Newsom unveils multistate ad campaign to fight abortion travel restrictions in red states
LAT's TERESA WATANABE: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday unveiled a multistate ad campaign to combat proposals in several Republican-controlled states that he said aim to ban out-of-state travel for abortions and related medications.
The six-figure ad campaign and an online petition effort are set to launch Monday, beginning with a TV ad targeting a bill under consideration in Tennessee. There, eight Republican male state legislators are primary co-sponsors of bills that would create a felony offense of “abortion trafficking,” making it a crime for adults to help minors obtain an abortion or medications to end early pregnancies without the consent of parents or legal guardians. The bills also would allow civil lawsuits for the “wrongful death of an unborn child that was aborted.”"
California lawmakers can’t take lobbyist donations — unless they’re running for Congress
LAT's JULIA WICK, ANABEL SOSA and GABRIELLE LAMARR LEMEE: "State Sen. Susan Rubio has a powerful position in Sacramento. As chair of the Insurance Committee, the Baldwin Park Democrat can help pass or kill any legislation affecting that industry.
Due to a law meant to prevent corruption, Rubio can’t accept campaign donations from insurance lobbyists — or any other lobbyists — as she raises money for her 2026 reelection to the Legislature. State law forbids California lobbyists from donating to the campaigns of state lawmakers."
Why does California elect local judges?
CALMatters' SAMEEA KAMAL: "When you’re voting for a state legislator or a state officer like the governor, you can evaluate them based on their voting record, policy positions and campaign websites. But finding information on local judges can be trickier.
California’s method of selecting judges depends on the court level: For the higher level state Supreme Court and appeals courts, the governor appoints judges, sometimes based on the recommendation of a State Bar commission. They must be confirmed with a vote in the next general election, and run for re-election after their first term."
What was and was not true when Donald Trump blasted California, Gavin Newsom at CPAC
Sacramento Bee's GILLIAN BRASSIL: "Former President Donald Trump, in an lengthy and falsehood-riddled speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, spent some of his parting words chastising California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Trump, speaking at the annual gathering of conservatives Saturday, said that he wished Newsom, a Democrat, was running for president against him in 2024: “A lot of people think Gavin Newsom is going to run. In a certain way, I hope so,” Trump said. “I hope so. Because he’s destroyed California.”"
PG&E bills are soaring, and Californians are angry. Here are answers to questions about the rate hike
The Chronicle's JULIE JOHNSON: "Northern Californians are paying more per unit of electricity than almost anywhere else in the country. Here’s what’s going on.
Q: How much did PG&E bills just go up?
A: Pacific Gas and Electric Co. residential electricity rates rose by about 20% on Jan. 1. The rate increase added about $34.50 to monthly bills for typical households (which use about 500 kilowatts of electricity each month), according to the company’s estimates. That’s about $414 more per household for all of 2024 compared to last year."
‘Like a World War II battlefield’: How one of Northern California’s most polluted properties may finally be cleaned up
BANG*Mercury News's PAUL ROGERS: "The legacies of California’s 1849 Gold Rush and the relentless search for gold that continued decades later are well known: the rise of San Francisco; statehood; Wells Fargo; Levi’s jeans; a Bay Area football team named after the fortune-seeking miners.
But along the shores of Clear Lake, just north of Napa Valley’s famed wineries, is another gold-rush legacy: toxic pollution."
The ‘phantom’ lake that engulfed California’s Central Valley is gone. But the toll lingers
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "The long-dormant lake that roared to life in California’s San Joaquin Valley last winter, eventually swelling to nearly the size of Lake Tahoe, has all but disappeared.
Almost a year after historic storms fueled its rebirth, Tulare Lake endures today only as several small stretches of standing water. The vast expanses of farms, roads and buildings unexpectedly engulfed by the lake ever since March, between Bakersfield and Fresno, have mostly resurfaced, albeit wet and very muddy."
California’s polluted communities could miss out on billions under state’s flawed system
CALMatters' ALEJANDRO LAZO: "The system that California uses to screen neighborhoods at risk of environmental harm is highly subjective and flawed, resulting in communities potentially missing out on billions of dollars in funding, according to new research.
The study, by researchers who began the project at Stanford University, investigated a tool that the California Environmental Protection Agency developed in 2013 as the nation’s “first comprehensive statewide environmental health screening tool” to identify communities disproportionately burdened by pollution."
Here’s why the Bay Area has seen bad air quality recently
The Chronicle's JOSEPH HOWLETT: "Californians are used to thinking about bad air coming in the summer, when ozone peaks and wildfires send particulate-heavy air to the Bay Area. But some of the Bay’s worst air quality days happen in the dead of winter.
“In the summertime, we always get that strong bay breeze,” Eugene Cordero, a climatologist at San José State University, explained. The breeze is fueled by cold ocean waters sucking off heat from California’s warm inland areas. “That sea breeze is moving pollutants all the time, but in the winter we don’t have that.”"
Black-led Sacramento conservation group closes deal for 650 acres of Sierra Nevada open space
Sacramento Bee's DARRELL SMITH: "The deal is done, with 650 acres of Sierra Nevada land signed and delivered to open up opportunity for more Californians to venture into the outdoors.
For the 40 Acre Conservation League, the Black-led Sacramento conservation nonprofit, the work to acquire and take control of the hundreds of acres of Sierra forest land in the Emigrant Gap area of Placer County, about 50 miles northeast of Sacramento, was a year in the making."
Rebecca Grossman guilty of murder in killing of two young brothers. She vows to appeal
LAT's RICHARD WINTON and GRACE TOOHEY: "A jury on Friday found Rebecca Grossman guilty of murder in the killing of two young brothers who were crossing a street in Westlake Village when her speeding Mercedes hit them.
The verdict caps a legal drama that generated international attention in part because Grossman is a prominent figure who co-founded the Grossman Burn Foundation with her husband, Dr. Peter Grossman."
READ MORE -- Parents of boys killed by Grossman take solace in her murder conviction: ‘We finally can move on’ -- LAT's RICHARD WINTON:
Norovirus cases soar in California. Here are the signs to watch for
The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI: "While the Bay Area is enjoying a reprieve from COVID-19 and the flu, some residents are dealing with another nasty bug.
Highly contagious stomach viruses are rapidly spreading across the U.S., according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 12.8% of laboratory tests for norovirus are coming back positive in the country’s West region, the highest figure since June and second only to the Northeast at 13.9%. The Midwest follows at 10% and the South is at 9.5%."
Stanford-led study offers relief to children with dangerous food allergies, leading to FDA drug approval
BANG*Mercury News's LISA M. KRIEGER: "For Anabelle Terry, 12, even the most joyful gatherings were potentially dangerous.
Born with a severe peanut allergy, “I had to watch every little thing I was eating — at friends’ houses for dinner, at parties, on Halloween when I was trick-or-treating” to prevent a medical emergency, she said."
LAUSD candidate under district investigation, removed from school counseling job during probe
LAT's HOWARD BLUME: "Los Angeles school board candidate Graciela Ortiz has been removed from her job as an L.A. Unified counseling administrator pending a confidential investigation, school district officials confirmed, leading a school employees union to withdraw its endorsement of her for the March 5 election.
The investigation was launched after a civil lawsuit was filed alleging Ortiz and a political ally are liable for the actions of a campaign worker, who pleaded no contest to sexual misconduct with an underage volunteer. Both the perpetrator and victim were involved in campaign work in 2021 for Ortiz and Efren Martinez, according to the suit, filed Jan. 9 in Los Angeles County Superior Court."
Fake labels, exclusive shoes and hijacked packages: How the LAPD cracked a ‘sophisticated’ Nike theft ring
LAT's LIBOR JANY: "Most die-hard sneakerheads wouldn’t think twice about waiting hours in line to be the first to score the Air Jordan 4 BRED Reimagineds — which retail for $200, but can resell for double that on the collectors market.
Some write computer code to snap up pairs of limited edition Jordans and other coveted Nikes as soon as they go on sale online."
Milpitas council proposes ordinance to control medical pot delivery
BANG*Mercury News, ANNE GELHAUS: "In response to Senate Bill 1186, a new state law that requires local lawmakers to allow medicinal cannabis deliveries, the Milpitas City Council has introduced regulations aimed at preserving the city’s commercial cannabis ban and tightly controlling the delivery of medicinal cannabis products within city limits.
The proposed ordinance would allow access to medicinal cannabis products to qualifying patients while ensuring controls are in place that maximize community safety. It remains unlawful to deliver recreational cannabis within Milpitas city limits."
Sacramento spent $105 million on trying to fix the homeless crisis. Here’s how it was spent
Sacramento Bee's THERESA CLIFT: "The city of Sacramento spent roughly $105 million addressing the homeless crisis last fiscal year, a new city audit found.
The total included about $57 million in staff time — a figure that had not previously been released and was five times lower in 2015, the audit found. It also included about $48 million in contracts to operate the city’s roughly 1,300 shelter beds."
In Hollywood, homeless encampments fuel neighborhood frustration with Bass and Raman
LAT's DAVID ZAHNISER: "The fire that broke out on Franklin Avenue last month was, by some measures, a modest one.
But with winds blowing in the Cahuenga Pass that night, it had the potential to be destructive. Embers from the fire, which started at a homeless encampment, landed on a nearby apartment building, Fire Department officials said. By the time the blaze was out, it had scorched a nearby tree, destroyed two cars and sent smoke into nearby homes."
How a Chronicle photographer got these stunning Yosemite firefall images
The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "No embers, flames or fire are involved in Yosemite’s annual firefall but the naturally occurring phenomenon is drawing thousands of visitors to see and photograph the event at Horsetail Falls.
Firefall occurs in Yosemite Valley on February evenings as the setting sun hits the falling waters at just the right angle, and casts a reddish glow that resembles fire."
