Defund SF police? Chief Bill Scott says he's open to the idea
The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA/MEGAN CASSIDY: "San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott signaled a willingness Monday to defund a portion of his department’s budget in response to calls for reform following mass civil unrest over police brutality across the country.
“We’re at a time in policing in this country where the whole world is speaking to us, and we need to hear what’s being said,” Scott said during an online forum hosted by the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club. “And what’s being said is we have to change the way we do policing in this country. And I think, for me, I’m open to that.”
Scott’s comments come after San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Shamann Walton said last week they intend to shift a portion of the Police Department’s upcoming budget and redirect it to the city’s black community. Key details about what that proposal will look like — such as how much money will be taken from the police budget and where the money will go — have not yet been decided."
READ MORE related to Public Safety/Criminal Justice Reform/Defunding Police Movement: 'Live PD' canceled following report that it filmed police custody death -- LA Times's MEREDITH BLAKE; LAPD investigating 56 allegations of misconduct by officers during protests; 7 taken out of field -- LA Times's RICHARD WINTON; LAPD's use of batons, other weapons likely violated rules, caused significant injures to protesters -- LA Times's KEVIN RECTOR/ SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA/RICHARD WINTON; OPD on protests: 137 arson fires, more than 200 businesses looted, vandalized -- The Chronicle's MATT KAWAHARA; Slain Bay Area federal guard's sister urges Congress to 'make a change' in his honor -- The Chronicle's TAL KOPAN
1.5M join ranks of jobless, as more Californians claim unemployment bennies
The Chronicle's CAROLYN SAID: "Another 1.5 million Americans filed for unemployment last week, the government said Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to batter the labor market, despite easing of shelter-in-place orders in most of the country.
The job losses reported by the U.S. Department of Labor for the week ended June 6 brings the total since mid-March to a staggering 44.2 million. In addition, 42 states reported 705,676 new claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which covers freelancers, gig workers and self-employed people, who previously were not eligible for unemployment benefits.
Continued unemployment claims, which show how many people remain jobless, are slightly down from a mid-May peak of 24.9 million. These claims, which lag new unemployment claims by a week, stood at 20.9 million for the week ended May 30, a slight decrease from the week before."
Newsom: Politics, policy and the pandemic
CHUCK MCFADDEN in Capitol Weekly: "Gov. Gavin Newsom has been riding a high tide of approval from Californians for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, but he could be heading for stormy weather.
His recent poll standing has been what politicians dream of. A June 3 survey by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) says nearly two-thirds of Californians (65 percent of adults, 64 percent likely voters) approve of Newsom’s job performance. That is a big jump from his 53 percent approval in February.
Californians (58 percent of adults, 56 percent of likely voters) say that things in the state are generally going in the right direction, the PPIC reported."
Here's where California's biggest police group spends its political money
The Chronicle's JOHN WILDERMUTH: "With police brutality and what to do about it moving to the center of 2020 politics, attention is focusing on the money California’s largest law enforcement group spends on candidates and causes.
Like most of the state’s largest special interests, the 77,000-member Peace Officers Research Association of California spreads its political contributions widely. Figures from the California secretary of state’s office show it supports both Democrats and Republicans in races ranging from city council and county supervisor to the Legislature and the governor.
• Far and wide: Since 2017, the 67-year-old organization has spent about $3 million on its political operations, including campaign contributions to candidates across the state. The support flows not only into city council races in major California cities like Los Angeles, Fresno and Oakland, but also to contests in places like Clovis (Fresno County), El Segundo (Los Angeles County), Fontana (San Bernardino County) and Chico."
PG&E shakes up board of directors as California utility prepares for life after bankruptcy
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER: "PG&E Corp. overhauled its board of directors Wednesday in a housecleaning that it said fulfills its pledge to reinvent the troubled utility as its prepares to exit bankruptcy.
The company will replace 10 of its 13 board members. The turnover, which will take place once PG&E completes its bankruptcy case, is “a critical component of PG&E’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy as a re-imagined utility — one that is in touch with its customers and communities and is safe, reliable, financially stable, and capable of helping California meet its energy goals,” said current board chair Nora Mead Brownell.
Brownell is among those leaving the board. Three are staying, and 11 new members are joining as the board grows by one to a total of 14."
California pays private law firm nearly $600,000 for work on three pandemic-related contracts
Sac Bee's MATT KREISER: "Faced with two daunting legal problems over the past year — the COVID-19 pandemic and the bankruptcy of a major California utility, PG&E — the Newsom administration has relied on a single Los Angeles law firm.
That business has been lucrative for the firm, O’Melveny & Myers LLP.
In early March, the law firm signed a $596,000 contract with the California Office of Emergency Services to negotiate three emergency COVID-19 contracts on behalf of the state. Those transactions included leasing two COVID-19 field hospitals and negotiating with the Motel 6 chain to provide rooms for the homeless during the pandemic."
LA officials want more money for community policing. Activists say it misses the point
LA Times's EMILY ALPERT REYES: "Two members of the Los Angeles City Council are calling for finding savings from the police budget — and plugging that money back into expanding a community policing program across the city.
Los Angeles City Councilmen Joe Buscaino and Marqueece Harris-Dawson declared in their proposal that “it is time to expand the Community Safety Partnership program within LAPD and begin to transform the department into one based upon community policing,” citing a recent study that found that residents in the targeted areas felt safer.
But the move was met with disdain by Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and other activist groups that have called to dramatically defund the Police Department and reinvest the money in other services to address community needs."
California bill asking voters whether to repeal anti-affirmative action Prop. 209 advances
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "California lawmakers advanced a constitutional amendment Wednesday to overturn Proposition 209, the affirmative action ban approved by state voters in the 1990s that critics say perpetuates inequality for women and people of color.
By a vote of 58-9, the Assembly passed ACA5, which would strip language from the state Constitution prohibiting the consideration of race and sex in public education, employment and contracting.
It is the first major step toward rescinding the law, a decision that would ultimately be left to California voters. If approved in the Senate by a two-thirds vote by June 25, the measure will appear on the November ballot, giving the state a chance to weigh in on the issue for the first time in a generation. Voters could repeal Prop. 209 by a simple majority."
California Legislature pressing forward on budget vote without deal with Newsom
The Chronicle's DUSTIN GARDINER: "Legislators will vote on a new state budget Monday, even though they have yet to strike a deal with Gov. Gavin Newsom on a plan to close California’s $54.3 billion deficit.
The move could be largely procedural. State Senate and Assembly leaders said Wednesday that lawmakers plan to vote and then continue “productive” talks with Newsom, to meet a June 15 deadline for passing a budget or have their pay cut off.
Their plan is to take up a budget that legislative leaders announced last week, which differed in several respects from the version Newsom put forward in May."
Demonstrators target D.A. Jackie Lacey
LA Times's PRISCELLA VEGA/BENJAMIN ORESKES: "Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the sweltering heat in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon before marching down Spring Street to decry the practices of the city’s law enforcement and protest Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, who has come under fire for not prosecuting more police officers for misconduct.
During the protest in front of the Hall of Justice, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies lined the building as families of victims of officer-involved shootings spoke of losing loved ones as protesters shouted, “Say their name.” Diana Hernandez described how her brother, Daniel, was shot and killed, and said more needs to be done to investigate his death.
“Our family is devastated by the policies of LAPD,” she said."
SARS antibodies block coronaviruis infections, study shows
The Chronicle's CYNTHIA DIZIKES: "Antibodies from people who recovered from SARS — a deadly respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus that emerged nearly 20 years ago — may be critical to fighting COVID-19, according to a study in the journal Nature.
The peer-reviewed paper reveals how an antibody discovered in a person infected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus in 2003 acted as a potent blocker against SARS-CoV-2, the closely related coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
A team of international researchers, including scientists from San Francisco’s Vir Biotechnology and the University of Washington, conducted the study, which was published in May."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: SF doctor shares notes from front line: 'It's really heartbreaking' -- The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI
Two Bay Area school boards support eliminating police on campus
EdSource's THERESA HARRINGTON/ALI TADAYON: "A majority of the Oakland Unified school board, along with the superintendent, on Wednesday signaled support for dismantling the district’s police force. But the board won’t vote on the proposal until June 24.
But in nearby West Contra Costa Unified, the five-member board voted unanimously on Wednesday to cancel the district’s contracts with local police departments for school resource officers, or campus police. Oakland Unified has its own in-house police force, while West Contra Costa pays local police to patrol its campuses.
In Oakland Unified, board member Roseann Torres introduced “The George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate Oakland Schools Police Department,” which was also backed by board member Shanthi Gonzales and dozens of speakers who called into the virtual meeting, along with about 500 participants watching on Zoom. It would shift about $2.5 million spent on 10 sworn officers and police administrators to instead pay for student support services such as counselors and coordinators for “restorative justice,” which is an alternative form of conflict resolution that allows students to make amends for wronging others through discussions."
READ MORE related to Education: California's online-only community college is flunking out with legislators -- The Chronicle's DUSTIN GARDINER; More explicit guidance for distance learning sparks debate in Legislature -- EdSource's JOHN FENSTERWALD; California teachers worry gap widening for English learners during school closures -- EdSource's ZAIDEE STAVELY
Bay Area's dropping rents will reshape housing market
The Chronicle's J.K. DINEEN: "The coronavirus pandemic is driving rents down in San Francisco and across the region, reshaping a housing market that for the past decade has generated enormous profits for residential developers while displacing tens of thousands of workers from the inner Bay Area.
Rents are down 9% from a year ago in San Francisco and over 15% in some tech hubs in the South Bay, according to a recent report by Zumper, a rental housing search engine. That trend will likely accelerate as layoffs mount and workers, newly liberated by work-from-home options, flee the Bay Area for cheaper cities, according to housing experts.
While it’s too early to say whether the current health crisis will be a short-term dip or a longer-term correction in the cost of housing, it’s clear that in the next few months, renters looking for housing in the Bay Area will get a lot more for their money than they did a year or two ago. Owners are increasingly scrambling to get tenants to sign leases, offering months of free rent, signing bonuses and other discounts. New market-rate housing development is likely to stop, as builders wait to see how far rents tumble."
READ MORE related to Homelessness & Housing: In a surprise move, state courts leave coronavirus-era eviction ban in place -- The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO; How long should California ban evictions? Lawmakers look at extending coronavirus relief -- Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER/ROSALIO AHUMADA
(OP-ED) Could Trump really 'cancel' the 2020 presidential election? Yes, and here's how
ACE SMITH in Sac Bee: "Don’t believe anyone who says “a presidential election can’t be canceled.”
It can be, and here’s how.
While it is true that the United States Constitution and (later) federal law requires that an election be held on the first Tuesday after the first Sunday in November, there is a catch: The Constitution allows the presidential electors to be chosen through means determined by the state legislatures, not by direct election of its citizens."
