"Newsom, now the front-runner in the governor's race, missed scores of meetings held by the University of California Board of Regents, the California State University Board of Trustees and the California State Lands Commission, according to a Times review of attendance records."
READ MORE related to Gubernatorial Race: Gavin Newsom reports nearly $1.3M in 2016 income, but no silver sale -- The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI; Billionaires' dollars fund big ad buy for Antonio Villaraigosa -- The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI
Former chief of staff to Sen. Leland Yee sexually harassed, touched woman. Sacramento Bee's ANGELA HART: "Adam Keigwin, who served as chief of staff to former state Sen. Leland Yee, allegedly sexually harassed and touched a former colleague and subordinate between 2013 and 2014, according to a Senate investigation released Thursday."
"An unidentified woman who worked in the Senate with Keigwin at the time made the allegations. She said Keigwin, now a managing director at Mercury Public Affairs in Sacramento, sexually harassed her, according to the investigation. His behavior happened on numerous occasions when he was drunk or had been drinking, investigators found."
"A “preponderance of the evidence” supports the Senate’s finding that Keigwin "engaged in sexually inappropriate conduct during the time that he worked in the Senate, including unwanted touching, exposing himself and engaging in sexually explicit talk," the investigation found. "The evidence supported a finding that this behavior occurred at social events that involved drinking when Keigwin had become inebriated."
Prop. 1 grants should include groundwater storage
JAY ZIEGLER and KIRSTEN JAMES, opinion, in Capitol Weekly: "In the coming weeks, the California Water Commission is set to announce its comparative ratings of proposed water storage investments, allocating up to $2.7 billion in taxpayer dollars that will shape the State’s future water storage strategy and help us through future droughts."
"Most attention has been directed at surface storage projects such as Sites Reservoir and the Los Vaqueros Reservoir, which are widely expected to receive funding from Proposition 1. These kinds of surface storage projects are more effective if they are operated as part of an integrated storage and water management strategy."
Read More related to Energy & Environment: Deeply Talks: What western snowpack tells us about the water year -- Water Deeply's IAN EVANS; Fighting ocean acidification with underwater forests -- Oceans Deeply's ERICA CIRINO
Capitol Weekly Podcast: Louis Mirante on Housing and SB 827
Capitol Weekly STAFF: "Nothing ever really dies in the Capitol, as the saying goes, but sometimes you come across a knockout blow."
"And that’s what happened with SB 827, a sweeping bill aimed at addressing California’s housing crisis. To the surprise of just about everybody and after months of media attention, the measure was rejected decisively in its first committee hearing."
"The complex bill by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, would have overridden local controls, forcing California cities to allow apartment buildings of up to five stories to be built near existing transit stops."
The great California cannabis experiment lurches forward
LA Times's ROBIN ABCARIAN: "If you find yourself driving in Venice in the next little while, you may notice that the illuminated "Venice" sign at Pacific and Windward avenues that functions as a gateway to the famous boardwalk has sprouted neon cannabis leaves."
"The sign, which changes seasonally (red and green bulbs at Christmas, a heart on Valentine's Day, flag-colored bulbs on the Fourth of July) will honor a relatively new holiday: 4/20, which evolved from a Bay Area high school ritual to the most important day of the year for cannabis lovers."
READ MORE related to Cannabis: Some California cities want Amsterdam-stye lounges, push limits of marijuana legalization -- LA Times's SARAH PARVINI; Buzz kill? Sacramento's pot czar to make compliance inspections at local 4/20 events -- Sacramento Bee's BRAD BRANAN
LA Students to participate in national walkout activities on Friday
LA Times's JOY RESMOVITS: "Students are taking to the streets again Friday to protest gun violence on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting."
"Starting at 10 a.m., students at many schools will spend 13 seconds honoring the 13 people — 12 teachers and one student — killed on that day in Littleton, Colo. After that, they’ll participate in a host of different activities."
"Within L.A. Unified, one school is having an open-mic event for students to talk about school violence and lawmakers are visiting campuses to hear students thoughts."
READ MORE related to Education: San Mateo teens gets a lesson from civil rights icon Millijean Brown of the Little Rock Nine -- The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER; Tuition will not increase at California State University next year -- Sacramento Bee's ALEXEI KOSEFF
Roommates say Stevante Clark arrest came after escalating dispute in their house
Sacramento Bee's NASHELLY CHAVEZ/ED FLETCHER/SAM STANTON: "Stevante Clark, thrust into the spotlight last month after police killed his brother Stephon Clark, was arrested Thursday on four allegations that included suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and making death threats, according to Sacramento County jail records."
"Clark, 25, was arrested by Sacramento police shortly after 10 a.m. in North Sacramento, authorities said. He is currently ineligible for bail."
"A couple said Thursday that his arrest came after days of an escalating conflict between them and Clark at the North Sacramento house they share on Acacia Avenue."
READ MORE related to Stephon Clark Shooting: "Protests over the March 18 shooting of Stephon Clark by Sacramento police continued Thursday with a march from the state Attorney General’s Office at 13th and I streets to Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert's office at Ninth and G streets."
"The march, which consisted of about 40 people and briefly blocked downtown traffic on I Street between 13th and Ninth streets, was designed to deliver nine boxes of 100,000 signatures from an online petition asking Schubert to file charges against the two officers who shot Clark, an unarmed 22-year-old black man."
"Police have said the officers thought Clark had a gun; he was carrying only a cellphone."
LA sheriff's narcotics detective accused of involvement in drug-trafficking operation can't be fired, court says
LA Times's MAYA LAU: "Carlos Arellano was a narcotics detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department when the agency received a disturbing tip that he was fraternizing with criminals."
"After months of investigating, the department accused him of being involved with a drug-trafficking organization, cultivating his own marijuana plants and discussing drug payments in phone conversations that fellow detectives overheard on a wiretap, according to court records."
