East Area Rapist suspect lived a quiet suburban life, with flashes of rage and anger
LA Times's SARAH PARVINI/JOE MOZINGO/RICHARD WINTON/JOSEPH SERNA: "When the law came for him after 40 years of hunting, he was doing a woodworking project in his garage."
Will Congress raise the federal gas tax? California Republican could have a major say
McClatchy DC's EMILY CADEI: "The next chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will shape how the federal government regulates California’s dams and waterways."
"He or she will oversee the federal programs that subsidize everything from efforts to help reduce the choking congestion between the Central Valley and Bay Area to the state’s ambitious and controversial high-speed rail project."
READ MORE related to Transportation: That parking ticket you got in downtown Sacramento? It may have been the meter's fault -- Sacramento Bee's TONY BIZJAK
Secrets, and seals of approval, in the California governor's race
CALmatters' Laurel Rosenhall: "What kinds of agreements has the next governor of California made with interest groups that sway decisions in the state Capitol?"
"Voters will never know."
"The answer lies in a raft of secret questionnaires that candidates complete as they seek endorsements from a range of groups that will lobby them after they’re elected—and remind them of what they committed to before they won."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein won't participate in pre-primary debate
LA Times's SARAH D. WIRE: "California Sen. Dianne Feinstein will not participate in a proposed pre-primary debate because there are too many candidates in the race, her campaign spokesman said Thursday."
"Political activists with the group Indivisible Los Angeles said they had a venue and date — May 5 — reserved for a debate with four of the Senate candidates. But they said if Feinstein does not participate, it will be canceled."
READ MORE related to Senate Race: Moment in politicla spotlight for little-known GOP candidate for Senate -- The Chronicle's JOHN WILDERMUTH/JOE GAROFOLI
ICE held an American man in custody for 1,273 days. He's not the only one who had to prove his citizenship
LA Times's PAIGE ST. JOHN/JOEL RUBIN: "Immigration officers in the United States operate under a cardinal rule: Keep your hands off Americans."
"But Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents repeatedly target U.S. citizens for deportation by mistake, making wrongful arrests based on incomplete government records, bad data and lax investigations, according to a Times review of federal lawsuits, internal ICE documents and interviews."
"Since 2012, ICE has released from its custody more than 1,480 people after investigating their citizenship claims, according to agency figures. And a Times review of Department of Justice records and interviews with immigration attorneys uncovered hundreds of additional cases in the country’s immigration courts in which people were forced to prove they are Americans and sometimes spent months or even years in detention."
READ MORE related to Immigration: California voters like 'sanctuary state' immigration law -- but not everyone is on board -- Sacramento Bee's TARYN LUNA
'Seeminly dysfunctional' CalPERS leaders spar over documents, access
Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON: "While the nation's largest public pension fund took a break from its April board meeting, one of its newest members walked to her office and could not open her door because a digital lock did not recognize her badge."
"CalPERS Board of Administration member Margaret Brown filmed herself failing to open the door, shared the video with a friendly financial blog and allowed it be posted to YouTube under a headline calling the incident an “illegal lockout.”"
Bill Cosby conviction: Accuser praised as 'the Joan of Arc in the war on rape'
LA Times's DAVID MONTERO: "It was a defining moment for the #MeToo movement and a shattering fall for a once-beloved entertainment icon in his twilight years: A Pennsylvania jury's guilty verdict against comedian Bill Cosby on sexual assault charges marked the first high-profile criminal conviction since the start of a movement demanding sexual predators, even those with power and fame, be held to account."
"Cosby was found guilty Thursday on charges he drugged and molested Andrea Constand, a former basketball official at Temple University who said she had once considered Cosby a mentor and friend."
Despite tax cuts, US economic growth slowed in first quarter of the year
LA Times's JIM PUZZANGHERA: "The nation's economic growth slowed in the first three months of the year despite the large tax cuts kicking in, raising new questions about whether the U.S. can reach the levels President Trump has promised."
"Total economic output, also known as gross domestic product, expanded at a solid 2.3% annual pace in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday."
Commuters who drive alone in zero-emission cars will no longer get free trips in LA's toll lanes
LA Times's LAURA J NELSON: "In a bid to reduce congestion in toll lanes on the 110 and 10 freeways, Los Angeles County transportation officials on Thursday opted to end a program granting solo drivers of zero-emission vehicles free access to the lanes."
"Drivers with state-issued clean-air stickers will be charged a toll starting in November or December of this year, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said. They will receive a 15% discount on the per-mile toll lane price."
READ MORE related to Energy & Environment: The shape, not size, of our ancestors' brains may have helped them outlast Neanderthals -- LA Times's DEBORAH NETBURN
In a rare move, corporate America presses for gun-control restrictions 'to take a stand'
LA Times's JAMES F PELTZ: "This is an issue that's not going away."
"So says Edward Stack, the chief executive of Dick's Sporting Goods Inc., whose retail chain is among the private-sector firms tightening their gun-control restrictions — and pressing for such curbs nationwide — in the absence of similar action by Congress."
COLUMN: They're called 'co-pay accumulators,' and they're a way insurers make you pay more for meds
LA Times's DAVID LAZARUS: "Mary Hawley takes the widely used drug Humira for her rheumatoid arthritis. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year, but for nearly a decade Hawley has been assisted with discount coupons from the drug's manufacturer, AbbVie."
"You pay $5 max," she told me. "They pay whatever is left over."
More talk, less action on effort to get mentally ill homeless off street
The Chronicle's HEATHER KNIGHT: "Just three blocks from City Hall — that gorgeous, gold-plated building where politicians are deciding how to spend more than $10 billion next fiscal year — sits a shooting gallery in broad daylight."
"Every day, dozens of injection drug users wearing tattered clothes and dazed expressions slump against the walls of the huge PG&E Mission Substation at Eighth and Mission streets, spreading their garbage, dirty needles and other drug paraphernalia around them."
Capitol Weekly Podcast: Jim Cooper
Capitol Weekly STAFF: "Assemblyman Jim Cooper was on hand at Wednesday’s press conference announcing the capture of a suspect in the notorious East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker/Golden State Killer case."
"Cooper, a 30-year veteran and former captain of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, sat down with Capitol Weekly’s John Howard and Tim Foster to chat about the crucial role of DNA collection in the solution of this and other cold-case crimes. Cooper, who has authored legislation to expand the ability of law enforcement to obtain DNA evidence, noted that an unforeseen outcome of voter-approved Proposition 47, which reclassified a some crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, was a significant drop in the DNA that the state collects from suspects."
Republicans avoid confronting Trump over whether he can fire special counsel
LA Times's CHRIS MEGERIAN: "The Senate Judiciary Committee appeared an island of civility Thursday as Democrats and Republicans politely debated and voted 14 to 7 to approve bipartisan legislation intended to prevent President Trump from firing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III without cause."
"But the action only highlights how intractable the question has become as Mueller's investigation moves deeper into the White House. The proposed bill is expected to stall because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has publicly vowed not to let it advance further."
Britain's new prince is named Louis Arthur Charles
AP: "The new prince has a name — in fact, three."
"The infant son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has been named Louis Arthur Charles, Kensington Palace announced Friday."
