Trump charged over classified documents in 1st federal indictment of an ex-president
AP, ERIC TUCKER, JILL COLVIN, MICHAEL BALSAMO: "Donald Trump said Thursday that he was indicted for mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, a remarkable development that makes him the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges by the federal government that he once oversaw.
The indictment carries unmistakably grave legal consequences, including the possibility of prison if he's convicted."
A’s stadium bill on hold as Nevada Legislature adjourns until Monday
The Chronicle, MATT KAWAHARA: "Nevada’s Legislature took no further action on the Oakland Athletics stadium bill Thursday, day two of a special session to consider the project that now will extend at least into next week.
Both the Senate and Assembly adjourned until Monday, with neither body having voted on the stadium project bill, which the A’s hope can pave their way for a move to Las Vegas."
‘Right to housing’ constitutional amendment clears a California Assembly committee vote
Sac Bee, ANDREW SHEELER: "On Wednesday, the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development heard the story of Peggy Pleasant, a formerly homeless Los Angeles woman who spent time living in the city’s infamous Skid Row before finally ending up in affordable housing.
“When you’re homeless, you lose housing, you lose family members, you lose your hope. And when you lose your hope, that makes you an inadequate person,” Pleasant said."
WeToo III: Looking for a few good women
Capitol Weekly, RICH EHISEN: "Women have never achieved parity with their male colleagues in the California Legislature. Many advocates believe that could change before the end of the decade, but getting there is hardly a given.
Susannah Delano, Executive Director at Close the Gap California, a group that recruits progressive women to run for office, says her organization identified 96 possible open seats for the four election cycles from 2022-2028. But that number is fluid. Close the Gap anticipated only eight open seats for the 2022 election. There were eventually almost 40.
No matter the eventual number, Delano says it is only a small part of what it will take to reach parity."
Will America embrace Newsom’s gun plan? 5 things to know about his bid to change the US Constitution
CALMatters, BEN CHRISTOPHER, ALEXEI KOSEFF: "For years, Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed law after law layering on bans, restrictions and limitations on guns in California, only to see those laws swatted down by conservative judges for violating the U.S. Constitution’s right to keep and bear arms.
Now Newsom has a new idea: Change the Constitution itself."
How California got tough on guns
CALMatters, BEN CHRISTOPHER: "The modern American gun debate began in 1967, when 30 protesting members of the Black Panther Party marched into the California Capitol with loaded handguns, shotguns and rifles. In California there were few restrictions on carrying loaded weapons in public.
Soon a bill to ban “open carry” of loaded firearms within cities and towns sailed through and was signed by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. It’s hard to say which now seems more unlikely: that two dozen revolutionaries could legally stroll into the state Assembly chamber with semi-automatic rifles, or that a Republican governor would champion stricter gun control."
As Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon’s power grew, so did his wife’s income
LA Times, HANNAH WILEY, KATIE LICARI: "When California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) steps down from his powerful post at the end of the month, he’ll leave behind a legacy as one of the state’s longest-serving legislative leaders, having helped Democrats secure stronger labor protections for gig workers, launch universal preschool and extend a marquee program to combat climate change during his seven-year tenure.
Off the Assembly floor, Rendon is also one-half of a political power couple that includes Annie Lam, a successful consultant and nonprofit executive who’s dedicated her career to diversifying California politics and other institutions of power."
ATM fraud cases surge: Why a Romanian politician is sitting in the Ventura County jail
LA Times, REBECCA ELLIS, CRISTINA RADU: "It’s been over two months since anyone in the small coastal city of Eforie, Romania, has seen Virgil Negru.
The politician has been missing all spring from the quiet town of fewer than 11,000 along the Black Sea, a popular summertime destination for families escaping the heat of Bucharest, a few hours inland."
City was within its rights to remove Junipero Serra statue, court rules
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Father Junipero Serra, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, was once a historic icon in California. But protesters toppled a Serra statue in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in 2020 — and on Thursday, a state appeals court said the city of Ventura was entitled to remove a giant bronze statue of Serra from the front of City Hall, where a version of it had stood since 1936, and tuck it into a museum.
“This case illustrates the obvious; attitudes and values change,” said the Second District Court of Appeal, upholding a judge’s ruling allowing displacement of a statue that the city had once designated as a historic landmark."
LA Times, SEAN GREENE, ABHINANDA BHATTACHARYYA, LORENA INIGUEZ ELEBEE, AIDA YLANAN: ""The ‘big melt’ is on the way.”
That was UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain’s warning to Californians in late March, days before officials announced that this year’s Sierra snowpack contained historic volumes of water."
Here comes El Niño: It’s early, likely to be big, sloppy and add even more heat to a warming world
AP + BANG*Mercury News, PAUL ROGERS: "An early bird El Niño officially has formed and is likely to be strong, will warp weather worldwide and give an already warming Earth an extra kick of natural heat, meteorologists announced Thursday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued an El Niño advisory Thursday morning, declaring the arrival of the climatic condition. It may not quite be like the others."
California to step up efforts to find boxers owed pensions following Times report
LA Times, MELODY GUTIERREZ: "California is overhauling the nation’s only pension plan for retired boxers following a Times investigation that found the safety net for vulnerable fighters is failing its most critical mission — informing those owed benefits.
The California State Athletic Commission, which administers the little-known 40-year-old pension plan, said it will begin sending annual statements to all vested boxers beginning early next year and that it has brought in state investigators to search for fighters with unclaimed money — some of whom have been owed for decades."
Frustration after a fire: Recovery for rural schools can be long and complex
EdSource, CAROLYN JONES: "During the week, Derek Cooper, superintendent of Happy Camp Union Elementary, lives in a trailer behind the school. On weekends, he drives 14 hours roundtrip to his home in Lake Tahoe.
He’d prefer to live full-time in the Siskiyou County community where he works, but after a fire ravaged the town almost three years ago, there is nothing to rent, nothing to buy, and no end in sight."
S.F. arrests 58 drug users in a week as Breed cracks down. Sheriff targets open-air markets, usage
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH: "The San Francisco sheriff unveiled plans Thursday to deploy an emergency team in the Tenderloin and SoMa to arrest drug dealers and compel people using drugs into treatment, stepping up a controversial effort by Mayor London Breed to confront the city’s fentanyl crisis.
The unit consists of 130 deputies, deployed in squads of eight and working on overtime, for six months starting at the end of June. The department would not say how many squads would be on the streets at any given time, citing a need to protect operational security."
Inside the shocking rise and fall of one of the wildest restaurants California has ever seen
The Chronicle, ELENA KADVANY: "It was hailed as a culturally momentous, radically inclusive restaurant run by a young Black queer woman determined to upend the norms of fine dining. When Parker Kim heard about Hi Felicia in Oakland, they knew they wanted to work there.
A young transgender cook of color, Kim said Hi Felicia, which opened at 326 23rd St. last April, was the first restaurant where they didn’t feel tokenized or othered. They saw their own dreams in Hi Felicia’s 26-year-old owner, Imana, who uses just her first name. The staff, almost entirely people of color and many queer-identifying, wore crop tops and blasted music while serving a $195 tasting menu to diners clamoring to experience Imana’s much-celebrated vision of “vulgar” fine dining."