Spillway unused, after all

Apr 9, 2018

After heavy rains, first use of partly rebuilt Oroville Dam spillway now 'unlikely'

 

Sacramento Bee's MOLLY SULLIVAN/DALE KASLER: "After a spring storm system dumped 5 to 7 inches of rain into the Feather River basin over the weekend, state officials said Sunday they likely won't have to use the partly rebuilt flood control spillway at Oroville Dam after all."

 

"Last week, the California Department of Water Resources said the storm might cause water levels in the Lake Oroville reservoir to rise to the "trigger elevation" of 830 feet. At that point, DWR officials planned to open the spillway gates and release water down the 3,000-foot-long concrete chute.."

 

"But the lake level only reached 799.7 feet over the weekend, according to DWR."

 

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Goodbye, neighborhood polling places -- five California counties switch to mega-vote centers

 

CALmatters' BYRHONDA LYONS: "This election season five California counties are doing away with hundreds of neighborhood polling places and replacing them with fewer “one-stop vote centers” — an experiment sold by Democrats as a way to save money and boost anemic voter turnout from the last mid-term elections."

 

"The 2016 Voter’s Choice Act establishes the vote centers in San Mateo, Madera, Napa, Nevada, and Sacramento. Like traditional polling places, the centers will be located mostly in churches, firehouses, high schools and other community buildings. The difference: Voters will be able to do all things voter-related at any center in their county."

 

"This is the single biggest change we’ve seen in our elections in California,” said Mindy Romero, founder and director of the California Civic Engagement Project, a non-partisan research group."

 

CalPERS may join union foes of 401(k) option

 

CalPensions' ED MENDEL: "A bill by state Sen. Steven Glazer, D-Orinda, giving new state workers the option new University of California workers received two years ago, a 401(k)-style plan rather than a pension, is opposed by unions and soon may be opposed by CalPERS."

 

"More than a third of eligible new UC employees have chosen a 401(k)-style plan. Instead of a guaranteed lifetime monthly pension check, the 401(k) plan that replaced pensions in most of the private sector uses individual tax-deferred investments to build a retirement fund."

 

"A 401(k) plan avoids pension debt, now a soaring cost for many governments. Employers only make a “defined contribution” to the retirement fund of an active employee. As critics point out, the risk of investment loss is shifted from the employer to the employee."

 

Why the Stephon Clark shooting will become a campaign issue

 

Sacramemto Bee's RYAN LILLIS: "The Stephon Clark shooting has sparked rallies and protests. It has been the focus of two emotional Sacramento City Council meetings, with another one planned this week."

 

"But will Clark's death also become a campaign issue this spring?"

 

"Candidates seeking local office in the June 5 election should be prepared to give their opinions on the conduct of the officers who shot Clark, veteran political consultants said. But candidates also should be ready to opine on police use-of-force policies and how to invest more in disadvantaged neighborhoods like Meadowview, where Clark was killed March 18."

 

READ MORE related to Stephon Clark: How Sacramento responds to Stephon Clark could become a model for all of California -- Sacramento Bee's ERIKA D. SMITH; He has become a hashtag and a movement for change. But who was the real Stephon Clark? -- Sacramento Bee's CYNTHIA HUBERT/BENJY EGEL

A report: California Latinos and higher education

 

Capitol Weekly's JOHN HOWARD: "The number of Latinos in California with two- and four-year degrees has doubled in little more than a decade, a dramatic increase. But compared with the overall, growing Latino population, the proportion of college-trained Latino adults over the same period has remained flat — roughly one in 10 from 2005 to 2015."

 

"The figures are from a new study commissioned by Univision’s Political, Advocacy and Government Group — which is separate from the network’s news division — on Latinos’ access to higher education in California and reflect the obstacles facing Latinos seeking a college education."

 

"California’s Hispanic population, the largest in the nation in a state with 40 million people, has grown exponentially – from 16 percent of the total in 1970 to a plurality of the  population today and, at about 15 million people, the largest single ethnic group. The Latino population nearly doubled during the two decades from 1980 to 2000 alone, according to Department of Finance and U.S. Census figures."

 

Tom Steyer wants Trump impeached, and he's mad that many Democrats don't

 

The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "Billionaire activist Tom Steyer is bringing a nationwide town hall tour promoting President Trump’s impeachment to Oakland, but he’s got more in mind than leading a pep rally for Bay Area liberals. He intends to shame Democrats who aren’t cheering along with him."

 

“I think there’s a question about what people are willing to say in public that they know is true,” said Steyer, a former San Francisco hedge fund manager who commands attention in left-leaning circles for the tens of millions he’s spent on registering voters and backing Democratic candidates."

 

CHP report showed security gaps at Yountville Veterans Home before killings

 

Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON: "The state-run veterans home where a former soldier murdered three women last month had security shortcomings that the California Highway Patrol identified in 2010, according to a report obtained by The Sacramento Bee."

 

"It’s unclear whether any of the recommendations in the 22-page report could have prevented Albert Wong from attacking the therapy program he once attended at the Yountville Veterans Home. The California Department of Veterans Affairs (Cal Vet) also won’t say which recommendations it adopted."

 

"The document revealed the state’s challenge in policing a sprawling campus that houses residents, hosts programs for others veterans and opens its doors to community events."

 

California disability clients, state employees hit by data breach

 

Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON: "Vandals who ransacked a state office in Sacramento in February stole 12 government computers and briefly had access to the personal health records of 582,000 people, the state Department of Developmental Services disclosed on Friday."

 

"The group also had access to personal information regarding 15,000 state employees, contractors, job applicants and the parents of minors enrolled into the department's programs. The department oversees state centers and regional nonprofits that serve Californians with developmental disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy and autism."

 

"It is the second data breach the state has announced in recent months. In February, officials said Social Security numbers and other personal information of state employees and contractors at the Department of Fish and Wildlife may have been compromised in December."

 

Why the region's immigration activists protested in Marysville on Sunday

 

Sacramento Bee's ELLEN GARRISON/ANITA CHABRIA/STEPHEN MAGAGNINI: "Isaias Mosqueda Cisneros usually spends Sundays at his sons' soccer games. His wife, Erika Mosqueda, said she can't remember a time the family has missed their sons' game."

 

"This Sunday, Mosqueda Cisneros, who is undocumented and lives in Auburn, spent the sunny spring day in the Yuba County jail in Marysville after being picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday. His two oldes children, Yoni and Julian Mosqueda, played their game while Erika Mosqueda and her 10-year-old daughter, Ninel, joined dozens of protesters outside of the jail, calling for bail to be set for Mosqueda Cisneros and for the authorities to issue a stay of deportation for him."

 

"Erika Mosqueda said through a translator that her husband of 14 years is a responsible man with two jobs who still finds time to be with their children."

 

An ambitious California bill would put the state in charge of controlling prices in the commercial healthcare market

 

LA Times's MELANIE MASON: "In one of the most aggressive efforts in the nation to curb soaring healthcare spending, a new California measure would put the state in charge of setting prices for hospital stays, doctor's visits and most other medical services covered by commercial insurers."

 

Sacramento Bee's DARRELL SMITH: "The walls appear to be closing in on Backpage.com after Associated Press reports that federal agents shut down the controversial website at its Phoenix offices Friday afternoon in what looms as a major development in the Sacramento criminal case against the site’s founders."

 

"This is a big step forward for the California case,” said Maggy Krell, the former state deputy attorney general who prosecuted the Sacramento case. Krell is now lead counsel for Planned Parenthood in California. “This day has been a long time coming. It’s a tremendous victory for everyone who has been victimized by Backpage."

 

"Federal authorities have yet to make a formal announcement regarding Friday’s action, Kevin Smith, spokesman for Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who spearheaded newly passed legislation targeting Backpage, told The Sacramento Bee Friday afternoon. California attorney general’s officials offered confirmation in a press release Friday afternoon, but soon removed it from its website."

 

'The Bay Area is broken:' Why local startups are hiring outside Silicon Valley

 

BANG's MARISA KENDALL: "Silicon Valley may be the world’s tech paradise, but it’s a hiring nightmare for many local startups now forced to venture from Portland to Boise in search of talent."

 

"Enormous salary expectations — driven by the Bay Area’s soaring cost of living and competition from well-paying giants such as Google and Facebook — have made it too expensive for a growing number of local startups to recruit employees here. Others say the workers they do have want to leave, frustrated by their inability to buy a home as the region grapples with a chronic housing shortage."

 

"Now local startups increasingly are opening satellite operations in cheaper markets — no longer expecting all their employees to congregate in one Silicon Valley office for work, free food and ping-pong. It’s a cultural shift shaking up the startup eco-system that has long been credited with powering Silicon Valley’s iconic tech industry."

 

How Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg can win his grilling on Capitol Hill

 

The Chronicle's WILLIE BROWN: "Mark Zuckerberg is showing a lot of political smarts by agreeing to go before Congress this week to talk about how Facebook data on users’ profiles and “likes” wound up in the hands of Donald Trump’s friends."

 

"The revelation that Team Trump’s allies at Cambridge Analytica got ahold of information of about 71 million Facebook users in the U.S. during the 2016 campaign is a political and public relations disaster for the Menlo Park social media company. The mild-mannered Zuckerberg may not be able to smooth over Facebook’s problems with a couple of trips to the Hill, but his nonconfrontational manner will at least make him a sympathetic figure if he comes under attack by politicians looking for a media moment."

 

Supervisor Peskin wasn't drunk at fire scene, police captain says

 

The Chronicle's MATIER & ROSS: "A San Francisco police captain who spent much of the evening with Supervisor Aaron Peskin before and after his dressing down of Fire Department brass for their handling of the St. Patrick’s Day fire in North Beach said he saw no evidence he was intoxicated or had even been drinking that night."

 

"That was not my impression,” said Central Station Capt. Paul Yep. “He was animated and agitated, but I wouldn’t equate that with intoxication."

 

When L.A. opted to fund city services over housing, did it help fuel a crisis?

 

LA Times's DAKOTA SMITH/EMILY ALPERT REYES: "Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has repeatedly pointed to the state's elimination of redevelopment agencies seven years ago as one reason homelessness has surged across the city."

'Dude, I have a magical key for all mailboxes.' Missing some mail? Better read this

 

Sacramento Bee's SAM STANTON: "The mail theft caper began March 9 with the robbery of a Carmichael postal carrier by a juvenile brandishing a BB gun that looked like a real pistol, then absconding with a master mailbox key, authorities say."

 

"Dude, I have a magical key,” one of the suspects allegedly texted to another. “It’s a key for all mailboxes."

 

"By the time it ended days later, the suspects had stolen reams of mail from mailboxes, forged checks, stolen identities and bank cards, and then disposed of the evidence by burning the mail or burying it by mixing it with mud and human excrement, postal officials say."

 

How 'Black Panther' cruised past 'Titanic' on all-time box office list

 

Sacramento Bee's NOEL HARRIS: "Black Panther" continues to soar at box offices. It recently cruised past one of the highest-grossing movie of all time."

 

"Directed by former Sacramento State student-athlete Ryan Coogler, the movie based off a Marvel Comics character is now the third-highest-grossing film of all time, according to Box Office Mojo numbers. At more than $665 million domestic, it surpassed director James Cameron's "Titanic," (1997) which grossed more than $659 million."

 

"Black Panther," which became the U.S. box office's highest-grossing superhero movie ever last month, only trails 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" ($936 million) and 2007's "Avatar" ($760 million). Coogler's film – which was No. 1 at the box office for five consecutive weeks before being overtaken by "Pacific Rim Uprising" – stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan and Lupita Nyong’o. Nyong'o also featured in "The Force Awakens."

 

2018 campaigns are not ready for Robert Mueller

 

McClatchy DC's KATIE GLUECK/ALEX ROARTY: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation could upend the 2018 midterm elections — whether it reveals wrongdoing at the highest levels or exonerates the president. And yet campaign officials and party insiders on both sides are unprepared for it."

 

"Interviews with two dozen political strategists reveal that there is very little planning underway for the possibility that Mueller will make significant news this year, potentially in the middle of a campaign cycle that history suggests will already be difficult for the president's party."

 

"It's something on everybody's minds," said one Republican strategist working on races in Tennessee, who like many sources interviewed for this story requested anonymity to discuss internal campaign strategy. "There's an unknown there. That's certainly a fear."

 

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