Trump admin unveils plan to open up 1 million California acres to oil drilling
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "The Trump administration on Thursday moved forward with plans to open large swaths of California to new oil drilling, dashing the hopes of many who want to see the state put fossil fuels in its past."
"A 174-page environmental report released by the U.S. Interior Department will expedite new extraction on roughly 1 million acres of Central and Southern California, primarily in the historical oil fields around Bakersfield and the deep petroleum deposits near Santa Barbara but potentially in the Sierra Nevada as well."
"The move ends what had essentially been a five-year moratorium in California on leasing federal lands to fossil fuel companies. The Interior Department’s program for developing new oil sites had been halted by a judge who said the agency wasn’t considering the potential dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking."
How California's high-speed rail project was 'captured' by costly consultants
LA Times's RALPH VARTABEDIAN: "When California shifted its bullet train plan into high gear in 2008, it had just 10 employees to manage and oversee design of the largest public construction project in state history."
"Consultants assured the state there was little reason to hire hundreds or thousands of in-house engineers and rail experts, because the consultants could handle the heavy work themselves and save California money. It would take them only 12 years to bore under mountains, bridge rivers and build 520 miles of rail bed — all at a cost of just $33 billion."
"State officials followed that advice, and for the next several years, development of the nation’s first high-speed rail line was overseen by a minuscule government staff."
Rent control moves forward with Newsom's blessing
Sacramento Bee's HANNAH WILEY: "Gov. Gavin Newsom signaled on Thursday that he wants to sign some kind of housing affordability law just after a controversial rent control proposal cleared its first committee in the Legislature."
"The California Dream is in peril if our state doesn’t act to address the housing affordability crisis,” Newsom said, thanking an Assembly committee for passing “renter protection” package."
"He released his statement hours after a bill that prohibit landlords from raising rent by more than 5 percent above the Consumer Price Index passed the Assembly’s Housing and Community Development Committee by a 6-1 vote."
READ MORE related to Homelessness & Housing: Price caps advance, but broader package in trouble -- The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF; SF home sales drop, suggesting slowdown in market -- The Chronicle's ROLAND LI
A councilwoman was earning money from Weedmaps while making Lynwood a marijuana hub
LA Times's ADAM ELMAHREK: "Few local politicians have championed marijuana as loudly as Aide Castro."
"She says the drug was crucial to treating a thyroid condition. And as a Lynwood city councilwoman, she was the driving force behind the city’s decision more than two years ago to become one of the first in Los Angeles County to embrace the newly legalized industry."
"But while she was helping approve the city’s cannabis regulations, Castro was also quietly making money from the industry, a Times investigation found."
Census: Minority groups see large gains in 2018 midterms
Sacramento Bee's MICHAEL FINCH II: "Young people are often characterized as politically disengaged. They vote at lower rates than older residents and are even less likely to have registered."
"Something changed, though, during the 2018 midterms. Californians under the age of 44 voted at higher rates than during the two previous midterm elections, according to new data released by the Census."
"The uptick in political participation mirrors the voting patterns of older age groups but also represents a significant leap for millennials, closing the yawning gap between young and old."
Pelosi's new chief of staff reflects her barrier-breaking boss
The Chronicle's TAL KOPAN: "She worked her way up from the San Francisco district office to the House speaker’s office, becoming the first woman to hold her post. She says her mission is serving the American people, including assuring affordable health care, economic security and social equity.
'It’s not happenstance that the biography of Terri McCullough sounds a lot like that of her boss, Nancy Pelosi. The House speaker’s new chief of staff began her career as an intern with Pelosi in her native San Francisco in 1991, then worked her way up to scheduler and legislative assistant. After five years away, working in advocacy and nonprofits, McCullough returned to serve as Pelosi’s congressional office chief of staff on Capitol Hill from 2003 to 2011."
OP-ED: Innovation, recycling must go hand-in-hand
RAY SCOTT in Capitol Weekly: "Like a lighthouse, California has been a beacon of 21st-century environmental policy, pushing the limits of the impossible by setting ambitious, yet attainable goals for the state and its residents and businesses to work toward a healthier future."
"So ambitious, in fact, that one major goal, California’s 75% recycling goal, is set to be achieved by 2020."
"Just around the corner, the initiative sets a goal of 75% “recycling, composting or source reduction of solid waste by 2020”[1] and calls on state agencies, like CalRecycle, residents, and businesses to work together to do what California does best: find innovative solutions to propel us into the future."
He plotted to kill liberal politicians. He may be released before trial
Sacramento Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "A federal judge has ordered the release of a Coast Guard officer and self-proclaimed white nationalist who is accused of stockpiling weapons as part of a plot to kill several media and Democratic political figures, including California Sen. Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles."
"Lt. Christopher Hasson still faces weapons and drug charges, but prosecutors declined to charge him with a terrorism or attempted murder offense, prompting U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Day to order him released from custody."
"Hasson is not yet free. Day’s order gives Hasson’s attorneys time to propose conditions for his release, and prosecutors may argue to keep him in custody."
New state law requires Amazon to collect sales tax for small online retailers
Sacramento Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "E-commerce giants like Amazon and eBay will have to collect California sales tax on behalf of small online retailers that sell products through their platforms under a law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Thursday."
"The law helps small online retailers in two ways."
"First, it clarifies that platforms like Amazon must collect tax for products sold on their websites even if they come from so-called third-party retailers."
$89M expansion set for Sac County jail. Here's why the need is called 'critical'
Sacramento Bee's ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS: "Sacramento County’s jail is set for a major expansion, as its Elk Grove facility adds an $89.3 million medical and mental health ward to accommodate the increase in inmates diverted from state prisons to county jails in recent years."
"On Tuesday, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors authorized the county to start receiving bids for the seven-building, 86,000-square-foot project next to the existing Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center."
"RCCC is the main custody facility for inmates serving county jail sentences from Sacramento County courts. It houses about 1,700 inmates, including overflow from the county’s Main Jail in downtown Sacramento."
The future of skiing in California
The Chronicle's PORTER FOX: "In the Sierra Nevada, the outlook is grim."
"Warmer temperatures around Lake Tahoe have already pushed the snow line uphill 1,200 to 1,500 vertical feet since 1970. Spring arrives at the lake nearly three weeks earlier now, in mid- to late March. If we continue emitting greenhouse gases at our current rate, snow season in the Sierra could shorten by more than two months, climcatologists say, and disappear altogether at lower elevations by the end of the century. Which is to say, the mountains circling Lake Tahoe could be brown in December and the base of most ski resorts would get rain all winter instead of snow."
"Just this year, the state declared the end of a seven-year drought that brought four extremely dry winters to Sierra ski resorts, including the dismal 2014-15 season that left Squaw Valley with a single ribbon of snow on its lower slopes for much of the season. While the terrific snow this season seems like a good sign, climate scientists say that low snow years will become more common every decade."
Mayor proposes major $47M transformation plan for Old Sac waterfront
Sacramento Bee's THERESA CLIFT: " Darrell Steinberg on Thursday announced a proposal to use up to $47 million in hotel tax revenue to transform the Old Sacramento waterfront – adding a long lawn and concert stage, two rooftop bars and maybe even a docked barge with a swimming pool."
"The city hopes to improve access to the riverfront, create a series of new venues for weekly events, and entice more residents and visitors to spend time in Old Sacramento. City officials hope the project will inspire state parks officials to expedite planned riverfront improvements. The city also wants private developers to build additional entertainment venues and hotels."
"Great cities use their rivers, they take advantage of their natural assets to grow tourism and jobs, nature spots and nightspots, and create buzz inside and outside their cities. Let us acknowledge that we have never really done that,” Steinberg said Thursday evening during a press conference at the waterfront. “Our river has been walled off and tamed, but never fully embraced. Sacramentans long to be close to the water, but we have made it next to impossible for them to get there.”
Despite education reforms, foster students in California lag far behind on multiple measures
EdSource's ROB WATERS: "Seven years ago, two education researchers in California did something that had never been done before. They sat for months in San Francisco in a secure, private room and matched confidential information on children in the child welfare system — those who had been removed from their biological parents due to abuse or neglect and placed into foster care — with information on those same kids’ school attendance and performance."
"The work by the team from West Ed, an education research and policy organization, led to a groundbreaking 2013 report, The Invisible Achievement Gap. It found that California teachers and administrators didn’t know if students were in the foster care system and, thus, had no way to monitor their progress or support their efforts."
"It also found that these students were struggling. “Foster youth had the poorest academic performance, highest dropout rate and lowest high school graduation rate of any group attending public schools,” said Vanessa Barrat, a senior research associate with WestEd and one of the co-authors. “The message was that there is a subgroup in the schools that is very much in need of help."
Negotiating move by Muni bus drivers leads to delays on more than a dozen lines
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "A negotiating tactic by Muni operators jolted San Francisco’s bus system this week, causing significant delays and leaving crowds of baffled riders on the sidewalks."
"Some called it a piecemeal strike — a combination of drivers calling in sick, taking family medical leave and refusing to work their days off. More than a dozen lines and thousands of commuters suffered, creating a stark, visible impact as contract talks heat up."
"Union President Roger Marenco said the action sends a clear message to riders and officials at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which is chronically short of drivers. The union and the agency are negotiating a three-year labor contract."
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USC cardiovascular fellowship to be stripped of national accreditation
LA Times's MATT HAMILTON: "A national oversight panel has moved to revoke the accreditation of the USC medical school’s fellowship in cardiovascular disease, an embarrassing blow to the once-vaunted training program."
"The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education formally notified USC and Los Angeles County this week that their jointly run fellowship program will lose its accreditation next year, effectively shutting it down."
"The panel did not publicly state the reasons for the action. But it comes a year after revelations that a medical resident had accused a fellow in the program of sexual assault and alleged officials didn’t take her case seriously."
