leading chipmakers who will ultimately use those tools in their factories, according to senior administration officials.
Vice President Harris is set to visit Applied Materials in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Monday for the announcement and will deliver remarks. She also will meet with executives from major semiconductor manufacturing, design and supply chain companies and plans to encourage them to invest in America, officials said."
Kamala Harris visits Silicon Valley to highlight huge new Applied Materials chip project
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN BARON: "Vice President Kamala Harris toured Silicon Valley’s Applied Materials on Monday to highlight White House support for the company’s just-announced $4 billion project in Sunnyvale aimed at rebuilding the lagging U.S semiconductor industry and making the U.S. less dependent on foreign-made silicon chips.
Harris, speaking to hundreds of technology industry workers and leaders at a company campus in Sunnyvale, said new federal incentives created by the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act enabled the Applied Materials project to speed development of advanced computer chips. Harris did not specify what incentives might be headed to the Santa Clara-based company, which makes chip-manufacturing equipment."
These S.F. neighborhoods would see denser housing under new proposal by Mayor Breed
The Chronicle, JK DINEEN: "Developers looking to build housing on commercial corridors in San Francisco’s west side — and in a few other areas — would no longer face restrictions in the number of units they could construct under proposed legislation announced Monday.
Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Myrna Melgar will propose the changes, the latest in a series of zoning overhauls meant to promote housing development in San Francisco’s west side neighborhoods, which include the Sunset and Richmond districts, both of which are dominated by single-family homes and whose residents have historically been resistant to denser housing."
5 charts that explain the California and Bay Area exodus
BANG*Mercury News, SCOOTY NICKERSON: "Bay Area residents, fed up with high housing costs, crime and other quality-of-life concerns, have packed up and left the region in droves since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
During that time, the Bay Area’s population dropped roughly 3% as more people, many liberated by remote work, fled to less expensive parts of the state and country.
That phenomenon contributed to Austin, Texas, last week officially knocking off San Jose as the country’s 10th largest city. Still the Bay Area’s largest city, with a population of around 970,000, San Jose has shed some 50,000 residents since before the pandemic, dropping to 12th place nationally."
Deputy union sues over investigation into Sheriff’s Department gangs, order to show tattoos
LA Times, KERI BLAKINGER: "Days after the county’s watchdog demanded that dozens of deputies reveal their tattoos and answer questions about gangs within the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, employee unions have struck back with a formal labor complaint as well as a lawsuit filed in state court.
In a 19-page complaint sent Friday, the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs and Professional Peace Officers Assn. together accused the county of circumventing the collective bargaining process, saying that the county created a new condition of employment when Sheriff Robert Luna threatened to discipline or fire anyone who didn’t fully cooperate with the inspector’s general investigation.
Then, late Monday, the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs filed suit, arguing that ordering deputies to cooperate with the inspector general’s investigation and show their tattoos was unconstitutional, and would violate the 4th Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches as well as the 5th Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination and the right to privacy under California’s constitution."
How California public transit is pleading for state aid
CALMatters, SAMEEA KAMAL: "California is grappling with a $31.5 billion budget deficit. Gov. Gavin Newsom denied public transit agencies a lifeline in his latest spending plan, and time is running out.
But transit officials and their supporters in the Legislature aren’t giving up hope yet that the state will offer at least some aid. And Friday, the California Transit Association delivered a plan for how individual agencies should ask for money — and how they would be held accountable for how they spend it.
Transit agencies are seeking $5.15 billion in operating funds over the next five years — warning that without substantial cash, they’ll fall deep into a financial pit caused by a continued decline in ridership since the pandemic and the drying up of federal funds."