Supreme Court to decide on throwing out dozens of climate change lawsuits
LAT, DAVID G. SAVAGE: "The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide on shielding energy producers from dozens of lawsuits seeking to hold them liable for costs of global climate change.
In the past decade, dozens of cities, counties and states, including California, have joined state-based lawsuits that seek billions of dollars in damages, and they have won preliminary victories in state courts."
Republicans want to use the farm bill to kill a California law they hate
CHRONICLE, ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Sometimes a Supreme Court ruling is not the final word.
After years of legal battles over interstate commerce that reached the nation’s highest court, a voter-approved California law mandating more space for breeding pigs finally took effect in 2024."
Could the California ‘billionaire tax’ really devastate Silicon Valley? We look at the case
CHRONICLE, CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "A proposed California billionaire tax would set its sights on the state’s 200 or so richest people, do its best to unleash the state’s bureaucracy to seize 5% of their wealth and thereby save the state’s public health care systems.
And everyone except the 200 plutocrats lives happily ever after, right? Not so fast, say critics armed with golden-goose arguments. They contend the tax would tank new businesses, crush investment and trigger an exodus of wealthy households and their juicy tax dollars — while Silicon Valley would disperse to less-extortionate pastures, never to return."
California Democrats back establishment candidates despite progressive pushback
CALMATTERS, MAYA C. MILLER: "The California Democratic Party is betting that a tried-and-true playbook and standard-bearer candidates offer their best chance to take back the U.S. House in November’s midterms rather than fresh faces and more populist policy planks.
The country’s largest state Democratic party endorsed a slate of aging congressional incumbents at its convention in San Francisco after a weekend that illustrated the high stakes in this year’s midterms. In congressional districts without an incumbent, the party gave the nod to a handful of current state lawmakers who, while younger, are party insiders compared to the grassroots political outsiders who are running as Democrats in contested races."
‘What the hell is going on?’: Democratic leaders clash over congressional endorsement
CALMATTERS, MAYA C. MILLER: "For a Democratic Party convention with the theme, “Together, we win,” there was a lot of infighting, culminating in a Sunday morning shouting match between two Democratic heavyweights.
State party Chair Rusty Hicks and Sen. Mike McGuire, the former Senate president, got in a heated exchange that some onlookers described as unnecessarily petty, intensely personal and highly unprofessional."
Meet the insurance commissioner candidates: Steven Bradford
CAPITOL WEEKLY, STAFF: "In the legislature, serving on the Assembly Insurance Committee, I built up a strong record of doing the homework, meeting with people and organizations with differing viewpoints, engaging in thoughtful and substantive debate between competing interests, finding common ground to generate consensus, and getting things done for the people of our state. This includes authoring forward-thinking insurance legislation like AB 1063, which would have expanded uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage by redefining an “underinsured motor vehicle” so that injured drivers could access the full underinsured coverage they’ve purchased. I have decades of experience working across the aisle to address the most challenging issues facing Californians – and plan to continue this collaborative approach to problem-solving as State Insurance Commissioner.
In addition to my career in public service, I spent over 20 years in corporate America working for IBM and SCE—tech and utilities that play a significant role in insurance. I also
served as Program Director for the LA Conservation Corps and Recycling Director for the City of Compton, where I worked closely on environmental issues. The challenges California’s insurance industry faces are many – but I am confident that the opportunities to rebuild, restructure and refortify are achievable. No Californian should hear news of a natural disaster beyond their control and wonder whether they will be pushed into poverty. As Insurance Commissioner, I’ll work to ensure that nobody does."
How many California schools are in the 3,200-foot buffer zone where the state bans new drilling?
EDSOURCE, JUSTIN ALLEN: "The Trump administration is suing California over a law preventing new oil and gas wells from being located too close to schools, homes and other sensitive sites. The 2022 law, Senate Bill 1137, prevents new drilling within a safety zone of 3,200 feet, a little over half a mile, around schools, hospitals and parks, based on public health recommendations.
In the suit filed in January in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the U.S. Department of Justice said SB 1137 violates federal law and hampers domestic energy development. “SB 1137 would knock out about one-third of all federally authorized oil and gas leases in California,” said the Department of Justice in a press release. The government’s request for a preliminary injunction stopping the enforcement of SB 1137 is scheduled to be heard on March 20."
California wants millions of heat pumps. High power bills might get in the way
CALMATTERS, BEN CHRISTOPHER/ALEJANDRO LAZO: "If you’re a California homeowner and you’ve been feeling chilly this winter, there are plenty of reasons to go get a heat pump.
An all-electric, energy-efficient alternative to gas-burning furnaces, heat pumps are widely seen as the climate-friendly home heater of choice."
Rubio credited Spain for the origins of the American cowboy. Mexico begs to differ
LAT, PATRICK J. MCDONNELL: "Few figures occupy as prominent a niche in U.S. lore as the American cowboy, that embodiment of rugged individualism celebrated in dime novels, vintage radio, TV and Hollywood blockbusters.
But recent musings from Secretary of State Marco Rubio have fueled a sometimes-acrimonious debate — mostly on social media — about the origins of the tall-hatted buckaroo who, with the help of a trusty steed and a six-gun, helped tame the West."
Pineapple Express to flood California with warm air, rain
CHRONICLE, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "A Pineapple Express type of atmospheric river storm will bring mostly rain to Northern California through Wednesday, potentially triggering flooding in areas that received snow last week.
Pineapple Expresses are long, narrow plumes of water vapor in the atmosphere with origins near Hawaii or other parts of the tropical Pacific. Because of their warm origins, Pineapple Expresses often bring above-normal temperatures to California and push the rain-snow line above most Sierra Nevada ski resorts."
What is the anatomy of an avalanche? See what makes a fatal slide
SACBEE, DON SWEENEY/CAMILA PEDROSA: "An avalanche Tuesday near Castle Peak in the Lake Tahoe area swept away 15 backcountry skiers and guides, killing nine, The Sacramento Bee reported. Six were rescued. A search continues for one missing skier, who is presumed dead.
It is the deadliest avalanche on record in California."
Warner Bros. film chiefs break down their dominant year: ‘Everything was original once’
LAT, GREGORY ELLWOOD: "Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca, co-chairs and chief executive officers of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, are posing for a photo in the Scenic Loft on the studio’s historic lot. You may remember this as the backdrop from a scene in “The Studio,” where the head of a fictional Hollywood institution, played by Seth Rogen, learns he’s finally landed his dream job. That is, if he can get a four-quadrant movie based on a popular drink mix off the ground. The duo thinks the Emmy-winning series is a funny “caricature of the industry” — except for, well, one aspect: getting that Kool-Aid movie on track.
“You can’t help but think of the way Hollywood turned to tentpoles and franchises, temporarily forgetting sometimes that everything was original once,” De Luca says. “And if you don’t refresh the coffers with new IP to create new franchises, at some point you get to Chapter 10 or 11 and people start to move on.”"
Why the math on inheriting a home in California has totally changed in past years
CHRONICLE, KELLIE HWANG: "There’s no shortage of data points to describe how difficult it can be to buy a home in California, particularly in the state’s costly urban metropolises. Home prices remain far higher than the rest of the country; it can take decades to save for a down payment; the rise in mortgage rates in past years has locked even more buyers out, while it also locks in many owners to their current home — making a tight market even more so.
When my grandparents moved to California from Taiwan in the early ’90s, they bought a home in the East Bay for just over $320,000. That home is now worth more than five times that amount, and it’s become my home — my husband and I are gradually renovating and planning for the long haul; one day we will inherit it. We feel incredibly fortunate, as it’s unlikely we would be able to afford such a home on our own."