For less than $5 a month, SoCal ratepayers can pay for Delta tunnels, agency says
Sacramento Bee's RYAN SABALOW: "Pushing ahead with an ambitious effort to take a majority stake in the state’s troubled $16.7 billion tunnels project, Southern California’s behemoth water agency announced Tuesday that the plan would cost its ratepayers less than $5 a month."
"On Tuesday, staff at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California told board members $4.80 was the most the 6.2 million households in Metropolitan’s service area could expect to pay if the agency moves ahead with plans to take on 65 percent of the share of building both tunnels."
"Metropolitan officials said the $4.80 figure may be on the high side."
READ MORE related to Energy & Environment: SF complains PG&E is holding up major projects with unreasonable demands -- The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA; Deeply Talks: Sandra Postel on fixing the broken water cycle -- Water Deeply's IAN EVANS; Yosemite: $13M upgrade coming to Bridalveil Fall area -- Mercury News's PAUL ROGERS
Protesters block Golden 1 Center, again, after disrupting council meeting on shooting of Stephon Clark
From the SacBee's DALE KASLER, TONY BIZJAK, NASHELLY CHAVEZ and HUDSON SANGREE: "Hundreds of protesters headed toward Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento and blocked its entrance Tuesday night for the second time in a week, preventing Kings fans from attending an NBA game as the protesters called for action in the police shooting of Stephon Clark."
"A few blocks away, a Sacramento City Council meeting intended to address the shooting and others like it quickly devolved into chaos, with council members leaving the dais, police officers entering the City Hall chambers and some protesters and pastors calling for the overflow crowd to show restraint."
"Members of the public testified for several hours, lamenting what they called endemic racism among police and a lack of meaningful action by public officials in Sacramento for decades."
Protesters called him 'Uncle Tom.' He took the abuse because that's how the CHP -- and his dad -- trained him
Sacramento Bee's MARCOS BRETON: "Protesters mourning the death of Stephon Clark vented their frustration and grief at all the California Highway Patrol officers blocking their path on I Street as they attempted to shut down Interstate 5 on Friday."
"But one officer was berated more personally and intensely than any other cop from a special CHP tactical unit wearing riot gear that day."
"CHP Sgt. Ron Wade, 45, was the lone African American in a group of roughly 30 officers lined up in formation on I Street near the onramp to northbound lanes of Interstate 5."
READ MORE related to Stephon Clark Shooting: California Justice Dept. will review policing in Sacramento, joins probe in Stephon Clark case -- The Chronicle's MELODY GUTIERREZ; Stephon Clark killing gets independent investigation as protests mount -- LA Times's NICOLE SANTA CRUZ/PAIGE ST. JOHN/ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN; Al Sharpton will deliver Stephon Clark eulogy in service open to the public -- Sacramento Bee's NASHELLY CHAVEZ
CA120: The changing nature of public polls
MARK DICAMILLO in Capitol Weekly: "The public opinion polling industry in many ways is at a crossroads."
"For years, public polls were mostly conducted by means of live telephone interviews using a “random digit dialing” (RDD) sampling method that attempts to give all respondents an equal chance of being called."
"These probability-based procedures, long the gold standard of the polling industry, are being increasingly displaced by online Internet-based polls, most of which are based on large-scale online panels of pre-recruited respondents."
How asking about citizenship on the census could affect California
McClatchy DC's EMILY CADEI: "California has a lot to lose if the 2020 census undercounts the state’s population. The U.S. Commerce Department’s decision this week to include a controversial citizenship question on the decennial count of the country’s population is ratcheting up fears that the state could lose billions in funding, services, and even a congressional seat after the next census."
"In a statement released Monday night, Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that, per a December request from the Justice Department, “a question on citizenship status will be reinstated to the 2020 decennial census questionnaire to help enforce the Voting Rights Act."
"Secretary Ross determined that obtaining complete and accurate information to meet this legitimate government purpose outweighed the limited potential adverse impacts,” the statement continued."
READ MORE related to Immigration: California, NY sue Trump administration over addition of citizenship question to census -- WaPo's SAMANTHA SCHMID; What courts will be looking at in judging new census question on citizenship -- The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO/HAMED ALEAZIZ; Trump administration's census plan would hurt California, state officials say. Can it be stopped? -- LA Times's EVAN HALPER; Orange County supervisors vote to fight California 'sanctuary' laws -- LA Times's CINDY CARCAMO; A California sheriff is skirting state 'sanctuary' laws to help ICE capture undocumented immigrants -- WaPo's ALEX HORTON
In SF, GOP candidate for governor Travis Allen takes a hard right and keeps going
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "Republicans as conservative as gubernatorial candidate Travis Allen are a fading breed in California and nearly extinct in San Francisco."
"But Allen didn’t pull any punches Tuesday during an appearance at the University of San Francisco. There, in the sanctuary city he ridicules on the campaign trail as a squalid den of petty crime and lawless liberals, few Democrats west of the Sierra were spared the wrath of the three-term assemblyman from Huntington Beach (Orange County) during a free-wheeling on-stage discussion at USF with Politico’s Carla Marinucci."
READ MORE related to State Politics: Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia says she made homophobic remark 'in a moment of anger' -- LA Times's MELANIE MASON; California Legislature will 'proactively' release records on unsubstantiated sexual harassment complaints -- LA Times's MELANIE MASON
Gun violence has defined Sen. Dianne Feinstein's political career. The issue is more important than ever for her now
LA Times's SEEMA MEHTA: "Dianne Feinstein was settling into her office at San Francisco City Hall after a two-week vacation in the Himalayas. A former colleague passed by, but didn't respond when she called out. She heard gun shots. And then silence."
"The year was 1978, and Feinstein was president of the county board of supervisors. She was the first person to discover Supervisor Harvey Milk on the floor of his office."
"I could smell the gunpowder. Harvey was on his stomach," Feinstein told The Times in an interview. "I tried to find a pulse. I put my finger in a bullet hole."
Uber puts the brakes on testing robot cars in California after Arizona fatality
The Chronicle's CAROLYN SAID: "Uber plans to end all autonomous-car testing in California for the foreseeable future, according to a letter from the state Department of Motor Vehicles to the company."
"The move follows a March 18 crash in Tempe, Ariz., in which an Uber car operating in autonomous mode struck and killed a pedestrian. After that fatality, the ride-hailing company temporarily suspended its driverless car testing in Tempe, Pittsburgh, Toronto and San Francisco, the four cities where it operates the cars."
READ MORE related to Transportation: Tesla claims Highway 101 safety barrier was absent at time of fatal crash -- Mercury News' MARK GOMEZ
Company sells California town it planned to make cannabis mecca
AP's JOHN ROGERS: "Could plans to turn an old California ghost town into a marijuana mecca be going up in smoke?"
"Cannabis technology company American Green, which bought Nipton for $5 million last year, has sold it to another company for $7.7 million, acknowledging it struggled to raise the money needed to remake the old desert mining town into a pot paradise."
Khan Academy founder wins 2018 Visionary of the Year award
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "When Salman Khan began posting videos on YouTube more than a decade ago, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur had no idea of the celebrity he would gain, nor the impact he would have."
"His online tutorials in math, with their encouraging counsel informed by degrees from Harvard and MIT, were made for friends and family struggling in school. But his audience quickly grew. Before long, Khan had quit his day job in finance to carry out a goal of delivering free Internet instruction to the world. His educational website was called Khan Academy."
"On Tuesday night, Khan, 41, was presented the fourth annual Visionary of the Year Award, an honor announced by The San Francisco Chronicle at a gala at the War Memorial Veterans Building."
READ MORE related to Education: Bonanza for schools as SF crypto king Ripple gives $29M to DonorsChoose.org -- The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER; UC schools reject March for Our Lives leader David Hogg -- Mercury News's PUENG VONGS
'He's a coward,' says sister of slain deputy after Luis Bracamontes gets the death penalty
Sacramento Bee's SAM STANTON: "Luis Bracamontes got the sentence Tuesday that he has claimed he wanted all along: the death penalty for the 2014 slayings of Sacramento sheriff's Deputy Danny Oliver and Placer sheriff's Detective Michael Davis Jr."
"The verdicts, announced after four hours of deliberation by a Sacramento Superior Court jury, came in a brief hearing before Judge Steve White during which Bracamontes spent the entire time smiling broadly, sometimes at the families of the dead deputies."
"Whatever effect he was hoping for didn't work. Elated family members of the deputies said afterward that they wanted Bracamontes in the courtroom, and they wanted him to see them smiling back at him as he heard the verdict."
OC pushes homeless off the street but can't find anywhere to shelter them
LA Times's ANH DO/CINDY CARCAMO/JOSEPH SERNA: "Anaheim removed bus benches near Disneyland in response to complaints about homeless people sleeping on them and loitering nearby."
"Then Orange County pushed hundreds out of an encampment along the Santa Ana River trail. Officials have also vowed to remove the tent city that has taken root at the Santa Ana Civic Center."
Medi-Cal spending on opioid addiction treatments skyrockets
The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO: "California’s health insurance program for the poor, Medi-Cal, has seen a greater rise in spending on prescription drugs to treat opioid use disorders — and a bigger increase in the number of the drug units the program pays for — than almost any other state, according to data from the Urban Institute think tank."
"Between 2011 and 2017, the number of units of Medi-Cal-covered drugs that treat opioid use disorders — buprenorphine, naloxone and naltrexone — rose 775 percent, from 583,000 to a projected 5.1 million, according to an analysis released by the institute Tuesday. Only three states, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, saw more dramatic jumps."
READ MORE related to Health & Health Care: How many opioid overdoses are suicides? -- WBUR's MARTHA BEBINGER
Facebook not confirming report that Zuckerberg will testify before Congress
The Chronicle's BENNY EVANGELISTA: "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will reportedly testify before Congress about the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, although the Menlo Park company said Tuesday that nothing has been decided."
"But Zuckerberg won’t be traveling to London to testify before Parliament, instead opting to send one of his top deputies."
READ MORE related to Psychological Warfare: Cambridge Analytica's Alexander Nix: Bond villain, tech genius or hustler? -- WaPo's WILLIAM BOOTH/KARLA ADAM
Want to impeach the president? This billionaire is on the case.
WaPo's MONICA HESSE: "On a recent weekday afternoon in Largo, Md., California billionaire Tom Steyer — a philanthropist, political fundraiser and former hedge fund manager — changed out of his business suit, zipped up a Mr. Rogers sweater, ambled into a conference room at a DoubleTree off the Beltway and began talking with the assembled 11 attendees about his most recent endeavor."
"I’m Tom,” he said, making his way to the front of the town hall and quickly turning to the issue at hand. “We are here to discuss impeaching a lawless and dangerous president."
"Yes,” murmured one would-be impeacher, a retiree in sensible shoes."
READ MORE related to POTUS45/KremlinGate: Trump closes his first trade deal, a modest step with South Korea -- LA Times's CHRISTI PARSONS; Trump says 2nd Amendment won't be repealed -- AP's ALAN FRAM; Mueller just drew his most direxct line to date between the Trump campaign and Russia -- WaPo's AARON BLAKE; Trump's legal hope: Lawyer with doctorate in medieval history -- NY; Trump attack unleashes oppo against Mueller -- Politico's DARREN SAMUELSOHN
