Trump's travel ban has spurred the ouster of acting Attorney General Sally Yates, after she refused to defend the legality of Trump's executive order.
Sacramento Bee's HANNAH ALLAM: "The legal morass created by President Donald Trump’s immigration order deepened Monday, with the government’s top lawyer instructing Justice Department attorneys not to defend the policy in court and Trump responding by firing her."
"Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover who was to serve until Trump’s nominee was installed, said in a letter released to reporters late Monday that she questioned the legality of Trump’s moves to block refugees and temporarily ban entry for citizens from seven Muslim nations."
"I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right,” Yates wrote in the letter, which was published by news agencies. “At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful."
READ MORE related to Muslim Moratorium 2017: Obama speaks up, praising protests and opposing religious test -- N.Y. Times' SOMINI SENGUPTA/MAGGIE HABERMAN/GLENN THRUSH; Senate Leader McConnell cautions Trump on travel ban, warns against 'religious tests' -- ABC News' ALI ROGIN; Outrage, support for Trump travel order course through California Capitol -- Sacramento Bee's TARYN LUNA; Liberals may hate Trump's first 10 days, but GOP base loves it -- The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI; Furor over ban reveals White House, GOP rifts -- The Chronicle's ASHLEY PARKER/PHILIP RUCKER/ROBERT COSTA; Uber, Lyft in spotlight as travel ban roils riders and drivers -- The Chronicle's MARiSSA LANG/CAROLYN SAID; Issa, Hunter have issues with Trump travel ban -- Union-Tribune
Students at UC San Diego, as well as San Diego's Bishop Robert McElroy, have publicly condemnedTrump's travel ban.
Union-Tribune's GARY WARTH/PETER ROWE: "President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily closing the U.S. to travelers and refugees from seven Middle Eastern countries sparked a large protest at UC San Diego Monday and condemnation from San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy, who called the act “shameful” in a written statement."
"This week,” wrote the bishop, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, “the Statue of Liberty lowered its torch in a presidential action which repudiates our national heritage and ignores the reality that Our Lord and the Holy Family were themselves Middle Eastern refugees fleeing government oppression."
"We cannot and will not stand silent."
Meanwhile, another executive order giving all law enforcement officials arrest powers on undocumented residents will be refused compliance by the city of San Francisco.
The Chronicle's VIVIAN HO: "San Francisco police officers and sheriff’s deputies will not follow President Trump’s executive orders on immigration and arrest residents living in the city without proper documentation, Mayor Ed Lee, Police Chief William Scott and Sheriff Vicki Hennessy wrote in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security on Monday."
"Holding strong to their commitment to stand against Trump in his crackdown on immigration and sanctuary cities, Lee, Scott and Hennessy said San Francisco’s public safety agencies will not enforce federal immigration law and that the city “declines to participate in any agreements” noted in the two executive orders Trump signed at the White House last week."
"Both of Trump’s orders “empower State and local law enforcement agencies across the country to perform the functions of an immigration officer in the interior of the United States to the maximum extent permitted by law.”
READ MORE related to Public Safety: Council priorities include national search for next police chief -- Union-Tribune; Navy SEAL killed in Yemen was William 'Ryan' Owens, 36 -- Union-Tribune
Speaking of San Francisco, a group of labor unions have demanded Mayor Ed Lee move them out of the Hall of Justice due to safety hazards.
The Chronicle's EMILY GREEN: "A coalition of labor unions sent Mayor Ed Lee a letter Monday demanding he move them out of the Hall of Justice, a building long deemed seismically unsafe and so dilapidated that fecal matter seeped through some ceilings earlier this year."
"The building at 850 Bryant St. is home to one of the county jails, the district attorney’s office, adult probation offices and the county’s criminal courts. But what to do about the building and how to move the employees and jail elsewhere, have long vexed city officials. In 2015, the Board of Supervisors refused to allocate funds to build a replacement jail, calling the project too expensive and unnecessary."
"But the employees, it seems, are tired of waiting for the city to make a plan. They ask the mayor to direct city officials to immediately lease a building where they can work until it constructs a permanent replacement for the Hall of Justice."
Trump's voter fraud expert, Gregg Phillips, is apparently registered in 3 states himself.
AP: "A man who President Donald Trump has promoted as an authority on voter fraud was registered to vote in multiple states during the 2016 presidential election, the Associated Press has learned."
"Gregg Phillips, whose unsubstantiated claim that the election was marred by 3 million illegal votes was tweeted by the president, was listed on the rolls in Alabama, Texas and Mississippi, according to voting records and election officials in those states. He voted only in Alabama in November, records show."
"In a post earlier this month, Phillips described "an amazing effort" by volunteers tied to True the Vote, an organization whose board he sits on, who he said found "thousands of duplicate records and registrations of dead people."
Marijuana legalization could prove to be an enormous boon for the communities that surround the grow ops of commercial producers.
Sacramento Bee's PETER HECHT: "The city of Sacramento is inviting would-be commercial marijuana producers to agree to pay 1 percent of revenues into a “neighborhood responsibility” fund intended to support community programs and offset impacts of the businesses."
"Officials say the plan approved by the City Council this month is to be expanded to other marijuana entities as the capital city extends current business licenses for cannabis dispensaries and enacts new licensing rules to permit pot-product manufacturers, distributors and delivery services to open over coming months."
"Councilman Eric Guerra, who has complained about a likely high concentration of marijuana-cultivation businesses in industrial parks in his southeast Sacramento district, introduced a resolution last week to conduct a study to determine adverse economic or community impacts the businesses may have and impose fees to address them based on the study results."
READ MORE related to Cannabis: City Council set to discuss cannabis cultivation, Affordable Care Act -- The Daily Californian's EDWARD BOOTH
A win for LGBTQI rights: Boy Scouts allow transgender children into its ranks.
AP's CLAUDIA LAUER: "The Boy Scouts of America announced Monday that it will allow transgender children who identify as boys to enroll in its boys only programs."
"The organization said it had made the decision to begin basing enrollment in its boys-only programs on the gender a child or parent lists on the application to become a scout. The Boy Scouts had previously held a policy that relied on the gender listed on a child's birth certificate for those programs."
"The organization's leadership had considered a recent case in Secaucus, New Jersey, where an 8-year-old transgender child had been asked to leave his Scout troop after parents and leaders found out he is transgender. But the statement issued Monday said the change was made because of the larger conversation about gender identity going on around the country."
The disappearance and subsequent reappearance of Sherri Papini in Northern California has been under an information blackout by authorities involved in her case; here are the known specifics of her unusual kidnapping two months into the investigation.
Sacramento Bee's RYAN SABALOW: "More than two months have passed since a motorist found Sherri Papini chained, bruised and branded on the side of a Yolo County highway early Thanksgiving morning."
"Papini, a 34-year-old mother of two from rural Shasta County, vanished for 22 days and then reappeared with a tale of prolonged abuse at the hands of two women. In the weeks since, neither authorities nor family members have provided details that might help explain the alleged abduction and abuse, or her sudden release."
"We would just appreciate our time to heal and privacy,” Papini’s sister, Sheila Koester, said in a text-message response to a Sacramento Bee interview request. Koester was the family’s primary spokeswoman after Papini went missing Nov. 2 following a jog near her Mountain Gate home."
Camp Pollock has undergone an upgrade that allows enhanced access to the lower American River.
Sacramento Bee's ELLEN GARRISON: "Just blocks from busy Del Paso Boulevard and Highway 160, Camp Pollock’s 1920s-era lodge backs up to a wide green expanse lined by trees and the American River, now swollen with rainfall."
"The Sacramento Valley Conservancy spent the second half of 2016 completing a $1 million restoration of the Myrtle A. Johnston Lodge, adding amenities and bringing the aging building up to disability standards. The camp is a peaceful, 11-acre oasis along the lower American River Parkway, which has been struggling in recent years with a controversial population of homeless campers."
"Originally built in 1924, the wooden lodge features a large indoor space with wide doors opening onto a new redwood wrap-around porch, where bark-covered logs support the roof."
READ MORE related to Environment: Mission Beach Plunge on track for reopening in 2019 -- Union-Tribune's LORI WEISBERG
Sacramento Councilman Jeff Harris has proposed a solution for housing the city's homeless: prefabricated tents.
Sacramento Bee's ANITA CHABRIA: "The rain broke on a recent Thursday afternoon just as Councilman Allen Warren took a backpack full of hand warmers, sanitizer and protein bars and headed out to the rougher parts of his North Sacramento district to give supplies to the homeless."
"He parked on a gravel pullout above the Norwood Avenue bridge and walked through shoe-sucking mud down to its base. The path was stacked with mounds of trash: Green plastic lawn chairs, a no-parking sign, a toilet seat, the handle of an exercise bike with its body buried deep in the sludge."
"Arcade Creek ran fast and full with brown water, so high the tops of barren trees that once lined the bank instead poked through the depths midstream. More than one tent was stranded out there, too, washed away by the rising tides in this winter’s storms."
READ MORE related to Homelessness: Alameda County homeless count to have significant impacts on federal funding -- The Daily Californian's PAMELA LARSON; Ballot initiatives to help pay for homeless services -- N.Y. Times' ERIN MCCANN; Where immigrants from banned nations live in the U.S. -- N.Y. Times
Covered California is trying to recover from serious errors that disrupted the economic security of nearly 50,000 policy holders.
Sacramento Bee's EMILY BAZAR: "Frustrating. Irresponsible. Stressful. Crazy. Devastating. Asinine. The worst."
"Those are some of the words three Californians used to describe their recent experiences enrolling in – and paying for – health coverage from Covered California."
"The state insurance exchange is in the final days of its fourth annual open-enrollment period, which ends Jan. 31, and it has been a burdensome one for many consumers."
READ MORE related to Healthcare: Demand for popular short-term insurance plans could surge if health law is relaxed -- Kaiser Health News' MICHELLE ANDREWS; Republicans to begin tackling pre-existing conditions, Medicaid with hearings this week -- Kaiser Health News; 'We'll be judged in the election': GOP frets over repeal plans -- Kaiser Health News; Headaches persist as Covered California enrollment nears end -- California Healthline; Perserving fertility when it is threatened by life-saving medicine -- California Healthline's ANNA GORMAN; Medicare's coverage of therapy services again is in center of court dispute -- California Healthline's SUSAN JAFFE; Getting patients hooked on an opioid overdose antidote, then raising the price -- California Healthline's SHEFALI LUTHRA
Speaking of health care, Capitol Weekly sat down with Daniel Zingale of the California Endowment to discuss health policy on the podcast.
Capitol Weekly: "In Part 2 of our back-to-back podcasts on health policy, Capitol Weekly headed over to the California Endowment’s offices on K Street to chat with the Endowment’s VP Daniel Zingale about what a repeal of the Affordable Care Act would mean for California. Zingale also weighs in on other health-related topics including Universal Health Care, how your neighborhood affects your health and EXACTLY how bad soda (“it’s mostly chemicals”) is for you. We conducted this interview on Friday, January 27, 2017."
January's weather has given the drought-stricken state much needed respite and replenishment.
Sacramento Bee's RYAN SABALOW: "Think of the snow that falls each winter in the Sierra Nevada as something like a paycheck for California’s water supply. The mountain snow melts and flows into downstream reservoirs, helping pay the “bills” for the state’s agricultural, urban and environmental water supply needs through the hot, dry summer and fall."
"A drought, then, like the historic one that has gripped California for five-plus years and provided little mountain snowfall, is a lot like getting laid off."
“We were basically unemployed for five years when it come came to our (water) income,” said Noah Molotch, director of the Center for Water Earth Science & Technology at the University of Colorado, Boulder."
And now let's takde a look at 'alternative facts', a.k.a. delusion.
Capitol Weekly's CHUCK MCFADDEN: "Writing in The New York Times, John McWhorter, an assistant professor of English at Columbia, tells of the Kuna tribe in Panama. The Kuna chief gives a speech in elevated language, and then an assistant tells the crowd what the chief has just said."
"We may like to think of ourselves as an advanced civilization compared to a tribe in Panama, but today’s spokespeople for politicians are doing the same thing. And one of them has just invented “alternative facts.”
"Pity the poor, poor political reporter."
