In a historic move, Gov. Brown is expected to sign off on the new minimum wage bill today.
From AP's Don Thompson: "California's governor is setting in motion the most populous state's climb toward the nation's highest statewide minimum wage of $15 an hour to take effect by 2022."
"Gov. Jerry Brown's bill signing on Monday, and a similar effort in New York, mark the most ambitious moves yet to close the national divide between rich and poor. Experts say other states may follow, given Congress' reluctance to act despite entreaties from President Barack Obama."
"I'm hoping that what happens in California will not stay in California but spread all across the country," the Democratic governor said last week as he announced his agreement with labor leaders."
UC, under fire from a state audit last week that raised questions about the school's admission and fiscal policies, is funding generous home loans for its faculty.
From the Bee's Alexei Koseff: "When UC Berkeley law school professor Mark Gergen was considering a move from Texas in 2007, the biggest factor in his decision was the quality of the institution."
"But a low-interest home loan offered by the University of California, which helped him buy into the expensive Bay Area market, certainly helped."
“It was a material factor,” Gergen said. “It made it much easier to persuade my wife.”
Since 1984, more than 6,000 UC professors and nearly 200 executives have saved thousands of dollars a year through a university program to assist them in purchasing residences near the campuses where they work."
More ripples from that state audit: Apparently, out-of-state tuition is huge business for the UC system.
Matier and Ross: "One of the more interesting footnotes in the recent state auditor’s report on University of California admissions was the extent to which the booming enrollment in out-of-state students is funding campuses."
"UC began allowing campuses to keep out-of-state tuition money starting in 2008. Systemwide, the amount that campuses spent on recruitment promptly shot up: It was $900,000 in 2010, and by 2014 it was $4.5 million."
"That was a good investment, considering that out-of-state students’ tuition totaled $728 million in fiscal 2014 — more than double the $325 million of three years earlier."
Seema Mehta with LAT writes: "Campaigning for his wife ahead of California’s Democratic primary, former President Bill Clinton rallied supporters Sunday in downtown Los Angeles, saying his family has special ties to the state."
“California has been uncommonly good to my family,” he told more than 1,000 people in a courtyard at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College."
"Clinton recalled clinching the Democratic nomination in California’s 1992 primary on his way to winning his first term in the White House. Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama in the hard-fought 2008 primary, but she ultimately lost the nomination."
Speaking of politicians, the Chronicle took a look at the similarities between ex-Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.
The Chronicle's Joe Garofoli and John Wildermuth report: "The comet-like political arcs of Donald Trump and Arnold Schwarzenegger seem remarkably similar — at first."
"Both parachuted into a race as smack-talking political novices with near-100 percent name recognition. Both leveraged their celebrity to climb over an overstuffed field of underwhelming opponents. Both were viewed suspiciously by conservative Republicans."
More on the Clintons: Bill and Daughter Chelsea were also spotted volunteering at East Oakland schools over the weekend.
From Jill Tucker in the Chronicle: "Former President Bill Clinton and his daughter, Chelsea Clinton, joined hundreds of volunteers at an Oakland school Sunday for a day of service that included a coat of paint and freshly potted plants."
"The work at Havenscourt-Lockwood campus in East Oakland, which houses five schools, was about making a huge impact on one site in one short day, Superintendent Antwan Wilson said in a statement. The volunteers painted murals, organized the library, and created colorful art pieces for the garden and other areas of the school, among other improvements."
"School board members and Mayor Libby Schaaf, as well as Oakland graduate and NFL player Marshawn Lynch, also participated in the event."
And now, from our "April Fools" file, Google apparently needs to hire new pranksters to coordinate their April Fools' gimmicks, after this year's joke fell horribly flat and even resulted in a person's unemployment from their company.
"Google hastily removed an April Fools' Day feature on Friday that allowed Gmail users to send emails and not see the replies, after the joke fell very flat with some people."
"The prank, called "Mic Drop," gave users the option of sending emails through a special send button that - if the person replied - did not show the response. Users could ignore the feature, but some apparently clicked in error on the special button instead of the usual button."
"Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year. Due to a bug, the Mic Drop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs," Google said in a Gmail blog post after its help forum filled with complaints."
