California lawmakers got tougher on crime this year. What will Newsom decide?
LAT's ANABEL SOSA: "In response to growing worries about crime in California, the Democratic-controlled Legislature has passed a set of stringent crime bills, marking a significant change in its approach to criminal justice reform compared with previous years.
Democrats who have recently made a consistent push to reduce prison populations by prioritizing rehabilitation and drug and mental health treatment had to find middle ground with new leadership this year who made alleviating public anxieties about crime a top concern."
California lawmakers want to ban anti-union meetings at work, but will Newsom go along?
CALMatters's JEANNE KUANG: "On the final day of their session, California lawmakers sent Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill banning employers from forcing workers to sit through anti-union meetings — the latest attempt by Democratic politicians to support union activity amid a revived labor movement.
If Newsom signs Senate Bill 399, California would join nine other states that have recently passed laws prohibiting an employer from requiring workers to attend so-called captive audience meetings about their political or religious views."
‘Defund police’ or reimagine safety? Kamala Harris’ record on a historic American issue
LAT's KEVIN RECTOR: "A few weeks into the largest racial justice protests in modern American history, the lone Black woman in the U.S. Senate appeared on “Good Morning America” to address one of the most controversial aspects of the debate.
Massive crowds had taken to the streets nationwide to protest police killings of Black Americans, including George Floyd. Their demand that U.S. cities “defund police” and reallocate law enforcement funding to social programs was gaining traction. Then-President Trump had criticized the idea as a “radical” one from Democrats, and then-Sen. Kamala Harris — a former prosecutor who’d written a book titled “Smart on Crime” — was asked to respond."
Kamala Harris embraces Oakland — and this time the feeling is mutual (COLUMN)
LAT's MARK Z. BARABAK: "The first time she ran for president, Kamala Harris launched her candidacy with a splashy rally that filled downtown Oakland with more than 20,000 cheering supporters.
It was a wholehearted embrace of her birthplace and a nod to the city’s aspirational history."
The incredibly long list of musicians who have demanded that Trump stop using their songs (COLUMN)
LAT's ROBIN ABCARIAN: "As someone who has covered way too many presidential campaign rallies, I can attest that popular music at political gatherings is a powerful mood enhancer.
I will never forget one of then-President Obama’s last campaign rallies of 2012, in a crowded University of Cincinnati gym on election eve. The already pumped-up crowd erupted when they realized that “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)” wasn’t being piped in; it was being sung live by Stevie Wonder himself. The song was something of a premature victory lap: Obama appeared to be in a tight race against Mitt Romney, though he ended up beating the former Massachusetts governor decisively."
Capitol Briefs: The battle over card rooms goes to the governor
Capitol Weekly's STAFF: "Lawmakers have sent Gov. Gavin Newsom hundreds of bills to be acted on before the end of the month. Here are a few of those measures he must consider.
Casinos v. card rooms: Senate Bill 549, a bill authored by Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), that would grant Indian gaming tribes one-time standing to ask the courts to determine the legality of the “player-dealer” system California card rooms use in order to offer certain Las Vegas-style games, such as blackjack."
Securing California’s future water supply is critical (OP-ED)
JOSEPHJ CRUZ, CRAIG MILLER in Capitol Weekly: "Unless a new bill to grow California’s essential water supply, SB 366 (Caballero), is signed into law, our only progress on water supply this year – as this summer’s record temperatures foreshadow potential droughts to come – will be another, dubious conservation mandate, which is a multi-billion-dollar effort for a miniscule volume of water.
SB 366 is where state policy should start: With an overall target for a sustainable, statewide water supply, and a timeline to achieve that target. Our legislators agree: The legislature has done the right thing with the bill passing both the Assembly and Senate without receiving a single “no” vote and now needs only Gov. Newsom’s signature by Sept. 30 to become law."
Audit requested for $45 million Breed program focused on S.F.’s Black community
The Chronicle's ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH, MICHAEL BARBA: "The top city official overseeing Mayor London Breed’s Dream Keeper Initiative has asked the controller’s office for a full audit of the program, which has pumped tens of millions of dollars toward addressing systemic racism against the city’s Black population.
Breed started the initiative in response to protests of the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd in 2020. It originally sought to redirect $60 million a year from law enforcement to the city’s often underserved, and dwindling, Black community. Since 2021, the initiative has funded job and skills training programs and helped entrepreneurs start businesses and families buy homes."
Landslides bring uncertainty, fear to Rancho Palos Verdes. How much worse will it get?
LAT's KAREN GARCIA: "With less than 24 hours’ notice, Nikki Noushkam learned Sunday that Southern California Edison was shutting off power to her home indefinitely.
“I have to vacate my house that I have lived [in] for almost 20 years,” Noushkam said during a special Rancho Palos Verdes City Council meeting Tuesday to discuss the latest blow to residents of the besieged community: losing electrical service due to unprecedented landslides that authorities fear could spark brush fires."
More extreme heat + more people = danger in these California cities. ‘Will it get as hot as Death Valley?’
CALMatters's ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE, ARFA MOMIN: "On a recent sunny afternoon in Lancaster, Cassandra Hughes looked for a place to cool down. She set up a lawn chair in the shade at the edge of a park and spent the afternoon with a coloring book, listening to hip-hop music.
Reaching a high of 97 degrees, this August day was pleasant by Lancaster standards — a breeze offered temporary relief. But just the week before, during a brutal heat wave, the high hit 109. For Hughes, the Mojave Desert city has been a dramatic change from the mild weather in El Segundo, the coastal city where she lived before moving in April."
Northern California health care giant charged 30% more than other hospitals, study finds
The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO: "New research from University of Southern California health economists has found evidence that Sutter Health began implementing allegedly anticompetitive contracting practices in the early 2000s that resulted in prices 30% higher than at comparable hospitals.
The findings echo some of the claims in recent lawsuits — including one that had been resolved in Sutter’s favor — accusing the health care giant of abusing its market power to charge insurers and consumers higher prices for medical care."
How the newest UC campus is overcoming its ‘safety school’ image
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "Cristian Velazquez knew UCLA was a long shot when he joined 150,000 applicants vying for 13,000 freshmen spots this fall. So when the rejection letter for his first choice college arrived, the San Francisco teen traded in the idea of a SoCal experience with cavernous lecture halls surrounded by congested freeways for his No. 2 pick: UC Merced.
Last week, 300 miles from Hollywood Boulevard, Velasquez was at the university’s welcoming ceremony with most of his 2,400 new undergraduate classmates. Under blue, smog-free skies in California’s Central Valley, Velazquez enjoyed a view of cow-dotted golden fields rather than cars and concrete."
California schools release a blizzard of data, and that’s why parents can’t make sense of it
CALMatters's CAROLYN JAMES: "California has a wealth of data about K-12 public schools — test scores, attendance rates, who’s headed to college and more.
Finding it is another story."
California School Dashboard lacks pandemic focus, earns a D grade in report
EdSource's JOHN FENSTERWALD: "National surveys have determined that parents significantly understate how far behind children are academically because of pandemic learning setbacks. The A’s and B’s that their kids have been getting on their report cards don’t tell the full story, concluded a survey of 2,000 parents .
“To hear parents tell it, the pandemic’s effects on education were transitory. Are they right to be so sanguine? The latest evidence suggests otherwise,” wrote education professors Sean Reardon of Stanford and Tom Kane of Harvard."
California Lottery failed to recall compromised Scratchers tickets, state audit finds
Sacramento Bee's WILLIAM MELHADO: "The California Lottery did not recall compromised Scratchers tickets and failed to follow security testing procedures of some tickets, an audit from the State Controller’s Office has found.
A lottery division found in 2017 that six Scratchers games “catastrophically failed routine internal security tests,” according to the audit. The Lottery’s Security and Law Enforcement Division reported that the Scratchers revealed enough data to compromise the tickets, which SCO auditors interpreted to mean that numbers or images on the tickets could become visible prior to scratching."
California settles affordable housing lawsuit with Elk Grove. What did they agree to?
Sacramento Bee's MARCUS D. SMITH: "The California Department of Justice, Department of Housing and Community Development and the city of Elk Grove reached a settlement in a lawsuit by the state that had accused the city of unlawfully denying a low-income, affordable housing project in May 2023.
“You have a duty and obligation to follow the law of the state of California,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said during a news conference Wednesday. “We will remind you what it is, we hope you will comply when we point that out. But if you don’t, we will sue you. We will take you to court and you will comply one way or the other.”"
