Who were the masked men behind the UCLA camp attack? Online sleuths vow to find out
BRITTNY MEJIA, JESSICA GARRISON and MATT HAMILTON: "The online sleuths got to work within hours of violence sparking at UCLA this week.
They grabbed videos of the mostly masked rioters who attacked the pro-Palestinian student encampment near the quad and tried to zoom in on faces. They pored over each frame, waiting for the moment masks slipped and faces were exposed to take screen grabs. Then, they uploaded those faces to X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and other social media platforms and beseeched the internet to do its thing.
From across the country and around the world, people logged on and joined the collective research effort.''
UCLA Chancellor Widely Criticized for Slow Response to Campus Violence
CHRISTINE MAI-DUC, Wall Street Journal: "The chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, is facing a firestorm of criticism from state leaders, university employees and students after one of the most chaotic and violent weeks any college has endured amid protests and clashes across the country.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block is being accused of taking a too-lenient approach to a pro-Palestinian encampment, even as conflicts with pro-Israel counterprotesters escalated, and then failing to call law enforcement soon enough when things turned violent."
California’s EDD is notoriously hard to contact. AI may offer a solution — if the state allows it
The Chronicle's CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO: "When Cheryl Guess lost her job as an event planner in Palm Springs two years ago, she didn’t think she’d have to leave the state for good.
But that’s exactly what happened after a dispute in 2022 with her former employer led to months-long delays in getting the unemployment benefits she needed to keep paying her rent. Guess appealed her case and won. But by that time it was nearly two years later and she had long since run out of cash, left with no option but to go live with her daughter in Oregon after her savings ran dry."
Jailed students, a canceled commencement, angry parents: USC’s Carol Folt takes on critics
LAT's MATT HAMILTON, JAWEED KALEEM: "When USC trustees selected Carol Folt as their next president, they gave her one of the most challenging mandates in American higher education: Restore trust in a university diminished by scandals.
She replaced key administrators, brokered a $1-billion settlement with alumnae victimized by a sexually abusive gynecologist, hired a new football coach and authorized the removal of the name of an antisemitic, eugenics-supporting former USC president from an iconic campus building. To dozens of Japanese American ex-students unjustly incarcerated during World War II, then later denied reentry to the university, Folt awarded honorary degrees."
READ MORE -- UCLA sought extra police but canceled requests in days before protest camp was attacked -- LAT's NOAH GOLDBERG
Judicial determinations of severability clauses
Capitol Weekly's CHRIS MICHELI: "On occasion, bills in the California Legislature contain severability clauses. These types of bills contain multiple provisions and, when those types of bills are challenged in litigation, a court may be required to determine whether the valid provisions are “severable” from the law’s invalid provisions.
If a bill contains a severability clause, then the matter can be readily resolved. If such a clause is not in place, then a judge must determine whether the entire measure is void, or if any of the remaining valid provisions can be left intact and enforced."
California could see even more rain, snow than previously forecast. Here’s what to expect
The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "Spring may be halfway through, but winter-like weather isn’t done with California just yet.
A cold storm out of the Gulf of Alaska is forecast to descend on Northern and Central California on Saturday, resulting in a sharp drop in temperatures, mountain snow, gusty winds and a drenching rain."
This is the Bay Area’s ‘last affordable area.’ Here’s what home prices look like
The Chronicle's CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "Florence Arkin knew she couldn’t afford a house on the Peninsula where she’d grown up. And the market in much of the rest of the Bay Area in 2022 was too expensive for the single mother of two.
That’s when she started looking further out in the East Bay, eventually finding a 2,200 square-foot house in Bay Point, part of unincorporated Contra Costa County about an hour journey from San Francisco by BART. It hadn’t even hit the market yet, but Arkin knew she had to move fast."
‘Folks, it’s bad’: Merced sheriff warns of public safety crisis as deputy vacancies mount
LAT's MELISSA GOMEZ: "In Merced County, which stretches from the Sierra Nevada foothills west across vast acres of orchards and farmland, Sheriff Vern Warnke increasingly finds himself the only law enforcement officer available to answer a call for help.
Most recently, the department received a call from a woman regarding a domestic dispute, saying her husband had a gun. With no deputies in close range, Warnke reported to the scene, wearing his signature cowboy hat and his badge hung around his neck. He found a man pacing with a loaded gun tucked into his waistband and managed to deescalate the situation."
California Republicans want to take financial aid from protesters if they were violent
ALEXEI KOSEFF, CalMatters: "As campus tensions escalate over student encampments to protest the war in Gaza — with canceled classes, violent clashes and mass arrests in recent days — Republican leaders in the California Legislature are calling for the state to use its upcoming budget process to punish demonstrators who they say have gone too far.
Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones of San Diego and Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher of Chico announced today that they would push to strip state financial aid from protesters found to have committed violent or criminal acts or violated other students’ rights.
What’s next for Cal Poly Humboldt students, faculty and administration after campus protest?
JENNIFER HATCH, SacBee: "Naomi Schumichen was on the phone with her sister on April 22, taking a walk around the Cal Poly Humboldt campus for fresh, coastal air. She heard shouting from Siemens Hall, and noticed an unusual number of police officers starting to swarm the building.
She watched as a growing number of protesters began chanting for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and demanding the university disclose any financial dealings with the Israeli military. She crossed the quad to the student activity center and walked up to the second-floor balcony to get a better view of the chaotic scene below."
Which California universities have joined nationwide protests for Gaza? See interactive map
SAVANNA SMITH and MICHAEL MCGOUGH, SacBee: "Students across California universities have joined a nationwide movement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and institutional divestment from Israel.
At least 27 schools — public and private — have witnessed protests in recent weeks, according to a Sacramento Bee analysis of local news reports. Some students joined in solidarity for Palestinians and in support of peers who have been arrested in demonstrations across the United States."
Judge tentatively rules Sacramento DA’s lawsuit against city can move forward, but scaled back
THERSA CLIFT, SacBee: "A judge has tentatively rejected a major piece of the district attorney’s lawsuit against the city of Sacramento regarding homeless camps, but the case can still move forward.
The lawsuit, filed in September in Sacramento Superior Court by District Attorney Thien Ho, had alleged the city was creating a public nuisance by allowing homeless camps to exist on public property. The city argued that due to separation of powers between the government and the DA, that piece should be removed. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Jill Talley tentatively sided with the city on that."
California legalized weed, then businesses started suffering. How federal rescheduling would help
GILLIAN BRASSIL, SacBee: "The Biden administration’s rescheduling of marijuana could have a big financial impact on California pot businesses.
While dropping weed from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug does not make it federally legal, it would allow certain tax deductions for legal businesses struggling with the burden of hefty California taxes.'