Major California housing bill dies in first committee hearing
From the Mercury News' KATY MURPHY: "A sweeping bill that would have given the state unprecedented power over local development failed in its first committee hearing, crushing the hopes of those who saw it as the key to making housing in the state more affordable."
"At a lively and crowded hearing Tuesday, the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee blocked Senate Bill 827, a bill to force cities to allow apartments and condominiums of roughly four to five stories within a half mile of rail and ferry stops — as well as denser housing near bus stops with frequent service."
"The vote abruptly halted a feverish debate over one of the biggest housing proposals introduced in Sacramento this year — one which took aim at cities reluctant to embrace larger developments. Its demise also underscored the political realities and pace of change at the Capitol, even as pressure mounts for the state to respond to runaway housing costs."
READ MORE related to housing: Bill pushing apartments and condos near public transit loses crucial vote -- MELODY GUTIERREZ, SF Chronicle; The state’s most controversial housing bill in years just died. Here’s what to take away from that -- MATT LEVIN, Calmatters; California plan linking new housing to public transit rejected by state lawmakers -- LIAM DILLON, LAT.
Bills target police conduct, use of force
DAVE KEMPA in Capitol Weekly: "The recent police killing of an unarmed black Sacramento man has left protesters and local politicians demanding revisions to California’s Peace Officer’s Bill of Rights — the decades-old protocol for officers facing disciplinary investigation."
"But state lawmakers, despite the national attention directed at the shooting of 22-year-old Stephon Clark, have not introduced legislation or even made reference to the 1976 law, known as the POBR."
"At least not directly."
Three House Republicans in California, trailing Democrats in House Race
The Chronicle's JOHN WILDERMUTH: "A big plus to being a political incumbent is the easy access to campaign cash, since plenty of donors like to bet on a proven winner, regardless of party."
"But the latest federal campaign finance figures, released this week by the Federal Election Commission, suggest some targeted Republicans may be squandering that advantage."
READ MORE related to State Politics: Feinstein holds huge money lead in California race for US Senate -- The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI
California death row inmate to be freed; no retrial planned
AP: "A man who spent nearly 25 years on California's death row for raping and killing a toddler before his conviction was overturned won't be retried and could be freed within days, authorities said Tuesday."
"Vicente Benavides Figueroa, 68, has remained in prison even though the state Supreme Court last month overturned his 1993 conviction on grounds that medical testimony at his trial was false."
Net neutrality rules move past first hurdle in California
LA Times's JAZMINE ULLOA: "A proposal that would restore net neutrality in California advanced in the state Senate on Tuesday with changes that scaled back some of its provisions."
"Under the version of the legislation that passed in committee, the state's utilities commission would not monitor or enforce net neutrality rules, a power that would instead fall to the state's attorney general. Companies also would not have to adhere to net neutrality rules as part of cable franchise agreements or as a condition for obtaining state contracts to install broadband across the state."
"Lobbyists for industry groups and major internet providers — including AT&T — said the proposed law is still complex, confusing and could cause companies to pass on more costs to consumers. Technology advocates were disappointed to see the state contracts provision cut, but cheered its approval."
Gorsuch casts key Supreme Court vote to spare California immigrant from deportation
LA Times's DAVID G. SAVAGE: "With Justice Neil M. Gorsuch casting the deciding vote, the Supreme Court on Tuesday spared a California immigrant from deportation because his conviction for home burglary was not the kind of "aggravated felony" that would require removing him from the country."
"The decision narrows one provision of a broad federal immigration law that calls for mandatory deportation for noncitizens — including longtime lawful residents — who are convicted of a crime that involves a "substantial risk" of force or violence."
"Federal law makes clear that dozens of violent crimes, including murder, rape and robbery, would trigger deportation, but the justices have struggled in recent years to decide which other state crimes qualify as aggravated felonies under federal law."
READ MORE related to Immigration: Supreme Court, with Gorsuch's help, knocks down deportation law as too vague -- The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO; Swapping insults with Trump, Brown says agreement all but signed on sending National Guard to border - The Chronicle's CAROLYN LOCHHEAD; 'Low-life politicians' to blame for nation's immigration impasse, Jerry Brown -- McClatchy DC's EMILY CADEI
Barbara Bush dies at 92; popular first lady was also the mother of a president
LA Times's CATHLEEN DECKER/VALERIE J. NELSON: "Barbara Pierce Bush, who helped propel her husband and their son to the presidency and became by virtue of her wit, self-deprecation and work on literacy one of the most popular first ladies in U.S. history, died Tuesday, according to a family spokesman."
The IRS is giving you one extra day to file after its website crashed on tax day
LA Times's JIM MARTIN: "A computer glitch hit the Internal Revenue Service's tax-filing system Tuesday, the official deadline to file federal and California personal income tax returns."
The Chronicle's JK DINEEN: "A city commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a comprehensive reimagining of the 400-acre former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard project as an “incubation zone,” with a hotel, schools and maker spaces. The vote took place even as the U.S. Navy has admitted that the $1 billion clean up of the Superfund site was botched by widespread fraud and cheating."
"The city’s Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure, which assumed oversight of the property in 2011 after Gov. Jerry Brown abolished local redevelopment agencies, voted unanimously to approve a plan to make the shipyard a more diverse and eclectic neighborhood than originally envisioned."
READ MORE related to Local Politics: SF supervisors pass law to regulate scooters that have descended on city -- The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN
East Bay fault is 'tectonic time bomb,' more dangerous than San Andreas, new study finds
LA Times's RONG-GONG LIN II: "The San Andreas long has been the fault many Californians feared most, having unleashed the great 1906 earthquake that led to San Francisco’s destruction 112 years ago Wednesday."
"But new research shows that a much less well-known fault, running under the heart of the East Bay, poses a greater danger."
You helped us watch the new Stephon Clark videos. Here are your questions and comments
Sacramento Bee's RYAN LILLIS: "We asked you to help, and many of you responded."
"The Sacramento Police Department on Monday released more than 50 new video and audio files of the Stephon Clark shooting, and we asked readers to review the footage with us and offer questions and comments about what struck them as important."
"Crowdsourcing information this way is new to us, but we wanted to bring in a greater diversity of viewpoints and knowledge when reviewing this source material."
LA school board meets privately with finalists and debates choice for school district leader
LA Times's HOWARD BLUME: "The Los Angeles Board of Education adjourned late Tuesday after spending more than 10 hours interviewing candidates and trying to reach a decision on who would be the next leader of the nation's second-largest school system."
"When the meeting finally recessed at 10:11 p.m., a spokesman announced only that the school board would reconvene Friday at noon."
"Going into the day's meetings, there were apparently four finalists, according to sources who could not be named because they were unauthorized to speak."
READ MORE related to Education: Teacher accused of harassing teen had past complaints. He asked a judge not to release them -- Sacramento Bee's DIANA LAMBERT; African-American students would get extra aid under California's K-12 funding formula in proposal before Legislature -- EdSource's JOHN FENSTERWALD
Attention women: Your choice of blood pressure medicine may affect your risk of pancreatic cancer
LA Times's MELISSA HEALY: "In findings with potentially broad implications for the public's health, new research has found that some women who treat their high blood pressure with a class of drugs that relaxes the blood vessels were more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those who use other hypertension medications."
"In a large and intensively-studied group of middle-aged and older women, the risk of developing pancreatic cancer was more than twice as high for those who took a short-acting calcium channel blocker for more than three years."
"Examples of short-acting calcium channel blockers (and the commercial names by which they're marketed) include nifedipine(Adalat and Procardia), nicardipine (Cardene), isradipine(DynaCirc), diltiazem (Cardizem, Cartia and Dilacor) and verapamil (Calan, Covera, Isoptin and Verelan)."
READ MORE related to Health & Healthcare: UC Davis med students hold 'die-in' for Stephon Clark, call for equity in healthcare -- Sacramento Bees's NASHELLY CHAVEZ; Drug test spurs frank talk between hypertension patients and doctors -- CHL's BLAKE FARMER/NASHVILLE PUBLIC RADIO
AP's MARK KENNEDY: "Newscaster Carl Kasell, a signature voice of NPR who brought his gravitas to "Morning Edition" and later his wit to "Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" has died. He was 84."
"NPR said Kasell died Tuesday from complications from Alzheimer's disease in Potomac, Maryland. He retired in 2014."
COLUMN: Sleepy little El Segundo is suddenly on the radar and fighting to keep its small-town identity
LA Times' ROBIN ABCARIAN: "Julie Stolnack, a fourth-generation El Segundan, took me cruising around town Sunday in her burnt orange Ford Think."
"The Think is a very tiny car, doorless like a golf cart. Every time we made a U-turn, I had the sensation I was about to fall out, which made me feel like a joyriding teenager."
"Stolnack, 53, knows everyone."
NTSB: Blown Southwest jet engine showed 'metal fatigue'
AP's ALEXANDRA VILLARREAL/DAVID KOENIG: "A preliminary examination of the blown jet engine of the Southwest Airlines plane that set off a terrifying chain of events and left a businesswoman hanging half outside a shattered window showed evidence of "metal fatigue," according to the National Transportation Safety Board."
"Passengers scrambled to save the woman from getting sucked out the window that had been smashed by debris. She later died, and seven others were injured."
"The pilots of the twin-engine Boeing 737 bound from New York to Dallas with 149 people aboard took it into a rapid descent Tuesday and made an emergency landing in Philadelphia. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling and passengers said their prayers and braced for impact."
Trump says talks with North Korea are already in high gear, tries to reassure Japan
LA Times's NOAH BIERMAN: "President Trump said on Tuesday that direct talks with North Korea have already begun at "extremely high levels" and that five undisclosed sites are being considered for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, signals that plans for a once unlikely summit between Trump and the leader of the adversary regime have new momentum."
