California court rejects Metallica’s COVID lawsuit by quoting Taylor Swift lyric
The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI: "Invoking lyrics from Taylor Swift’s song “All Too Well,” a California court this week dismissed Metallica’s lawsuit seeking more than $3 million in compensation from its insurance company for losses incurred from concert cancellations due to COVID-19.
The California Court of Appeal ruled on Monday, March 18, that six concerts in South America canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic were not covered under Metallica’s insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London because a specific clause in the contract excluded losses related to “communicable diseases.”"
What the DOJ’s antitrust suit against Apple means for everyone with an iPhone
LAT's WENDY LEE: "Cheaper app subscriptions. Additional payment options. Greater freedom for app developers on the App Store. More consumer choice.
Those are some of the possibilities that consumer advocates hope will come to pass for users of Apple iPhones, iPads and other products if the U.S. Department of Justice wins its long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against the Cupertino, Calif., tech giant."
If California government wants to use AI, it will have to follow these new rules
CALMatters's KHARI JOHNSON: "As artificial intelligence technology advances, state agencies would like to make use of it. California as of today is one of the first states with formal rules for government departments to follow when buying AI tools.
The guidelines introduced this week are the product of an executive order aimed at challenges and opportunities from generative AI by Governor Gavin Newsom late last year."
Gavin Newsom calls for a ceasefire in Gaza
CALMatters's SAMEEA KAMAL: "Gov. Gavin Newsom said today he supports President Biden’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza, citing the “ongoing and horrific loss of innocent civilian life.”
“I support President Biden’s call for an immediate ceasefire as part of a deal to secure desperately needed relief for Gazan civilians and the release of hostages,” he wrote in a letter addressed to California’s Muslim, Palestinian American, and Arab American communities. “I also unequivocally denounce Hamas’s terrorist attack against Israel. It is time to work in earnest toward an enduring peace that will furnish the lasting security, autonomy, and freedom that the Palestinians and the Israeli people both deserve.”"
S.F. City Hall corruption scandal: Employee charged again in another alleged embezzlement scheme
The Chronicle's NORA MISHANEC: "A former San Francisco city employee on Thursday was charged for the second time this year with embezzling public money after prosecutors said he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from a workers’ compensation fund he oversaw.
Stanley Ellicott, 38, was the assistant director of finance and technology for the workers’ compensation division of the city’s Human Resources Department when the district attorney’s office alleges that he stole $627,000 from the fund over a period of four years, until January 2024."
Feds want to study giving cash to renters. Will Californians be included?
CALMatters's MARISA KENDALL: "Guaranteed income has become a buzzword in California, as the state struggles to stop people from getting priced out of their homes and landing on the streets.
The latest entity pushing to give cash directly to people in need isn’t a nonprofit or an uber-progressive politician — it’s a massive federal agency not typically known for its innovation."
Toxic algae blooms force closure of several East Bay lakes and reservoirs
The Chronicle's SAM WHITING: "A bloom of toxic blue-green algae has invaded lakes in the East Bay Regional Parks District, forcing the closure of half of its six swimming lakes.
According to the district website, “danger” advisories went into effect after the most recent testing at Quarry Lake in Fremont, Del Valle in Livermore and Shadow Cliffs in Pleasanton. All three lakes were immediately closed to swimming for people and pets, and signs were posted indicating that people should avoid contact with the water in these lakes and keep their pets out."
Expanding arts education requires accountability and team effort, panel says
EdSource's MALLIKA SESHADRI: "The rollout of Proposition 28, which gives $1 billion for arts education every year, has caused confusion among districts throughout California as many look to expand opportunities available to students.
Despite the hurdles, bringing arts education into schools in an equitable way is possible with the right team, according to panelists at EdSource’s March 21 Roundtable discussion, “Raising the curtain on Prop 28: Can arts education help transform California schools?”"
A woman is accused of attacking an Asian American elder in S.F. The case has inflamed city politics
The Chronicle's KO LYN CHEANG, RACHEL SWAN: "A woman accused of assaulting a 71-year-old Cantonese-speaking woman in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood appeared in court Thursday in a case that has inflamed City Hall, provoking a fierce fight between the district attorney and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin.
Thea Hopkins, 43, pleaded not guilty to one count of elder abuse and one count of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury in connection with a March 4 attack near an elementary school on Gilman Avenue. According to prosecutors, Hopkins approached the woman from behind, pulled her hair, punched her and threw her to the ground."
Is Shohei Ohtani a theft victim? Is he in trouble? Legal experts say probes underway
LAT's KEVIN RECTOR: "Uncertainty suddenly surrounds one of Major League Baseball’s biggest stars, with Shohei Ohtani mired in recent days in a growing scandal linked to a federal investigation into illegal sports gambling.
The public so far has only a fragmented picture of the case. But more facts could emerge in coming days and weeks, legal experts said, as federal prosecutors try to make sense of competing claims about Ohtani’s money being used to pay down gambling debts with a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. One key question — but not the only one — is whether the Japanese slugger was, as his representatives claim, the victim of a “massive theft” by his interpreter and right-hand man, Ippei Mizuhara."
Millennials gave birth to ‘Generation Alpha.’ Are these kids already doomed?
LAT's SONJA SHARP: "Zoomers fear them. Boomers want more of them. Millennials will keep making them for the rest of the year.
Born between roughly 2010 and the end of 2024, “Generation Alpha” is the demographic successor to Gen Z. Its oldest members are not quite ready for a quinceañera, while its youngest will be conceived in the coming weeks."
