Health care: Emotions run high

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon says he is receiving death threats after announcing that California's universal health care bill -- which was approved earlier by the state Senate -- would not move forward in the Assembly.

Sacramento Bee's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Anger over Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon’s decision to shelve universal health care legislation in California has boiled into aggressive protests and even violent rhetoric against the Democratic leader. Rendon said Wednesday that he and his family have experienced “distressing” death threats since announcing late last Friday that the “woefully incomplete” Senate Bill 562 would not move forward this year."

"The threats that I’ve received are threats that, unfortunately, seem to be sort of a standard part of American politics these days,” he said of the messages, which have primarily come through social media. One tweet prays that “someone checks his schedule for baseball practice,” a possible reference to the shooting of Republican congressmen and aides at a baseball field in Washington, D.C., earlier this month."

"Rendon said the animosity toward him is “misdirected” and should be focused on stopping the Republican health care bill in Congress that is projected to strip millions of their insurance coverage. He blamed proponents of SB 562 for hyping up legitimate anxieties over what is happening at the federal level while pushing a proposal in California that is lacking basic details, like how to pay for the estimated $400 billion price tag."

The state capital may soon recruit its first black police chief, Daniel Hahn.

Sacramento Bee's MARCOS BRETON: "The next police chief in Sacramento is shaping up to be a historic one: Daniel Hahn, who currently leads Roseville’s force, is positioned to become the first African American top cop in the state capital."

"On Wednesday, the 49-year-old Hahn accepted a conditional offer from the city to fill the job vacated by Sam Somers Jr. last year and then filled on an interim basis by Brian Louie, according to city leaders."

"The city still has to conduct a background check and certification of Hahn, which should take between four to six weeks, said Arturo Sanchez, assistant city manager. In all likelihood, the background check will be a formality and Hahn could take the reins of the troubled department between mid-August or early September, Sanchez said."

Speaking of police: if you have mounting traffic fines, the state has agreed to no longer rescind your driver's license should you be unable to pay.

AP's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Californians will no longer face losing their driver's licenses because of unpaid traffic fines starting next month."

"Gov. Jerry Brown said the punishment doesn't help the state collect unpaid fines and can send low-income people into a cycle of job losses and more poverty."

"The policy will help ensure people's lives are not derailed by traffic tickets, said Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a Van Nuys Democrat who has championed the issue in the Legislature."

The U.S. Senate Republicans' health care bill just may be Medi-Cal's death knell, with deep cuts that promise to eviscerate a safety net used by large numbers of Californians.

LA Times' SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA: "The Senate healthcare bill released last week would leave California short $115 billion for its Medi-Cal program between 2020 and 2027, according to a state analysis released Wednesday."

"The Medi-Cal program, which is jointly funded by the state and federal government, grew dramatically under the Affordable Care Act to cover 13.5 million Californians, or 1 out of 3 state residents."

"The Senate bill proposes effectively undoing the expansion of the program, which added 3.9 million Californians to the program over the last three years. It also would change the financing structure of the entire program, which largely serves low-income and disabled Californians, so the state would take on more of the costs."

Even though homelessness and housing affordability have seen a recent increase in media coverage accompanied by language describing an epidemic, the truth is that the state has had a housing crisis for half a century -- with little to show for it in terms of progress.

LA Times' LIAM DILLON: "After an hour of debate, Herb Perez had had enough."

"Perez, a councilman in the Bay Area suburb of Foster City, was tired of planning for the construction of new homes to comply with a 50-year-old state law designed to help all Californians live affordably."

"Everyone knows, Perez told the crowd at a 2015 City Council meeting, that the law is a failure. It requires cities and counties to develop plans every eight years for new home building in their communities. After more than a year of work and spending nearly $50,000, Foster City had an 87-page housing plan that proposed hundreds of new homes, mapped where they would go and detailed the many ways the city could help make the construction happen. But a crucial element was missing: Foster City was never going to approve all the building called for in the voluminous proposal, Perez said." 

Speaking of the housing crisis, some 130 bills related to the issue have been proposed in the Legislature in the last 6 months.

Capitol Weekly's DANIEL MARACCINI: "California lawmakers are in midst of trying to solve a housing crisis that has spread throughout the state."

"The crisis, which began largely in the  San Francisco and Los Angeles areas, is quickly becoming a top priority: An array of housing-related bills — 130 and counting — have been proposed in the Legislature since January." 

Speaking of homelessness, 1 in 5 students attending LA Community College are transient (~40,000 students), while almost 66% of the student population has trouble eating nutritiously.

LA Times' GALE HOLLAND: "One in every 5 of the Los Angeles Community College District’s 230,000 students is homeless, and nearly two-thirds can’t afford to eat properly, according to a new survey commissioned by the system’s board of trustees."

"The study looked at students with unstable housing and ”food insecurity,” which is defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as lacking enough to eat to sustain an active, healthy life."

"Nearly half the L.A. community college students surveyed reported struggling with high housing costs. Of the 19% who said they were recently homeless, 8% reported being thrown out of their homes, 4% said they had been evicted, and 6% had stayed in an abandoned building, car or other location not meant for housing, the survey says."

READ MORE related to Education: After-school programs sees financial relief in Gov. Brown's budget -- Daily News' ANTONIE BOESSENKOOL

Last month's WannaCry ransomware attack catapulted a small, upstart cybersecurity firm from Los Angeles onto the global stage. After this week's recent copycat attack, the spotlight has widened.

LA Times' JILL LEOVY: "Salim Neino had been waiting for something like WannaCry."

"Fast, indiscriminate and disruptive, the computer infection locked up computers in British hospitals and was spreading across the world when Neino’s company Kryptos Logic stepped into the ring."

"One of his researchers found a so-called kill switch in the WannaCry code and pounced. "We put it in a triangle choke!" joked Neino, a mixed-martial-arts fan."

Trump's SCOTUS-revised travel ban contains language that makes it impossible for different generations of trans-muslim-national families to travel to America.

AP: "The Trump administration has set new criteria for visa applicants from six mainly Muslim nations and all refugees that require a "close" family or business tie to the United States. The move comes after the Supreme Court partially restored President Trump's executive order that was widely criticized as a ban on Muslims."

"Visas that have already been approved will not be revoked, but instructions issued by the State Department say that new applicants from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Yemen must prove a relationship with a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling already in the United States to be eligible. The same requirement, with some exceptions, holds for would-be refugees from all nations who are still awaiting approval for admission to the U.S."

"Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, fiances or other extended family members are not considered to be “close” relationships, according to the guidelines that were issued in a cable sent to all U.S. embassies and consulates late on Wednesday. The new rules take effect at 8 p.m. EST on Thursday, according to the cable, which was obtained by the Associated Press."

READ MORE related to Beltway/Kremlin: US sets new visa rules for 6 mainly Muslim nations, refugees -- AP's MATTHEW LEE

The GOP's footprint in California is under the risk of being swept away completely as a fractured party strategizes on how to get itself out of the corner it's been backed into.

LA Times' SEEMA MEHTA: "The GOP may be in dire straits in California, but a flurry of recent moves suggests the party of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon is not willing to abandon the 2018 gubernatorial race, as it did four years ago."

"The big question is if the party will be able to marshal enough support behind a Republican candidate for governor and avoid a repeat of last fall’s Senate campaign, which, thanks to the top-two primary, was fought between two Democratic candidates."

"Several Republicans are in the mix. They include conservative Orange County Assemblyman Travis Allen and Rancho Santa Fe venture capitalist John Cox. Speculation is mounting that former state Assemblyman David Hadley plans to announce a run. There also are furious efforts to recruit San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer into the race, because he is viewed as the strongest possible contender."

Bassem Youssef fled Cairo under death threats from the military arm of President Abdel Sisi's government; now he is trying to set his own story in stone in Los Angeles.

LA Times' JEFFREY FLEISHMAN: "He lives in exile far from the revolution and time that made him famous."

"Out near La Brea, drizzle blows through jacaranda, a gardener hurries past a pool. Bassem Youssef sips coffee, craving a mango from Egypt, his homeland, where from a laundry room in his apartment he started a political satire show that captured the passion of the 2011 uprising and turned him into one of the most influential voices in the Middle East."

"That’s over, at least for a while. Death threats and pressure from the military-backed government of President Abdel Fattah Sisi forced him to flee Cairo. Now, at 43, Youssef, a former heart surgeon, is taking acting classes, arranging meetings with agents and producers, working on his elocution, writing scripts and seeking reinvention in a new city that is at once fantastical and cruel."

Recent special election losses in ruby red districts has many Democrats vying for a change in leadership, but Nancy Pelosi is a gladitorial heavyweight who is relishing 'being back in the arena.'

The Chronicle's JOHN WILDERMUTH: "For San Francisco Rep. Nancy Pelosi, there’s nothing new about being targeted by Republicans. After 30 years in Congress and 15 years as leader of the House Democrats, it comes with the territory."

"But since a devastating June 20 loss for an open House seat in the Atlanta suburbs capped a 0-for-4 run in GOP-friendly special elections, the 77-year-old Pelosi has found herself taking fire from fellow Democrats who argue that the famously liberal minority leader is just too controversial — and add, in whispers, too old — to effectively remain the face of the party."