Court case could 'financially cripple' California unions
Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON: "Thirteen years ago, California’s teacher union went toe-to-toe with the state’s movie star governor and crushed him at the ballot box, funding almost half of the $121 million campaign that swamped his proposals to revamp tenure and restrict government spending."
"The rejection of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2005 initiatives sent a message that tangling with the state’s public employee unions would be a costly and a potentially fruitless fight."
"But the next governor might not have to make the same calculation."
READ MORE related to Battle of a Generation: Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal employees, Council 31 -- SCOTUSBlog; The right is trying to take down public sector unions. It may bring much more down with it. -- The Intercept's RACHEL M. COHEN; Behind a key anti-labor case, a web of conservative donors -- NYT's NOAM SCHEIBER/KENNETH P. VOGEL; OP-ED: SCOTUS Janus case is bigger than unions. Upward mobility is at stake -- USA Today's NEERA TANDEN; The SCOTUS has a chance to correct itself on unions -- National Review's GEORGE WILL; Public-Sector Union fees don't violate the First Amendment -- The Nation's DAVID COLE/AMANDA SHANOR; Hundreds to rally for union rights in downtown Pittsburgh as court hears Janus v. AFSCME -- AP/WTAE.COM
No Democratic endorsement for Dianne Feinstein in sixth US Senate campaign
Sacramento Bee's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Running for a sixth term in the U.S. Senate, Dianne Feinstein will not have the official support of her state party."
"Delegates at the California Democratic Party convention on Saturday denied an endorsement to the veteran lawmaker, who received only 37 percent of the nearly 2,800 votes cast. Her principal challenger, state Senate leader Kevin de León, received 54 percent of the vote, just short of the 60 percent threshold to capture the Democratic endorsement."
"Feinstein has a long history of encountering political opposition at the California party convention, which draws a much more liberal crowd than the moderate senator. She was famously booed during her 1990 gubernatorial bid for supporting the death penalty, a showdown she later touted in a television ad."
READ MORE related to State Politics: Nancy Pelosi is the most conservative candidate in her 2018 race -- McClatchy DC's EMILY CADEI; Liberals fight for the soul of the California Democratic Party -- Sacramento Bee's ANGELA HART/ALEXEI KOSEFF; California Democrats snub of party icon Dianne Feinstein could be a speed bump, or a signal -- LA Times' SEEMA MEHTA/PHIL WILLON; Dave Min, Hans Keirstead win state Democratic Party nods in House races against Walters, Rohrabacher -- SCNG's MARTIN WISCKOL
Here's your chance to chat with SF's mayor
The Chronicle's MATIER & ROSS: "Reaching into the Willie Brown playbook, San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell is bringing back sit-down sessions for which anyone can sign up and, if chosen in a lottery, talk with the mayor for 10 minutes — about anything at all."
"The first “Open Door Chat” will be Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Farrell intends to hold them on the first and third Fridays of the month."
"I want to make sure my time as mayor is guided by the issues that impact the day-to-day lives of our residents,” Farrell said. “I have no doubt I’ll get an earful, but that is what I am hoping for."
State Sen. Bob Hertzberg's accuser, an ex-colleague, says he should go
The Chronicle's MELODY GUTIERREZ: "Former Assemblywoman Linda Halderman is closely following the sexual harassment scandal as it unfolds at the state Capitol, taking down one elected official after another."
"She’s particularly interested, she said, because she filed a complaint against a sitting senator, who, unlike other accused lawmakers, has not been pressured to resign or step aside during the sexual misconduct investigation."
"Halderman wants to know why Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a Democrat from Van Nuys, has been able to continue his day-to-day work as a lawmaker during the investigation when another senator, Tony Mendoza, was barred from showing up in the building as allegations against him were investigated."
READ MORE related to Me Too: Weinstein Co. will file for bankruptcy after deal talks collapse -- NYT's BROOKS BARNES
The next big front in California's water war
CALmatters' DAN WALTERS: "After one year of torrential respite, drought may have returned to California, and with it, a renewal of the state’s perpetual conflict over water management."
"State and federal water systems have told farmers not to expect more than a fifth of their paper allocations, the state Water Resources Control Board is weighing a new regime of mandatory conservation, and supporters of more reservoirs are complaining about the glacial pace of spending $2.7 billion set aside in a water bond for more storage."
"The drought that seemed to be washed away by last year’s heavy rain and snow storms had spawned some water management changes that would have seemed unthinkable a few years earlier – most notably a landmark groundwater management system that’s still being developed."
READ MORE related to Environment: Authorities on alert as winter storm moves toward charred mountains in Santa Barbara County -- LA Times' ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN; Finding more time to detect a tsunami -- The Economist; Supervisors to consider additional Butte Creek Canyon development rules -- Chico ER's STAFF; On the front lines of sea-level rise, sewage treatment plants adapt -- Water Deeply's MATT WEISER; The ocean's 'twilight zone' faces fishing threat -- Oceans Deeply's ALASTAIR BLAND; More snow and rain -- enough to raise mudslide concerns -- coming in next winter storm -- The Press-Enterprise's NIKIE JOHNSON
Warning of ICE action, Oakland mayor takes Trump resistance to new level
The Chronicle's KIMBERLY VEKLEROV/WENDY LEE: "The relationship between U.S. immigration officials and California’s liberal leaders soured long ago, but Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s decision to warn potential targets of federal arrest that an immigration sweep could be imminent was an extraordinary escalation."
"Schaaf said she issued the alert Saturday night after receiving confidential tips from “credible sources” who revealed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, was planning arrests across the Bay Area as soon as Sunday."
"She and Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick discussed the reports before Schaaf concluded that the information was solid enough to warrant going public, according to people familiar with her thinking. Schaaf said she also conferred with legal counsel to make sure she wasn’t opening herself up to federal prosecution."
Gun laws force Elk Grove Historical Society to cancel Revolutionary War reenactment
Sacramento Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "After nine months of planning, a Revolutionary War festival planned to be held this April at Elk Grove Regional Park has been canceled due to local codes that prohibit use of firearms, the Elk Grove Citizen reported last week."
"Hosted by the Elk Grove Historical Society, the event had planned to include battle reenactments involving as many as 13 muskets. But in December, the historical society learned that city firearm codes would be enforced at the park, and earlier this month the Cosumnes Community Services District rejected the group's request to make an exception, according to the Citizen."
"Being reported less than two weeks after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida prompted nationwide gun-control discussions, the reenactment's cancellation made national headlines this week. Fox Newsreported that officials asked the Elk Grove group if they could use wooden sticks in place of muskets. The historical society panned that idea."
READ MORE related to Gun Violence Pandemic: We have all the data we need: Stronger gun laws would save lives -- LA Times' DEVIN HUGHES/MARK BRYANT; Is this the moment for gun control? A gridlocked Congress is under pressure -- NYT's SHERYL GAY STOLBERG/JONATHAN MARTIN/THOMAS KAPLAN; Florida students return, gingerly, to their scarred high school -- NYT's JACK HEALY/PATRICIA MAZZEI; Trump is driving a surge in public support for stricter gun laws since Florida -- WaPo's JAMES HOHMANN
His job is to fix racial inequality in Sacramento schools. Will you support him?
Sacramento Bee's MARCOS BRETON: "Does Sacramento have the will to reform its public schools so that a more diverse pool of students is ready to compete for the most elite high school programs in town and the most elite colleges and universities in America?"
"I don't know. Jorge Aguilar, the new superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District, doesn't know either. It's an open question without a reassuring answer, but Aguilar is going to try to upend the district's public schools."
"Newly arrived from a distinguished career as an educational reformer in Fresno, Aguilar has a vision for lifting more kids beyond their limited prospects. He has the data to show that Sac City is falling short in its mission to prepare the city's future workforce and it's operating under a system where a select few students excel and everyone else is mired in underachievement."
READ MORE related to Education: Transgender wrestler is booed after second straight state title win -- Star-Telegram's PETER DAWSON; Essential Education: LA Unified fights a long legal battle to recoup overcharges in Cafeteria Construction -- LA Times' DAVID FLESHLER
It begins: Movement to recall Pico Rivera Councilman (and controversial El Rancho High teacher) Gregory Salcido
Whittier Daily News' MIKE SPRAGUE/SANDRA T. MOLINA: "The effort to recall Pico Rivera Councilman Gregory Salcido — who in his day job as a local high school teacher was videotaped raging against the military — is underway."
"On the video, which went viral, Salcido can be heard in his El Rancho High government class criticizing 17-year-old Victor Quiñonez, sometimes with profanity, for wearing a sweatshirt with a logo of the U.S. Marines Corps. Salcido said only those without options would choose the military as a career and called soldiers the “lowest of the low."
"Fellow El Rancho High teacher, Pico Rivera resident Raul Elias, has taught economics and introduction to law for 13 years. He said Salcido’s comments were “the last straw” for him: He’s launched a campaign to get him removed from office."
OP-ED: The homeless in LA are not who you think they are
LA Times EDITORIAL BOARD: "Many people think of homelessness as a problem of substance abusers and mentally ill people, of chronic skid row street-dwellers pushing shopping carts. But increasingly, the crisis in Los Angeles today is about a less visible (but more numerous) group of “economically homeless” people. These are people who have been driven onto the streets or into shelters by hard times, bad luck and California’s irresponsible failure to address its own housing needs."
"Consider Nadia, whose story has become typical. When she decided she had to end her abusive marriage, she knew it would be hard to find an affordable place to live with her three young children. With her husband, she had paid $2,000 a month for a three-bedroom condo in the San Fernando Valley, but prices were rising rapidly, and now two-bedroom apartments in the area were going for $2,400 — an impossible rent for a single parent who worked part time at Magic Mountain."
"For months she hunted while staying with family and friends. She qualified for a unit in a low-income housing project, but the waiting list was two years long. She obtained a federal Section 8 voucher to subsidize the rent in a market-rate apartment, but landlord after landlord refused to accept Section 8, or charged a rent that was too high to meet the federal government’s unrealistically low “fair-market rent” limit."
He spent five years on the road. Here are the weirdest things he saw in California
Sacramento Bee's DEBBIE ARRINGTON: "For five years, journalist Sam McManis tried to find the real California. Not the glossy Hollywood version or the stereotypical haven of left coast craziness; instead, McManis searched for offbeat places and people that embodied the unique spirit of his home state."
"What he found often surprised and dumbfounded readers, but always proved truth is way stranger than fiction."
"There was no doubt that something about California inspires – and maybe infuriates,” McManis wrote. “My mission was to find out what that something was."
READ MORE related to Transportation: Rocky Roads: Where gas tax increase is being used -- Chico ER's STAFF; It's done! Monrovia finishes restoring its historic train depot -- SCNG's PENNY AREVALO/STEVE SCAUZILLO
Robert Durst's murder case marked by acrimony and ugly confrontations between lawyers
LA Times' MARISA GERBER: "It's a rivalry teetering on mutual disgust."
"The battle between the prosecution and the high-priced legal team defending New York real estate scion Robert Durst in his Los Angeles murder case has frequently devolved into accusations of misconduct, incompetence, bullying and, after one ugly hallway confrontation between two of the attorneys, even slander."
"Nothing is too small to bicker about. Not who should pay for a retired detective's pet sitter while he testifies. Not who gets more minutes to talk in court."
READ MORE related to Public Safety: Why we need bail reform: California shouldn't be requiring a payment for freedom -- LA Times' GEORGE SKELTON
News of our past: Citizens asked to donate books for WWI soldiers
Chico ER's SALLY MAU: "This war must not be a war of destruction only, but must also be constructive. During training and service, our fighting men must receive humanizing, helpful effects of good reading."
"A campaign was inaugurated for books to be gathered and sent to the American Library Association’s libraries at Pacific Coast cantonments."
"It was decided to secure from Chico donors 3,000 volumes of good reading. Every citizen is expected to donate at least one book."
GOP faces its first tax-cut test
McClatchy DC's ALEX ROARTY/KATIE GLUECK: "Since the tax law's passage in December, Republicans have watched it become more popular, the economic news grow more positive, and their own political standing improve."
"Now comes a much bigger challenge: Can the party’s tax cuts actually move votes?"
"A special House election in Pennsylvania next month will be the best political test yet of the tax law, a potential vindication of — or warning to — Republicans who hope that its passage will fundamentally alter a political environment that recently appeared to threaten their House majority."
Dems release Russia probe memo defending FBI surveillance
AP's MARY CLARE JALONICK/CHAD DAY: "Two weeks after President Donald Trump blocked its full release, the House Intelligence Committee published a partially blacked-out version of a classified Democratic memo aiming to counter a GOP narrative that the FBI and Justice Department conspired against Trump as they investigated his ties to Russia."
"The document’s release Saturday was the latest development in an extraordinary back and forth between Republicans and Democrats about the credibility of multiple inquiries into links between the Trump campaign and Russia, and the integrity of the top U.S. law enforcement agencies."
"The document attempts to undercut and add context to some of the main points from a declassified Republican memo made public earlier this month. In that memo, Republicans went after the FBI and the Justice Department over the use of information compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele in obtaining a secret warrant to monitor the communications of onetime Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page."
READ MORE related to POTUS45/KremlinGate: What we learned from the Democratic response to the Nunes memo -- and what we didn't -- WaPo's PHILIP BUMP; The Schiff Memo harms Democrats more than it helps them -- National Review's ANDREW C. MCCARTHY; Q&A: What the battle of memos on FBI surveillance showed -- AP's MARY CLARE JALONICK; Robert Mueller's military career, detailed in documents, was brief but remarkable -- WaPo's DAN LAMOTHE; Mueller is gaining steam. Should Trump worry? -- NYT's PETER BAKER; Trump has long vowed to slash government. Now the knives are finally coming out. -- WaPo's JULIET EILPERIN; Russian meddling is only one challenge facing the social-media giant -- The Economist; OP-ED: America doesn't need Russia to ruin democracy. It can do it itself -- WaPo's ANNE APPLEBAUM; Stormy Daniels brings her whirlwind tour to North Hollywood -- LA Times' BENJAMIN ORESKES; John Dean warns Gates's testimony may be 'the end' of Trump's presidency -- The Hill's REBECCA SAVRANSKY; Manafort's LA bankruptcy fight may offer new avenue for Mueller probe -- Reuter's NATHAN LAYNE; Talks with North Korea should include 'denuclearisation' -- Al Jazeera; McMaster gives a belated Russian lesson -- FP's LIESL SCHILLINGER; 5 myths about Trump's North Korea policy -- FP's PATRICK M. CRONIN
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The Roundup is compiled by Associate Editor Geoff Howard. Complaints? Comments? Suggestions? Email him at geoff@capitolweekly.net
