Waiting for wildfires

The San Francisco Business Times reported that Westbrook Partners received a notice of default for the more than $70 million loan attached to the 155-room hotel at Sansome and California streets. The company has failed to make loan payments since December, according to the San Francisco Business Times."

Gov. Gavin Newsom delays state address as California’s Prop. 1 on mental health remains undecided
MAYA MILLER, SacBee:"California Gov. Gavin Newsom has postponed his annual State of the State address from Monday to an unknown date as the fate of his hallmark mental health proposition hangs in the balance.

 

The governor has staked a large part of his years-long strategy to overhaul homelessness and mental health care on the success of Proposition 1, which was on the March 5 ballot. The measure would outlay $6.4 billion of additional funding — through new bonds and restructuring existing legislation —for more treatment beds and housing. Its failure would be a huge setback for Newsom, who’s facing yet another recall push and has only two more years in office to deliver on his promises to voters."

 

As hungry bears awaken from hibernation, a California mountain village braces for invasion

LOUIS SAHAGAN, LA Times: "Led by a sense of smell 100 times keener than that of humans, the predators have crashed through windows, ripped tiles off roofs and torn solid wood doors off their hinges to get at leftover pizza in a refrigerator. They have also defecated on counters, furniture and floors as a “calling card,” officials say.

 

In a region of Southern California that wildlife authorities call a human-black bear conflict zone, the impending arrival of spring in this small mountain village is met with dread and fear as the hungry giants emerge from their winter torpor to search for food."

 

A Central Valley politician was charged with voter fraud. Right-wing conspiracies took over
MACKENZIE MAYS, LA Times: "As the polls closed in California on Super Tuesday, Jim Hicks stood watch in the parking lot of a community center while election officials wearing red vests retrieved ballots from a drop-off box.

 

He jiggled the handle of the metal container when they were done to ensure it was locked and peeked his head into the white van holding boxes of ballots that would be transferred to the San Joaquin County registrar of voters to be counted."

 

Brokers are buying up precious tee times at L.A. city golf courses. Golfers are desperate and outraged.
MATT HAMILTON, LATimes: "Golfers at Los Angeles municipal courses have complained for years that it is nearly impossible to score a tee time.

 

Many have long suspected that forces more sinister than excess demand and limited supply were gobbling up coveted foursomes. But they had little to back up their claims."

 

Can Asian voter turnout increase in Orange County? That’s the goal for this new coalition
HANNA KANG, OC Register: "In the past several years, national Democrats and Republicans as well as grassroots organizations have increasingly targeted the Asian American constituency in Orange County in an effort to tip the influence of the growing voter bloc in their favor.

 

Even still, many of these efforts have been partisan and done largely in English, at times by individuals without deep roots in the community, local leaders say."

 

Opinion: What’s behind California’s high gas prices? Don’t trust the oil industry for answers
EDITORIAL BOARD, LATimes: "If you live in California you’ve probably run across ads blaming high gasoline prices on state laws and policies. They’re online, on television, in mailers, on highway billboards and even on gas pumps themselves. One of them asks in big, bold letters “why is our gas expensive” and directs you to a “facts per gallon” website that complains about government gas taxes and fees.

 

It’s all part of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign by the oil industry to deflect attention from its greed and shift blame for the nation’s highest gas prices onto California’s environmental policies. Oil companies want you to believe that what you pay at the pump has nothing to do with the record-high profits they’ve been raking in, but rather, is the fault of California’s leaders for trying to protect consumers, public health and the climate."

 

S.F. corruption scandal: Prosecutors seek prison time for former PUC chief Harlan Kelly
ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH, Chronicle: "A jury convicted Harlan Kelly of fraud last year but his powerful friends are sticking by him: bureaucrats and businessmen and former politicians – including former Mayor Willie Brown.