California has one week to pass a budget. Congress doesn’t plan to help in time — if at all
From the SacBee's DAVID LIGHTMAN AND SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling on the federal government to send the state more money, and has laid out a budget plan with $14 billion in so-called trigger cuts. The economic downturn brought on by the coronavirus created an estimated $54.3 billion deficit for the next year.
Without federal aid, a long list of state programs face reductions that will be felt everywhere. The state fiscal year begins July 1, and if Congress fails to act before that — and right now, that’s not a good bet — the California cuts would be triggered.
Education funding would be cut. So would dental benefits for low-income people. State preschool programs would have fewer slots for children than planned and less funding per child."
California was set to spend over $1B to prevent wildfires. Then came COVID-19
NPR's LAUREN SOMMER: "With the coronavirus pandemic eroding state budgets across the country, many communities risk having this disaster make them less prepared for looming climate-driven disasters.
Still recovering from devastating wildfires, California was poised to spend billions of dollars to prepare for future fires and other extreme weather disasters. The infrastructure projects, designed to make communities and homes more resistant to wildfire, have long been overlooked, fire experts say.
But with a $54 billion budget deficit, the programs are being put on hold."
LA County coronavirus cases near 64,000 amid protests and reopenings
LA Times's ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "Los Angeles County reported 1,523 new cases of the coronavirus Sunday and 25 related deaths. The high number of new cases was in part due to a backlog of test results received from one lab, officials said.
“Our community is feeling the sadness and loss of so many who have passed away from COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, county public health director, in a statement. “Our hearts go out to the family and friends of those who have passed away.”
The county now has recorded nearly 64,000 cases of the virus, and more than 2,600 people have died."
Protesters and the coronavirus: Bay Area health officials brace for spike in cases
The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI/DOMINIC FRACASSA: "As thousands of people take to the streets to protest systematic racism and police brutality in the Bay Area and nationwide, public health officials are raising alarms over a looming surge in coronavirus cases.
Counties are urging people to get tested within at least five days of attending their last protest. San Francisco opened a pop-up testing site Friday at St. Mary’s Cathedral for demonstrators concerned about their potential exposure during the recent days of unrest and protests, even if they aren’t showing symptoms of COVID-19.
“I think everyone in public health is concerned,” said Dr. Tomás Aragón, San Francisco’s health officer."
A UC regent, a sex harassment accusation and what an investigator found
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "An investigator hired by the University of California has rejected a doctoral student’s allegation that UC Regent George Kieffer sexually harassed her by repeatedly resting his hand on her upper thigh during a dinner for student leaders in San Francisco six years ago, The Chronicle has learned.
The investigator, a Walnut Creek attorney, found that although Kieffer sat next to the student and could have placed his hand on her leg, the “preponderance of evidence” fails to show that he did.
“The finding of the independent investigator was really not a surprise to me given that I knew the allegation was completely false from the outset,” said Kieffer, an attorney and last year’s chairman of the regents."
California business called armed militia after hearing protest rumor, police chief says
Sac Bee's DEKE FARROW: "The Oakdale Police Department on Sunday addressed the presence of armed militia at the downtown location of a rumored Black Lives Matter demonstration that never materialized Saturday.
In anticipation of the protest, members of the all-volunteer armed citizens group, the California State Militia, and a little more than a dozen counterprotesters showed up to stand on the sidewalk at a boarded-up business. Photos from the militia company’s Facebook page also show members on an Oakdale rooftop.
“We have received multiple inquiries and heard from many concerned residents about a group of people dressed in camouflage or ‘militia’ at a downtown business during yesterday’s demonstration,” the post on the OPD Facebook page says. “We want to set the record straight. The group wearing military attire were not members of the U.S. National Guard and they had no affiliation with the Oakdale Police Department or any of our partner agencies."
Simi Valley Councilman Mike Judge at center of controversy for suggesting using septic tanks amid protests
LA Times's JOEL RUBIN: "Mike Judge is many things: Los Angeles cop, unapologetic conservative Republican, and member of the Simi Valley City Council, a largely conservative town 40 miles outside of the city known mostly for being where the police officers who beat Rodney King were put on trial decades ago.
He is also a lightning rod for controversy.
This past week Judge enraged many Simi Valley residents and others when he joked about an offensive meme on Facebook regarding the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests. And he fueled the anger further by arguing against a protest march planned for Simi Valley over fears that it would turn violent. Thousands signed petitions calling for Judge to resign from the City Council seat he’s held since 2010."
(OP-ED) To end systemic racism, no one can stay silent. No one can ignore injustice
JOE BIDEN in LA Times: "In every corner of this country this weekend, George Floyd’s words, which were the words of Eric Garner before him, are echoing from millions of voices in our streets and in our hearts.
“I can’t breathe.”
And, Friday should have been Breonna Taylor’s 27th birthday — a day she didn’t live to see."
George Floyd protests have created a multicultural movement that's making history
LA Times's LEILA MILLER: "Throughout his life, Alan Michnoff’s engagement with racial justice issues had been “next to none.” Although the 30-year-old North Hollywood resident had always been aware of police brutality against black people, he had not actively spoken up.
Last weekend, as the George Floyd protests swelled nationwide, something changed. Michnoff came across a passionate Instagram post by a friend. “I am emotionally and physically exhausted yet I continue this fight,” she wrote, demanding that others not be complacent in the face of racism.
“That just struck a chord with me,” Michnoff said. “A lot of people have been saying that. Just hearing it over and over again, and it being perhaps the right time, it finally hit for me."
Bay Area black voices: Why I protest
The Chronicle's OTIS R TAYLOR JR/YALONDA M JAMES: "The demonstrations against police violence in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis have been an awakening for some white Americans to systemic racism in the United States.
But for black people, this reality is nothing new. It is their existence from birth. In a private home or on a public street, black life is fragile because blackness is often regarded as a threat.
Black people have been protesting police violence in communities for decades, yet the country hasn’t responded with racial equity and police reform. Will it happen this time?"
Compton Cowboys join spirited caravan through city to protest police brutality
LA Times's ARIT JOHN/LAURA NEWBERRY: "Straddled atop horses, the beloved Compton Cowboys joined a spirited caravan of motorcycles and hundreds of sign-waving demonstrators Sunday as part of a growing national movement to end police brutality and systemic racism in the United States.
The mood of the march through Compton was upbeat, an amalgamation of community pride and anger at the death of George Floyd in police custody and the men and women who came before him.
“My Color Is Not A Crime,” one sign read. “A Riot Is the Language of the Unheard,” declared another."
Complex health considerations make reopening California's schools a challenge
EdSource's CAROLYN JONES: "Schools are facing a complicated array of health considerations as they decide whether and how to reopen this fall.
On one end, groups of pediatricians have recently urged districts to open schools to meet the important needs of children, as it relates to their socialization, nutrition, physical activity and mental health.
At the other end are parents who fear their children — particularly those who are medically vulnerable — will become ill or contract the coronavirus and sicken other family members."
Air Force sergeant arrested in ambush of Santa Cruz deputy; link to Oakland shooting eyed
The Chronicle's SAM WHITING/MATTHIAS GAFNI: "An active-duty Air Force staff sergeant has been arrested in the ambush-style shooting death of a deputy with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday afternoon in Ben Lomond.
Steven Carrillo, who is 32 and stationed at Travis Air Force Base, where he is attached to a military police unit, was arrested at a hospital, where he was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said Carrillo will be charged with murder and other felonies for the killing of Damon Gutzwiller, 38, a father of one with another baby on the way with his wife.
Hart described Gutzwiller, a local kid who graduated from Aptos High School, as “a beloved figure” at the Sheriff’s Office. He was a patrol supervisor and had been with the department since 2006."
Supervisor wants SF to make pandemic eviction protections permanent. Should it ?
The Chronicle's JK DINEEN/TRISHA THADANI: "When Jenny Ramirez’s father temporarily lost his job as a chef at a Peruvian restaurant because of the pandemic, she was thankful her family didn’t have to worry about the life-altering, stomach-churning threat of eviction.
That’s because San Francisco banned evictions during the coronavirus public health emergency — and for two months after — to help families just like hers. But, the 18-year-old still worries: What will happen to them when that temporary ban ends?
“We are worried ... the landlord will say, ‘Here is your total,’ and it will be more than we can pay,” said Ramirez, a cosmetology student who lives in the Mission with her parents and two siblings."
How SF sidestepped state law on developing toxic sites
The Chronicle's CYNTHIA DIZIKES: "Contaminated gas stations, vehicle repair shops and parking garages have become prized development commodities in San Francisco in recent years as the city struggles with a crushing housing shortage.
But city officials have repeatedly stymied public oversight when assessing whether these chemical-tainted properties are safe for hundreds of new homes by allowing developers to bypass environmental reviews required under state law, a Chronicle investigation has found.
The California Environmental Quality Act prohibits certain exemptions for the tens of thousands of properties on a statewide roster of hazardous-waste sites called the Cortese list. “Categorical” exemptions are only supposed to go to projects with no significant impact on the environment or human health. The prohibition was designed to protect the public, construction workers and future occupants from exposure to dangerous substances, environmental lawyers said."
Criticized over mass arrests of protesters, LA says it won't seek criminal charges or fines
LA Times's KEVIN RECTOR/RICHARD WINTON: "Faced with growing criticism over the arrests of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators, top Los Angeles law enforcement officials said Sunday they will not pursue criminal or financial penalties against the protesters.
The decision follows complaints by many of those arrested that they spent hours in plastic handcuffs in crammed buses without justification, leaving them with injuries and potentially exposing them to the coronavirus. Many of those were taken into custody last week for either violating curfew rules or failing to disperse after the LAPD had declared their protest unlawful.
A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and Black Lives Matter L.A. claims the curfews illegally suppressed constitutionally protected protests and violated people’s freedom of movement. The organizations have also decried videos that show police officers responding with violence against protesters, including swinging batons and firing foam and sponge projectiles."
As White House's strong-arm tactics get pushback, Trump takes credit for peaceful protests
LA Times's LAURA KING: "Asserting that “everything is under perfect control,” President Trump claimed credit Sunday after a national wave of demonstrations against police abuses turned calmer, even as the White House faced fresh pushback over strong-arm tactics used against peaceful protesters.
Protests appeared peaceful Sunday, a day after riot police and National Guard troops largely stayed out of the way as chanting, sign-waving crowds marched and rallied in city after city against police brutality and endemic racism.
As he has during nearly two weeks of unrest, Trump again struck a stance of toughness, tweeting, “I want LAW & ORDER!” — a message his reelection campaign has embraced since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 sparked mass protests around the country and, in a few areas, vandalism and thefts."
