Lawmakers, prosecutors urge California Supreme Court to overturn death penalty
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "A state Supreme Court lawsuit claiming California’s death penalty law is incurably racist and should be overturned has drawn some high-powered support from two of the court’s former justices, as well as a number of county prosecutors and state legislators.
“The Court has not hesitated to be at the forefront of important constitutional issues before, and it should not do so now,” said former state Supreme Court Justices Joseph Grodin and Carlos Moreno, joined by J. Anthony Kline, the state’s former senior appeals court justice, and Peter Espinoza, who served as presiding judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court."
Newsom unveils proposal to expedite abortion access for Arizonans
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG and JOE GAROFOLI: "Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced legislation to give Arizona doctors temporary, emergency licenses to perform abortions in California on the heels of the Arizona Supreme Court decision outlawing the procedure.
The legislation, SB233 (co-written by Democratic state Sens. Nancy Skinner of Berkeley and Cecilia Aguiar-Curry of Winters) would allow licensed Arizona doctors in good standing to provide abortions and abortion-related care to Arizona patients traveling to California through Nov. 30. If passed by the Democratic-led Legislature, it would go into effect as soon as Newsom signs it."
READ MORE -- An abortion fight in Beverly Hills exposes the limits of California’s ‘reproductive freedom’ -- CALMatters's ALEXEI KOSEFF
Many O.C. residents deny Trump election results, potentially swaying key races, poll finds
LAT's HANNAH FRY: " Alex Lopez doesn’t contest that Joe Biden was elected president in 2020.
His concern lies with how those results came to be."
A new California rule tries to hold down your health care costs. Here’s how it works
CALMatters's KRISTEN HWANG: "You won’t notice it right away, but a new California state agency took a major step this week toward reining in the seemingly uncontrollable costs of health care.
The Office of Health Care Affordability approved the state’s first cap on health industry spending increases, limiting growth to 3% by 2029. This means that hospitals, doctors and health insurers will need to find ways to cut costs to prevent annual per capita spending from exceeding the target. Between 2015 and 2020, per capita health spending in California grew more than 5% each year, according to federal data."
Dissent, no funding yet for statewide teacher training in math and reading
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: "Legislation that calls for providing all state teachers and aides with math and reading training passed its first legislative hurdle despite the uncertainty of funding and the skepticism of advocates for English learners who dislike the bill’s nod to instruction in the “science of reading,” including phonics.
Senate Bill 1115 has no secure source of money heading into a tight fiscal year, with Gov. Gavin Newsom all but ruling out money for new programs. His January budget includes $20 million for a designated county office to train coaches who would then train their own teachers in what they learned."
More California high school students want career training. How the state is helping
CALMatters's CAROLYN JONES: "A school without steers? Unthinkable, said Mason Tucker, a 10th-grader at Madera South High School north of Fresno.
“When I found out there were all these animals here, I thought, I can do this in school? I have to be here,” said Tucker, who commutes 40 minutes each way to attend the school’s agriculture program. “Why hate school when you can love it?”"
Commencement speakers launch boycott of USC satellite graduation ceremonies
LAT's JAWEED KALEEM: "When USC President Carol Folt called off the 65,000-attendee “main stage” commencement amid pro-Palestinian protests and anger over the cancellation of pro-Palestinian student Asna Tabassum’s speaking slot, USC promised that more than two dozen satellite graduation ceremonies for individual colleges would continue as planned.
But on Sunday, two high-profile speakers scheduled to address graduates of the USC Rossier School of Education said they were dropping out in dismay at the university’s actions, including calling in the Los Angeles Police Department to arrest 93 pro-Palestinian protesters — many of them undergraduate students — last week."
Here’s how much money you need to make to be considered ‘rich’ in the Bay Area
The Chronicle's CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "The Bay Area may be one of the highest-earning regions in the United States, but that doesn’t mean the average person here is “rich.” So what does?
Based on survey and census data, our best estimation is that San Francisco metropolitan area residents would consider a household that makes about $700,000 per year to be rich. That was the second-highest average among metro areas with reliable data, with only San Jose households having a higher threshold of about $860,000."
The CZU fire burned 911 homes. A huge new project aims to reduce the risk of the next one
BANG*Mercury News's PAUL ROGERS: "It’s been nearly four years since the CZU Lightning Complex Fire raged through the Santa Cruz Mountains, destroying 911 homes, devastating Big Basin Redwoods State Park and blackening 86,500 acres — an area three times the size of San Francisco — in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.
But Carrie Herrera still vividly remembers how she felt as the massive flames appeared on a nearby ridge, threatening the camp she runs near La Honda."
A tech giant is helping restore these Sacramento Valley rice fields to a floodplain. Here’s why
Sacramento Bee's ARI PLACHTA: "A thousand years ago, native fish and birds rested in a fertile floodplain at the intersection of the Sacramento and Feather rivers and Butte creek along their migratory routes. Since the turn of the 20th century, the area has been engulfed in rice fields.
But in the next decade, the bygone natural floodplain is coming back. That’s after California conservation nonprofit River Partners secured millions for restoration work on 750 acres from state wildlife agencies and Apple Inc., the multinational tech company."
California Democrats embracing drug-free housing as a solution to homeless crisis
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "In the face of persistent homelessness, Democrats are embracing more drug-free housing policies even though such ideas have often been viewed as antithetical to “housing first,” long the bedrock concept of liberal homeless policy.
The dynamic was on display at the Capitol Wednesday morning, when lawmakers voted to advance a bill by Assembly Member Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, that would allow drug-free housing programs to compete for state funding."
Law that ended single-family zoning is struck down for five Southern California cities
LAT's LIAM DILLON: "A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has ruled that a landmark law ending single-family-home-only zoning in California is unconstitutional, a decision that could lead to the law being invalidated in the state’s largest cities.
Judge Curtis Kin determined that Senate Bill 9 does not provide housing restricted for low-income residents and therefore cannot override state constitutional protections afforded to local zoning practices."
A mother’s lament: California should eliminate the cutoff time to file charges against sex abusers
Sacramento Bee's JOE RUBIN: "For Deanna Hampton, last week was all about confronting the past and the legacy of rampant sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and trying to ensure that families don’t suffer in the future.
It’s a deeply personal issue for Hampton. Last fall, The Sacramento Bee told the story of her son, Trevor Martin, who was serially abused by priest Michael Kelly in Calaveras County."
High-ranking L.A. prosecutor booked on felony charges, released on $50,000 bond
LAT's KERI BLAKINGER and JAMES QUEALLY: "A Los Angeles prosecutor accused last week of improperly using confidential records about sheriff’s deputies turned herself in to local police Saturday morning and was released on $50,000 bond.
Diana Teran, one of L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s top advisors, was booked on 11 felony charges days after Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta alleged that she downloaded the records of 11 unnamed deputies in 2018 while working at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Three years later, Bonta alleged, Teran “impermissibly used” those records after joining Gascón’s office."
‘The wild, wild West’: Shootings bedevil Alameda County highways, despite statewide decline
BANG*Mercury News's JAKOB RODGERS, HARRIET BLAIR ROWAN: "More than once a week last year, bullets from rolling gunbattles, road rage-fueled shootings and seemingly unprovoked attacks flew on Alameda County freeways at a frequency far outpacing most of the state, according to an analysis of highway patrol data by this news organization.
Often, innocent motorists — and children — are caught in the cross fire. Sometimes, the shootings turn deadly. Rarely are they solved."
TravelPulse's LAURIE BARATTI: "A pair of California state senators from opposing parties have joined together to propose a bill, the first of its kind in the nation, that critics say would eliminate the expedited security screening service CLEAR from airports. But, proponents say that CLEAR would simply need to change its method of operation to retain its presence in California.
The bill, spearheaded by Democratic state Sen. Josh Newman and Republican state Sen. Janet Nguyen, takes aim at the current practice of what is being labeled "line cutting" by CLEAR members, who are allowed to bypass the usual TSA screening queues for a fee."
California proposal for speed governors in cars advances in Legislature — with one big change
The Chronicle, RICARDO CANO: "California lawmakers advanced a proposal requiring new vehicles sold in the state be built to automatically warn motorists when they’re driving 10 mph over the speed limit.
The amended Senate Bill 961 by San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener passed the Senate Transportation Committee 8-4 on Tuesday and made a significant change to the original proposal."