Newsom to pull California Guard troops from border, slam Trump's 'fear mongering'
Sacramento Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG/ADAM ASHTON: "Gov. Gavin Newsom is withdrawing hundreds of California National Guard troops from the border in a rebuke to President Donald Trump."
"The Democratic governor plans to sign an executive order Monday ending a special border deployment that Trump requested and Newsom’s predecessor, Gov. Jerry Brown, approved in April."
"Newsom’s office announced the plan to sign the order in advance of the new governor’s State of the State speech, which is scheduled for Tuesday."
READ MORE related to Newsom Administration: Here's who invested in Gavin Newsom -- and what they want him to do -- Sacramento Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG; Newsom to pull National Guard from Mexican border -- LA Times's JAZMINE ULLOA/TARYN LUNA; Newsom pulling Nat Guard troops from border to fight 'real threats' -- The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF
Gabriel Petek is Legislature's new nonpartisan fiscal guru
CHUCK MCFADDEN in Capitol Weekly: "A Wall Street public finance expert who says analyzing California’s fiscal condition was the “defining passion” of his career is the state’s new legislative analyst. He is Gabriel Petek, 47, who until recently was Standard and Poor’s chief credit analyst covering California from an office in San Francisco."
"Patek’s career trajectory is unusual: He has had no direct experience in California’s Capitol, although he has been a respected outside adviser."
"His position, although largely unknown to the general public, is one of the most powerful, important and stable in state government."
Sen. Wiener to introduce California bill protecting victimized sex workers
The Chronicle's EVAN SERNOFFSKY: "San Francisco’s groundbreaking policy protecting sex workers is now being pitched on the state level."
"California Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, will introduce legislation Monday that would prevent law enforcement from arresting and charging sex workers who come forward as victims or witnesses to serious crimes. The proposed law, SB233, would also prevent officers from using condoms as probable cause to arrest a sex worker in any situation."
"Right now, we know there are sex workers who are victimized or witness crimes and are scared to come forward because they think they are going to be arrested,” Wiener said. “We want to create every incentive for sex workers to feel safe in reporting crimes."
Colusa didn't always embrace Jerry Brown, but new neighbors just may give him a chance
LA Times's DIANA MARCUM: "The subject of the new neighbor had the round table at the Donut Wheel riveted."
"We’re all sitting here, waiting to see what’s going to happen,” Bobbie Jo Seaver said about former Gov. Jerry Brown’s retirement to a ranch in Colusa County."
"Seaver, 86, and her sister Janet Staple, 90, are Brown’s cousins. (Their grandmother Emma and his grandmother Ida were sisters.) Like many California families, a few generations ago one branch stayed on the farm and another left for the city. Now Brown‘s return to the ancestral home crosses the rural-urban divide."
The $2 million dollar solution to the Delta's recent nutria infestation
Sacramento Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "California’s San Joaquin River Delta is in danger of being overrun by voracious beagle-sized rodents. The state has a plan to deal with them, but it’s going to take a lot of time and money."
"Nutria, a large South American rodent, have become an invasive species in several states, including Louisiana, Maryland and Oregon. In March 2017, they were found in Merced County, alarming California wildlife officials because of the rodents’ potential to harm the water infrastructure that nourishes San Joaquin Valley farms and delivers water to thirsty cities."
"Nutria can give birth to litters up to 12, and become pregnant again within 48 hours of doing so. They live in marshland and feed heavily on vegetation. Where they appear, ecological calamity follows, according to the state."
Harris' stance on truancy again an issue as she launches presidential campaign
EdSource's DAVID WASHBURN: "California Senator Kamala Harris’ tough stance on truancy, her signature education issue while she was a local and state prosecutor, is again attracting attention as she embarks on a campaign for president and schools statewide are facing increased scrutiny on chronic absenteeism."
"In a video clip from a speech she gave in 2010 while she was San Francisco’s district attorney, Harris, who later that year became the state attorney general, attributes her success in life to her education. She says: “I believe a child going without an education is tantamount to a crime. So, I decided I was going to start prosecuting parents for truancy."
"The clip, which has been viewed more than 2 million times since she announced her candidacy last month, raises difficult questions about the extent to which parents should be held responsible for getting their children to school and whether or how they should be punished if they don’t."
Mayor Breed preps bill to improve the cost of affordable housing construction
The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA: "San Francisco Mayor London Breed is readying legislation to eliminate thousands of dollars in fees the city charges when 100 percent affordable housing projects and accessory dwelling units are built or renovated."
"The ordinance — which could be introduced at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting Tuesday meeting or next week — is Breed’s latest effort to chip away at what she sees as the administrative forces that make it harder to build housing."
"We have to remove the barriers and bureaucracy that get in the way of building more housing,” Breed said. “This means not only streamlining how we build housing, but also cutting fees so our dollars can go toward building more affordable housing and so more people will come forward to build in-laws, allowing us to add new rent-controlled units throughout city."
READ MORE related to Homelessness & Housing: Support growing in SF for transit-oriented housing, poll finds -- The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA
Nursing licenses delayed, public protection at risk without more money, state board says
Sacramento Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "A state nursing board is warning that it needs more money to protect the public from unsafe nurses and eliminate delays in licensing new ones."
"Nearly five years after the state poured nearly $100 million into a new computer program meant to improve efficiency, the Board of Registered Nursing wants millions more to employ more workers, in part to reduce delays caused by the program."
"The board requested $17 million to hire dozens of new employees over the next three years to address problems it has been struggling with since at least 2013, when the state rolled out the program, called BreEZe."
Dysfunction at juvenile detention centers bigger than pepper spray abuse, LA County report says
LA Times's MATT STILES: "Life inside Los Angeles County’s juvenile detention centers can be menacing for the hundreds of young people locked up there — and for the guards who oversee them, too."
"Overwhelmed and fearful detention officers use profanity and taunts in an effort to maintain control. The detainees endure threats to their families and disrespect of their neighborhoods, and are often doused with pepper spray."
Some Dems doubt the efficacy of a Biden 2020 run
Sacramento Bee's ALEX ROARTY: "Joe Biden is everything a Democratic political consultant should love: He’s experienced, well-liked, and his poll numbers look great against Donald Trump."
"And yet many party strategists have a bleak assessment of his potential 2020 campaign: It’s a bad, bad idea."
"This last election cycle, we’ve seen a whole new level of energy that has emerged through a lot of fresh faces, and the party has moved in that direction and wants to hear new ideas and different messages,” said Norm Sterzenbach, a former executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party who now works as a consultant in the state."
READ MORE related to Beltway: These are the Dems winning the 'Never Trump' Republican primary -- Sacramento Bee's KATIE GLUECK
Two transgender women joined migrant caravan. Only one survived journey to San Francisco.
The Chronicle's TATIANA SANCHEZ: "Moments before paramedics rushed Roxsana Hernandez out of an ICE jail in New Mexico, Charlotte consoled her dying friend."
"I wasn’t sure if I was going to see her again,” she said. “So I hugged her and told her, ‘God bless you. Take care. We’ll be here when you get back."
"They’d known each other only a few months, but the Honduran women had formed a tight bond, traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border together last spring in a highly publicized migrant caravan and petitioning for asylum in San Ysidro (San Diego County). As openly transgender women, the pair were running from the grip of death in one of the most violent countries in the world."
