Federal bill to make online platforms pay for news they use advances while California bill slows
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "While California lawmakers have put the brakes on a bill that would make the likes of Facebook and Google pay news publishers for using their stories, a similar federal bill has once again advanced in Congress.
But it remains to be seen whether this year’s version of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act moves beyond the U.S. Senate, where an earlier version quietly died last winter."
What happened to the big changes to California elections?
CALMatters, SAMEEA KAMAL: "The campaign text messages have stopped, and your recycling bin is finally empty of mailers. But while it’s not election season anymore, California lawmakers are still tinkering with how voting happens.
The number of election-related bills introduced this session — close to 50 — is average, election officials said. But that number has been whittled down since January, and this week’s policy committee deadline may narrow the active proposals more."
Has Brooke Jenkins fulfilled promises yet? Here’s what she says about her year as S.F. D.A.
The Chronicle, ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH, MALLORY MOENCH: "District Attorney Brooke Jenkins took office last year amid a sea of acrimony after helping to unseat her controversial predecessor, Chesa Boudin. As Jenkins hits the one-year mark in office, the tension has not eased.
Jenkins says she’s taken steps to axzddress San Francisco’s open-air drug dealing and gone after repeat offenders, while attempting to convince San Franciscans that her office can deter crime by making criminals second-guess doing business in the city."
SB 770 paves the way for massive tax increases (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, PRESTON YOUNG: "A proposal moving its way through the Legislature seeks to eliminate Medicare in California and pave the way for massive tax increases on California workers and employers.
SB 770 would create a workgroup to petition the federal government to redirect hundreds of billions of dollars in annual Medicare and Medicaid funding that currently flows to California to a new health care system known as “single payer” instead."
Reporter’s Notebook: An autopsy of an advertising blitz
Capitol Weekly, BRIAN JOSEPH: "The California Fair Political Practices Commission touts that The Political Reform Act “cemented California as a national leader” in “promoting transparency and fairness” in political spending.
But the system established by the Act is still so complex and so confusing that it’s difficult – if not downright impossible – to drill down on how much a special interest has spent to specifically influence a specific issue.
Consider, for example, the hubbub earlier this year over “Gavin’s gas tax,” SBX1-2, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to cap the profit of oil companies."
Drones, satellites and AI: How California fights its unpredictable wildfires with analytics
CALMatters, JULIE CART: "Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jon Heggie wasn’t expecting much to worry about when a late summer fire erupted north of Santa Cruz, home to California’s moist and cool “asbestos forests.” This place doesn’t burn, he thought, with just three notable fires there in 70 years.
Heggie’s job was to predict for the crews where the wildfire might go and when, working through calculations based on topography, weather and fuels — the “immutable” basics. For fire behavior analysts like Heggie, predictable and familiar are manageable, while weird and unexpected are synonyms for danger."
Anger builds after controlled burn badly damages California sequoias
LA Times, ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "They are called “the Orphans” and they have stood side by side in what is now Calaveras Big Trees State Park for more than five centuries.
But today, fans of the giant sequioas fear that one of the towering duo may soon perish after a prescribed fire that was intended to protect them, but instead roasted the trees’ massive trunks and killed most of their canopies.
California built a safety net for undocumented immigrants. Now deficits could leave some behind
CALMatters, JEANNE KUANG, NICOLE FOY: "Driving a tractor for his job in the Oxnard lettuce fields doesn’t make Arturo Villanueva rich, but it’s usually been enough to make rent and support his family.
Farm labor is the only thing the 37-year-old father of five says he knows how to do well. When months of rain flooded the fields and made most of his usual work in February and March impossible, he struggled to earn enough to cover rent and allow his family “to live well.”"
Rolling Hills Estate residents watch their world sink, hope to salvage memories after landslide
LA Times, GRACE TOOHEY: "rom his unfamiliar hotel room Tuesday morning, Weber “Wei” Yen instinctively looked for his favorite coffee mug — the one he’s used almost every day for the last 25 years.
“I can’t get it anymore,” said Yen, who had returned to his Rolling Hills Estates neighborhood to check on his collapsed home. He got the mug on a trip to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. “It’s that kind of stuff,” he said. “You try to reach for something that’s no longer there.”"
Demand for California caregivers is rising, but their pay isn’t. Lawmakers hope to change that.
CALMatters, ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE: "The hardest parts of Grace Diaz’s caregiving job are the sleepless nights and aches and pains. And the time away from her family.
Even when Diaz’s client, an elderly Alzheimer’s patient, gets a good night’s sleep, Diaz wakes up at her slightest rustle or groan. Diaz’s shoulder bothers her because she often lifts her client from bed to wheelchair."
California’s math overhaul aims to help struggling students. But will it hurt whiz kids?
LA Times, HOWARD BLUME, TERESA WATANABE: "A proposed overhaul of California’s math teaching guide, with sweeping changes to make the subject more relevant and accessible, has ignited debate over whether it will improve poor student achievement or harm leaning for 5.8 million public school students.
The 1,000-page teaching framework goes before the state Board of Education on Wednesday — and approval is widely expected after a process that has taken more than four years and resulted in three versions."
UC committee changes admission standard for data science, causing confusion over math framework
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD, MICHAEL BURKE: "The UC faculty committee that oversees high school courses eligible for admission to the University of California has reversed itself and will disallow data science as a substitute for Algebra 2 as a course requirement.
The committee, the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools or BOARS, made the decision Friday but has not yet disclosed it to the public or to the State Board of Education, which is meeting Wednesday to consider a new K-12 mathematics framework that will include guidance on high school math."
SAG-AFTRA and studios turn to federal mediator as strike threat looms
LA Times, ANOUSHA SOKOUI: "Negotiators for SAG-AFTRA and the major studios have agreed to bring in a federal mediator to help resolve a bitter contract dispute, even as the union raised fresh doubts about whether a strike could be averted.
Amid rising tensions, the union said in a statement Tuesday that it had agreed to a “last-minute request” from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to tap a neutral third party to help resolve an impasse in negotiations."
Twitter is 'potentially dying.' What does that mean for California's disaster response?
The Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "During California’s early-July heat wave, some Bay Area residents searching Twitter for updates from the National Weather Service were met with a confounding message. Timelines read: “Rate limit exceeded: please wait a few moments and try again.”
That day, Twitter owner and former CEO Elon Musk blocked users with unverified accounts from viewing more than 600 posts per day. Since then changes have mounted. As of Tuesday, embedded twitter feeds on official websites were not working, including agencies like the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management."
Companies owe employees work-from-home costs during COVID shutdown, court rules
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "After Gov. Gavin Newsom issued his stay-at-home order in March 2020, at the outset of the pandemic, some companies said they wouldn’t compensate employees for work expenses at home because they were just following the state’s orders.
But on Tuesday, in a case involving several thousand IBM employees in San Francisco, a state appeals court said the companies would have to pay."
Created in California: How Dr. Bronner’s became the soap for every subculture
LA Times, ANDREA CHANG: "Officially, there are 18 ways to use Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps: The same amber liquid you rub on your body doubles as a toothpaste, a fruit and vegetable rinse, a decongestant, a laundry and dishwashing detergent, a shaving cream substitute, a floor-mopping solution, a shampoo for you or your dog, and a toilet bowl cleaner.
In the company’s earlier days, its eccentric founder crammed even more suggested applications onto the text-heavy, world peace-espousing labels that have become a hallmark of the cult brand. The multitasking soap, Emanuel Bronner promised, could kill fleas and ticks — until the Environmental Protection Agency made him change the language (he amended it to “cleans fleas and ticks”; today’s updated version says “ant spray!”)."
Game changer? Bay Area could get up to $20 billion for affordable housing
The Chronicle, NOAH ARROYO: " As San Francisco and other cities face pressure from the state to build unprecedented levels of affordable housing, officials throughout the Bay Area are hatching a plan to help the construction with a windfall of money.
They aim to put a regional bond measure on the November 2024 ballot for as much as $20 billion — and possibly try to amend the state constitution to help it and similar measures pass. Because builders could use the money to qualify for other funding, it could unlock as much as an additional $30 billion."
These 7 California metro areas have the lowest young adult homeownership rates in the country
BANG*Mercury News, SCOOTY NICKERSON: "So you’re in your late 20’s or early 30’s, and you’re thinking about buying your first home somewhere in California. You scroll through housing websites and realize that you can’t afford a single listing.
Sound familiar? Well, you’re not alone. All seven of the country’s major metro areas with the lowest homeownership rates for 25-to-34 year-olds are in California, a Bay Area News Group analysis of Census Bureau data from 2017 to 2021 has found. And the ripple effect is having a profound impact on more than just young people."
These charts show how California’s home insurance market is transforming
The Chronicle, SRIHARSHA DEVULAPALLI: "Last week, Farmers Insurance, California’s second-largest homeowner insurance carrier, announced that it will no longer issue new policies in the state. Following in the footsteps of market leaders State Farm and Allstate, the company cited severe weather events, rising construction costs and challenges with reinsurance as reasons for pausing on new policies.
California’s homeowners now have fewer large insurance companies as options for coverage, which could lead to a potential hike in existing premiums, according to industry experts."
The Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: "A San Francisco legislator is asking City Hall to review how officials ensure suspected fentanyl dealers cannot afford a lawyer — and are therefore entitled to taxpayer-funded public defenders — after a Chronicle investigation reported some are reaping hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Supervisor Matt Dorsey on Tuesday asked the Board of Supervisors’ Budget & Legislative Analyst to report back on the steps that the city’s justice systems take to conclude that criminal defendants are eligible for legal counsel from the Public Defender’s Office."
Speed cameras on California streets? This bill could bring automatic ticketing to six cities
Sacramento Bee, ANGELA RODRIGUEZ: "You could get a speeding ticket without having been stopped if a bill making its way through the Legislature becomes law and launches a pilot program in cities across California.
Assembly Bill 645, introduced by Assemblymember Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, would create a new speed camera program in pilot cities including Los Angeles and San Francisco. These cities would test the “Speed Safety Pilot Program” where drivers who are caught speeding by the cameras would receive an automatic ticket without ever talking to a police officer."
S.F. car break-ins: City’s response to be scrutinized in public hearing
The Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: "San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston is pressuring local officials to do more to rein in the city’s notoriously frequent car break-ins, arguing the problem persists at unacceptably high levels despite attempts to solve it.
Preston said Tuesday that he was calling on several city agencies, including Mayor London Breed’s office as well as the police and district attorney, to present their plans to reduce smash-and-grab burglaries at a future public hearing, expected to be held sometime after supervisors’ August recess."