Spending on lobbying firms topped $381 million through 15 months of legislative cycle
Capitol Weekly's BRIAN JOSEPH: "Special interests, otherwise known as “lobbyist employers,” paid lobbying firms a little more than $76 million to lobby California state government in the first quarter of 2024, according to a Capitol Weekly analysis of lobbying firm reports.
That number doesn’t include all of the money spent on lobbying during the fifth quarter overall of the 2023-24 legislative cycle. For instance, lobbying firm disclosure reports don’t include wages and expenses for in-house lobbyists."
To find masked mob members who attacked UCLA camp, police using Jan. 6 tactics
LAT's RICHARD WINTON: "It is shaping up to be perhaps the biggest case in the history of the UCLA Police Department: how to identify dozens of people who attacked a pro-Palestinian camp at the center of campus last week.
The mob violence was captured on live television, but it took three hours for police to bring it to an end. Those involved left, and no arrests were made."
Lawmakers grill Newsom officials on homelessness spending after audit causes bipartisan frustration
LAT's MACKENZIE MAYS: "Democrats and Republicans expressed frustration Monday as they grilled Gov. Gavin Newsom’s top housing officials in a tense legislative hearing about how billions of state dollars have been spent on the worsening homelessness crisis.
The hearing by the Assembly budget subcommittee on accountability and oversight came after a state audit released last month found that California has failed to adequately track the outcomes of its vast spending on homelessness programs, raising questions about efficacy and transparency."
Tim Ranzetta and the California Personal Finance Education Initiative
Capitol Weekly STAFF: "CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Nationwide, over half of all high school students are required to take a course on personal finance to graduate. In California, it’s just 1%.
A ballot initiative proposed for the November ballot would change that. The California Personal Finance Education Initiative is a statewide ballot measure that would require “essential personal finance education” for every California high school student. Backers submitted 900,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot in March, and the measure appears poised to be certified by the Secretary of State."
S.F. created an office to fix its system for reporting sex crimes. Years later, it’s changed almost nothing
The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY, SUSIE NEILSON: "When allegations of sexual abuse against rising San Francisco political star Jon Jacobo surfaced in April, the reports contained a familiar refrain: The three women said police had failed to sensitively and thoroughly investigate their cases.
In 2018, when a dozen women and advocates had voiced similar complaints about reporting sex crimes, city officials created a new office to fix the system that had let down so many survivors."
Did California’s massive COVID homeless shelter program work? A new evaluation probes the results
CALMatters's MARISA KENDALL: "California’s massive effort to shelter homeless residents during the COVID-19 pandemic was a success, according to a new report that says the effort changed the state’s homeless services system for the better.
But at the same time, the researchers pointed out a troubling dearth of available data on the program. With the little information they were able to access, they found that people who left the program had at least a 40% chance of returning to homelessness."
A mother’s loss launches a global effort to fight antibiotic resistance
LAT's CORINNE PURTILL: "In November 2017, days after her daughter Mallory Smith died from a drug-resistant infection at the age of 25, Diane Shader Smith typed a password into Mallory’s laptop.
Her daughter gave it to her before undergoing double-lung transplant surgery, with instructions to share any writing that could help others if she didn’t survive."
Bay Area rain: Saturday was the wettest day in May in more than 100 years for some areas
BANG*Mercury News's PAUL ROGERS: "It wasn’t just your imagination — it rained a lot this past weekend in the Bay Area for this time of year. An awful lot.
Soaked by an unusually strong storm, San Jose recorded its wettest day Saturday of any day in the month of May in more than 100 years. The city received 0.67 inches — the most on any May date since 1915, and the third wettest May day since records began in 1897."
Diablo winds to sweep across Northern California before warm temperatures arrive
The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "On Tuesday night, a low-pressure system, known as an inside slider, will move south toward the Great Basin at the same time a high-pressure system expands over the Pacific Northwest. The pressure difference between these systems will promote a period of strong winds — known as Diablo winds — across Northern California out of the north-northeast from Tuesday night through Thursday morning.
This dynamic will kick off a warming trend throughout the Bay Area this week, as temperatures will climb to 10 to 15 degrees above average by Thursday and Friday."
What menu prices could look like once surcharges are illegal
LAT's ELENA KADVANY: "When a controversial new California law takes effect July 1, restaurant surcharges will be illegal.
Many consumers have celebrated the state’s ban on junk fees and say they’d rather see the full price of their meals listed on menus. But Bay Area restaurant owners worry the sticker shock will irritate diners who are already sensitive and changing their habits due to the increasing cost of dining out."
One of California’s largest home insurance companies is raising rates by 15% on average
BANG*Mercury News's ETHAN VARIAN: "One of California’s largest home insurers is raising rates for hundreds of thousands of state policyholders by an average of 15.3%, the latest move by a major insurer to boost homeowners’ premiums in the face of growing wildfire risk.
Travelers Insurance, the state’s sixth-largest home insurer as of 2022, plans to update rates for roughly 320,320 homeowners, with some seeing hikes of more than 25% on an annual basis, according to filings with the California Department of Insurance."
Judge rules that Sacramento DA must revise allegations for court to consider homeless lawsuit
Sacramento Bee's DARRELL SMITH: "A Sacramento judge rejected District Attorney Thien Ho’s lawsuit to compel Sacramento to crack down on the city’s homeless encampments but he will get the chance to restate his case.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Jill H. Talley agreed with city attorneys who argued that the courts lack the power to interfere with legislative action at either the state or local level. Talley’s final ruling came Monday."
How a suicide crisis led to change in one small California county jail
CALMatters's NIGEL DUARA: "Lt. Buddy Hirayama sagged into his desk chair after a busy morning on his first day leading a county jail system running along the eastern edge of California’s San Joaquin Valley.
A call crackled across his radio:"
