Jerry Brown will be headed to China to promote environmental protection, announcing his plans at a recent conference on carbon reduction.
Sacramento Bee's CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO: "Gov. Jerry Brown jabbed repeatedly at President Donald Trump’s skepticism of climate change on Thursday, contending that China has stepped into the role of the world’s “great hope."
"Brown, at a conference on carbon reduction, also announced he would be traveling to China in June to promote environmental protection."
“It’s very paradoxical that we have a president who says two things: No. 1, climate change is a hoax. That’s his first value proposition,” Brown said. “His second is that it was created by China. And the truth is that China is on a path to do a hell of a lot more than the Trump administration in dealing with climate change. So, if there’s any hoax, it’s in the White House, not in Beijing."
READ MORE related to Environment: Lawmakers approve controversial Democrat for Ag Labor board -- Sacramento Bee's TARYN LUNA; That salad will cost you. California veggie prices soar because of rain. -- Sacramento Bee's DALE KASLER; Evangelical leaders find climate change a tough sell -- The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI
Two councilmen from the state capital region passed away unexpectedly on Thursday morning.
Sacramento Bee's ELLEN GARRISON: "Citrus Heights Councilman Melvin Turner and Rancho Cordova Councilman Dan Skoglund died Thursday morning in a sudden loss to the cities they served for years, including terms as mayor."
"Turner, 67, died early Thursday after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, Citrus Heights officials said. Skoglund, 66, died unexpectedly Thursday morning due to complications from a recent surgery, according to the city of Rancho Cordova."
"Assemblyman Ken Cooley, D-Rancho Cordova, informed colleagues of the deaths on the Assembly floor Thursday."
READ MORE related to Local: Garcetti's State of the City charts a course of 'bold action' for LA as his budget stakes out top priorities -- LA Times' DAKOTA SMITH/ALPERT REYES/DAVID ZAHNISER
The death of a judge in New York originally thought to be a suicide has now been deemed suspicious.
LA Times' BARBARA DEMICK: "The mystery of how a prominent African American judge came to be found floating dead in the Hudson River has deepened as her family and widowed husband disputed suggestions by the New York Police Department that she had committed suicide."
"What is known is that Sheila Abdus-Salaam, 65, a judge on the state’s highest court, went for a walk alone on the evening of April 11, locking the door to her Harlem brownstone, leaving her phone and wallet at home. Surveillance cameras showed her walking alone near the river shortly after midnight, according to the New York Police Department. The next afternoon, her body, fully clothed in sweat pants and sneakers, was found at the edge of the river in an area popular with joggers and bicycle riders."
"In the initial days, police said that the death appeared to be a suicide because there were no obvious signs of trauma to her body. Reports circulated that her family had a history of suicide — that her 92-year-old mother had taken her life during the Easter holiday in 2012 and her brother two years later. But her family now disputes those stories, saying in a statement that Abdus-Salaam’s mother died naturally of old age and her brother of terminal lung cancer."
READ MORE related to Beltway: US prosecutors weighing charges against WikiLeaks, reports say -- AP
A local politician's family has received threats after his for-vote in Jerry Brown's $52b tax plan was made known to the public.
Sacramento Bee's TARYN LUNA: "The only Republican lawmaker to vote for the controversial $52 billion transportation deal says he received hundreds of angry calls on his personal cellphone and at home, some threatening, the day after the measure passed in the California Legislature."
"Look, I’m a grown man and I’m an elected official. I expect it,” said Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Modesto. “Talking to my wife, come on. Talking to my kids, that’s unbelievable."
"Cannella said his cellphone and home address were shared publicly the day after the vote. He said he did not know who shared the information and that he changed his number the same day. Cannella did not detail the nature of the threats. He said the California Highway Patrol is making extra patrols of his neighborhood."
READ MORE related to Transportation: Bike-share coming to Sacramento, West Sacramento and Davis -- Sacramento Bee's TONY BIZJAK
Bill O'Reilly has been disgraced after a barrage of sexual harassment claims finally forced his ouster from his Fox News enclave, where he's had exposure for two decades.
LA Times' CHRIS BARTON: "Bill O’Reilly’s more than 20-year reign at Fox News was, essentially, a series of confrontations."
"Pinheads, culture warriors, political correctness and the “media elite” were the favored targets for a host who structured his show, “The O’Reilly Factor,” as a nightly account of the larger fight he and, presumably, his audience were waging against Where This Country Is Headed (i.e. away from what he called traditional values)."
"O’Reilly was a pugnacious and assured onscreen presence, and he helped shift the TV news landscape toward the ratings potential of opinion and outrage entertainment. “The O’Reilly Factor,” which aired daily at 8 p.m. EST and again at 11 p.m., spoke primarily in absolutes and paved the way for Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Keith Olbermann and, to an extent, Stephen Colbert, who based his pundit persona on O’Reilly for Comedy Central’s Emmy-winning “Colbert Report."
READ MORE related to Economy: Embattled tax board director: My job was threatened -- Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON
The use of the MOAB superweapon has reignited post-soviet era traumas in the local Afghan population who fear a prolonged military conflict between both countries.
The Chronicle's MIZGON ZAHIR DARBY: "The United States dropped “the mother of all bombs” on caves in Afghanistan on April 13 — just days ahead of the Moscow-backed peace talks with Afghanistan. While it’s reported that the bombing resulted in few civilian casualties in the mountainous Achin District, the Trump administration’s actions are traumatizing the Afghan American community in the Bay Area."
"Zakia has been in the United States legally for more than 30 years. But, because she is a refugee, she wonders if she will be sent back to Afghanistan."
"I didn’t like Afghanistan when it was safe for women like me to wear mini-skirts and go out openly, let alone now,” she said. “Do you think they will send me back there? I am a citizen of the United States now. I came here as a refugee because I had to — not because I wanted a better life, but because I had to — they would have killed my daughter and me if we stayed in Afghanistan."
READ MORE related to Immigration: Trump wants to ramp up deportations, but ICE probably won't be able to keep up -- LA Times' JOSEPH TANFANI
Thousands turned out for the Hippie Hill 4/20 event at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
The Chronicle's FILIPA IOANNOU/MICHAEL BODLEY/KEVIN FAGAN: "By the thousands they came, from all over the Bay Area and across California, in billowing clouds of sweet-smelling smoke and scarfing enough munchies to fulfill even the hungriest stoner’s dreams."
"Thursday was the annual friendly invasion of Golden Gate Park by marijuana fans to mark their celebration of April 20, and despite some official jitters over having so many weed-fogged people in one place at the same time, when the last bong hits flickered out, the day had lived up to its laid-back goals of fun and sun."
