49ers absorb Super Bowl LVIII defeat in OT as Chiefs’ Mahomes pulls off 25-22 comeback
The Chronicle, ERIC BRANCH: "The San Francisco 49ers’ title drought is ongoing because Patrick Mahomes did it again: He ripped their heart out in the final stages of a Super Bowl.
On Sunday, the 49ers endured another nightmare in a 25-22 overtime loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium because Kansas City’s quarterback added to his legend."
READ MORE -- ‘No words’: 49ers leave Super Bowl labeled as team that can’t win the big one -- The Chronicle, ANN KILLION; 49ers’ Super Bowl loss to Chiefs a painful déjà vu that will sting forever -- The Chronicle, SCOTT OSTLER; Patrick Mahomes repeats greatness in Chiefs’ Super Bowl LVIII overtime win over 49ers -- LAT, GARY KLEIN
How California U.S. Senate candidates would differ from Feinstein and each other
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "California voters showed their approval of late Sen. Dianne Feinstein by repeatedly re-electing her over a more than 30-year career that ended with her September death. The leading candidates jostling for her job include three fellow Democrats — all further to her left on some key issues — and a Republican to her right.
When Feinstein became the state’s first woman U.S. senator in 1992 she was considered left of many Democrats with her military-style weapons ban and support for abortion and gay rights, but later was seen as a moderate centrist."
Are certain special statute statements sufficient?
Capitol Weekly, CHRIS MICHELI: "In the California Legislature, there are “special statute” bills that are used when legislators believe a bill’s provisions are unique and should apply in only a specified circumstance or to a specified entity or jurisdiction. Not any bill can be given a special statute designation.
Instead, legislators have guidance in what constitutes a special statute bill and the requirements that must be met for designating a bill as a special statute measure. This guidance is found in the California Constitution in Article IV, Section 16, which provides in full:"
La Niña on the horizon? California’s wild weather year could get even weirder
LAT, HAYLEY SMITH: "Storm-soaked California is still in the clutches of a wet El Niño winter, but in an unexpected plot twist, La Niña could be hot on its heels.
The El Niño-La Niña Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a climate pattern in the tropical Pacific that can influence weather worldwide and across the Golden State, although its outcomes are never guaranteed."
L.A. staved off disaster this time. But our luck is running out as extreme weather worsens
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN II: "As record rainfall inundated Southern California last week, the scene at the mouth of the Los Angeles River in Long Beach was dramatic.
The flow of water was ferocious — some 65,000 cubic feet per second at the terminus of the L.A. River’s flood control system. That’s like 65,000 basketballs going by, every second, that are filled with water and weigh 62 pounds apiece, said Los Angeles County public works director Mark Pestrella."
Love them or loathe them, pinyon-juniper woodlands are a growing biofuel battleground
LAT, LOUIS SAHAGUN: "When Varlin Higbee eyes the scrubby forest of pinyon pines and juniper trees that fill the high desert outside this old Union Pacific Railroad town, there’s just one thought that crosses his mind:
“They’re just a wildfire waiting to happen,” the Lincoln County commissioner says of the low, bushy trees."
Can a $6.4 billion mental health ballot measure solve California homelessness?
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN VARIAN: "For decades, thousands of Californians struggling with mental health and addiction have languished on the street. Now, voters will decide whether a March 5 ballot measure is the solution to get them the care they desperately need.
Proposition 1, the only statewide measure on the ballot, would raise almost $6.4 billion in bonds for more than 11,000 new treatment beds and homeless housing units. The two-part measure would also use money already in the mental health system to expand intensive care programs and build supportive housing, potentially leaving fewer funds for early intervention or other services. It would do both without raising taxes."
Feds leave California on the hook for $300 million in COVID homeless spending
CALMatters, MARISA KENDALL: "When California took the unprecedented step in spring 2020 to move thousands of homeless residents into hotels to protect them from the ravages of COVID-19, it did so believing the federal government would foot a large chunk of the bill.
Now, following what California officials say is an abrupt about-face from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, cities and counties suddenly are on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars they expected FEMA to cover. At a time when budgets already are tight, it’s left local governments scrambling."
Most California high school seniors shut out of even applying to the state’s universities
EdSource, EMMA GALLEGOS, DANIEL J. WILLIS: "Christian Robinson always planned to go to college, but when she graduated from Adelanto High School in California’s High Desert, she felt aimless. Without a plan or preparation for higher education, she decided to go to work instead.
She regrets that now."
Sacramento City Unified, teachers union agree on 2-year contract. What it means for students
Sacramento Bee, JACQUELINE PINEDO: "Sacramento City Unified School District and its largest teachers union have agreed to raises for teachers and to lower class sizes as part of a two-year contract agreement announced Friday night.
SCUSD and the Sacramento City Teacher’s Association released a joint statement detailing the contract, which ensures teachers in the district will “remain the highest compensated educators in the greater Sacramento region.”"
California’s fast food workers gain new, first-of-its-kind union to represent them
CALMatters, ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE: "California’s fast food workers have a new union to advocate for higher pay and safer working conditions, organizers announced Friday.
Thousands of workers statewide will be able to join the California Fast Food Workers Union, an organization that will likely represent a small share of workers but advocate for all fast food employees in the state."
Bay Area tech giant Cisco to lay off thousands
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "San Jose tech giant Cisco is gearing up to lay off thousands of employees in its latest reorganization effort.
While the exact head count is pending confirmation, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Reuters on Friday that an official announcement is imminent, potentially aligning with the company’s earnings call scheduled for Wednesday."
Why the fight to preserve Bay Area movie palaces has become cultural history vs. new housing
BANG*Mercury News, WILL MCCARTHY: "In the golden age of California’s movie palaces, these expansive theaters – with their fine art deco interiors, towering facades and flashing marquees – were designed to make guests feel like royalty.
Thousands dressed up to go to the movies during the 1930s, often multiple times a week, lining up around the block to see the latest pictures. The theaters were temples, made to feel eternal – proof that cinema was the height of entertainment, and always would be."
Vandals set off fireworks in driverless Waymo car, incinerating it in S.F.’s Chinatown
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: "A Waymo vehicle was vandalized and then set on fire in San Francisco’s Chinatown on Saturday night, according to the Fire Department.
A group of people surrounded the vehicle on Jackson Street to record vandals breaking the car’s windows with a skateboard and tagging the car, according to videos posted on social media. The vehicle appeared to be unoccupied."
