Gaming tribes make clear they’ll lead the way on sports betting in California
Capitol Weekly's BRIAN JOSEPH: "It might be a bit of an understatement to say the November 5 election is clouded by uncertainty.
But there is one thing we know for sure: two years after the most expensive ballot campaign in U.S. history, California voters will not be considering another sports betting measure in 2024."
How Gavin Newsom’s budget sidesteps the growing cost of CalPERS pensions, for one year
CALMatters's ADAM ASHTON: "More generous-than-expected raises for California state workers are nudging up the cost of public employee pensions, according to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
But, for one year, Gov. Gavin Newsom has a plan to save some money that otherwise would have to be spent on those retirement plans."
Adam Schiff, Steve Garvey each raised more than $3 million for U.S. Senate campaigns since February
Sacramento Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Republican Steve Garvey and Rep. Adam Schiff raised nearly equal amounts from mid-February to late March to help fund their battle for a California U.S. Senate seat, according to reports filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission.
Schiff, D-Burbank, raised $3.51 million between Feb. 15 and March 31. Garvey, a former Major League baseball star, raised $3.39 million."
The abortion debate is giving Kamala Harris a moment. But voters still aren’t sold
LAT's NOAH BIERMAN: "When a group of crossover voters was asked during a focus group about Vice President Kamala Harris, their assessments were brutal: If she is helping Biden, you don’t see it. She rubs me the wrong way. She was picked because she is a demographic. The big things she had, she failed.
The comments, fair or not, represent a problem for President Biden and for Harris, echoed in interviews with voters here in Arizona, a key swing state where Harris spoke on Friday. More than three years into the oldest president in history’s first term, his understudy has failed to win over a majority of voters or convince them that she is ready to step in if Biden falters, according to polls."
This is S.F. Mayor Breed’s plan to ensure $1.7 million toilet debacle doesn’t happen again
The Chronicle's ALDO TOLEDO: "Mayor London Breed is proposing legislation she says will save time and money on small public projects after the city faced intense criticism for the high cost and long timeline of a new bathroom in Noe Valley that opened today.
Plans to build the controversial toilet at the Noe Valley Town Square were ridiculed after Assembly Member Matt Haney announced in 2022 he’d secured $1.7 million in state funding for the project, a single commode."
California sues Huntington Beach to stop voter ID requirement
CALMatters's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "California is taking Huntington Beach to court again — this time over a change to its city charter adopted last month by local voters that would allow the city to require voter identification in municipal elections.
Conservative city officials in Huntington Beach pushed for voter ID, a popular policy in Republican states, to address concerns from constituents about election integrity that have increasingly cropped up in the wake of former President Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen."
Game Changer? Calmatters’ Digital Democracy project aims to try
Capitol Weekly's STAFF: "We’re joined today by longtime journalist, and co-founder of CalMatters, David Lesher. Last year David stepped down as editor-in-chief to direct a new project at CalMatters: Digital Democracy. Using the latest technology, including AI, Digital Democracy will gather a tremendous amount of data from California’s state government: “every word uttered in public hearings, every dollar given to a politician, every bill introduced, every vote taken and more.”
After more than a year of development, Digital Democracy launched this month. David tells us how the system works, how it can be used by journalists, and ultimately by anyone interested in public policy, and how he hopes it will change the legislative process."
California bond could raise $10 billion for housing. Can it survive a state borrowing grab?
Sacramento Bee's LINDSEY HOLDEN: "Will voters accept more ballot measures that would authorize billions of dollars in new bond funding?
They weren’t enthusiastic last month, when they barely approved Proposition 1, which will provide $6.4 billion for mental health treatment and housing."
Years later, the Capitol Annex Project continues to grow more expensive AND dangerous
Capitol Weekly's RICHARD COWAN: "As the Past Chair of the Historic State Capitol Commission, I wrote several years ago about the grossly expensive and controversial Capitol Annex Project. Unfortunately, after nearly 3 years, it’s only gotten worse.
The proposed design of the building to replace the historic (now demolished) Capitol Annex is an all-glass façade that is not just historically incompatible, but a dangerous compromise of security, especially for the children and visitors who frequent the Capitol grounds. As someone who knows a thing or two about buildings and calls California home, I’m seriously worried."
Vital climate tool or license to pollute? The battle over California’s first carbon capture project
CALMatters's ALEJANDRO LAZO: "In western Kern County, where rolling hills are punctuated by bobbing rigs, the state’s largest oil and gas producer is betting that a novel technology will stave off the extinction of California’s fossil fuel industry.
The proposal has split this region, known as California’s oil country: Some want a future for oil and gas with less carbon emissions, while others insist that the polluting industries must go altogether."
Red state coal towns still power the West Coast. We can’t just let them die
LAT's SAMMY ROTH: "In the early morning light, it’s easy to mistake the towering gray mounds for an odd-looking mountain range — pale and dull and devoid of life, some pine trees and shrublands in the foreground with lazy blue skies extending up beyond the peaks.
But the mounds aren’t mountains."
S.F. has seen more rain than Seattle this year. Here’s what El Niño has to do with it
The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS, JACK LEE: "San Francisco has been giving Seattle a run for its money on the precipitation front. Since Jan. 1, nearly 18 inches of rain has accumulated in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Seattle sits at just 13 inches.
This year is unusual. San Francisco has been rainier than Seattle in just 16 of the past 50 years through mid-April. In a normal year, San Francisco trails Seattle by about 2.5 inches of precipitation on April 14."
READ MORE -- Bay Area could see big jump in temperatures as warm weather is expected to stick around -- The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS
A student sent a swastika to a Jewish lawmaker’s daughter. The response led to his new bill
CALMatters's RYAN SABALOW: "In response to his daughter receiving a swastika on social media, a California Jewish lawmaker is pushing for a bill that would give school administrators authority to suspend or expel students if they cyberbully fellow students away from school and outside of school hours.
But Long Beach Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal’s Assembly Bill 2351 is coming into conflict with California’s recent reforms intended to prevent students of color from being expelled and suspended at disproportionate rates."
Citing safety, USC bans pro-Palestinian valedictorian from speaking at graduation
LAT's JAWEED KALEEM: "Saying “tradition must give way to safety,” the University of Southern California on Monday made the unprecedented move of barring an undergraduate valedictorian who has come under fire for her pro-Palestinian views from giving a speech at its May graduation ceremony.
The move, according to USC officials, is the first time the university has banned a valedictorian from the traditional chance to speak onstage at the annual commencement ceremony, which typically draws more than 65,000 people to the Los Angeles campus."
Californians were hoping for two big tax breaks. Why aren’t they getting them?
Sacramento Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Thought you might get a bigger child tax credit when you filed your federal income taxes this year? And maybe a larger deduction for state and local taxes?
Forget it for now."
S.F. reaches tentative deal with major unions, making a strike less likely
The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS: "San Francisco has reached tentative labor contracts with several of its largest unions, reducing the chances of a widespread public-sector strike as the city tries to close a huge budget deficit during a mayoral election year.
Full details of the agreements were not immediately available, but SEIU Local 1021, San Francisco’s largest public-sector union, said its contract would establish a $25 per hour minimum wage for city workers, among other provisions. The lowest hourly pay rate for SEIU members is currently $20.25, according to the union."
A federal judge has found that L.A. city officials doctored records in a case over homeless camp cleanups
LAT's DOUG SMITH: "A federal judge has found that Los Angeles city officials altered evidence to support the city’s defense against allegations that it illegally seized and destroyed homeless people’s property.
Warning that the city will likely face sanctions following a forensic examination, U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer wrote in an order that the city had not only “altered, modified, and created documents relevant to Plaintiff’s claims” but had also failed to produce legitimately requested documents."
