California, get ready for water cutbacks. Cities, farms receive grim warning about supply
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER: "The rainy season is nearly over, there’s been no “March miracle” and the possibility of parched lawns and fallowed farm fields is growing.
State and federal officials issued remarkably bleak warnings Tuesday about California’s summer water supplies, telling farmers and others to gear up for potential shortages.
The Department of Water Resources, in a rare turnabout, actually lowered its forecast of the deliveries it expects to make to the cities and farms that belong to the State Water Project. In its new forecast, the agency said its customers can expect just 5% of contracted supplies. In December the expected allocation was set at 10%."
Despite delay, hope stays alive in once-a-decade redistricting
JAMES ARANGUREN in Capitol Weekly: "California’s decennial battle to redraw the state’s political boundaries has moved into uncharted territory, a casualty of the pandemic and unprecedented delays in the release of census data.
The U.S. Census Bureau recently announced its data – the foundation of political map-making — will be released to all states this year by Sept. 30, a full six months later than the original release date. That means the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, or CRC – an independent body established by voters — will have less time to craft maps for the 2022 elections.
“It already has hampered the process,” says Rob Stutzman, a veteran political consultant familiar with the redistricting process. “Essentially, the commission won’t receive data from the Census Bureau until after the districts are supposed to be drawn.”"
Feinstein revives talks of national ban on semiautos after recent mass shootings
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "On March 12, a judge in Colorado blocked the city of Boulder from enforcing its ban on semiautomatic rifles — the type of firearm police say was used to kill 10 people at a Boulder supermarket 10 days later.
Many types of the weapons, which reload with each pull of the trigger, cannot be sold legally in California. There are also laws against them in six other states, but not in Colorado. On Tuesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein said the massacre showed the need for Congress to revive a nationwide ban on semiautomatics that she sponsored in 1994.
“Sadly, I’ve watched as assault weapons have become the weapon of choice in mass shootings,” the California Democrat said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, citing the slaughters of 58 people at a Las Vegas nightclub in 2017, 14 at a regional disability center in San Bernardino in 2015, and 26, including 20 children, at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., in 2012."
As pandemic recedes, mass shootings again jolt America
LA Times's LAURA KING/EMILY BAUMGAERTNER: "For a moment, it seemed as if American life might be returning, however haltingly, to normal. Then the sickening jolt of recognition: This is our normal.
With two mass shootings separated by a span of just six days, the sense of hope that blossomed amid quickening COVID-19 vaccinations across the country is giving way to a communal sense of dismay and dread. We are emerging from our pandemic lockdowns to images of SWAT teams and bloodied bodies that once gripped the country with stunning regularity.
That Monday’s shooting unfolded in a supermarket — a place that endured, stayed open and sustained families through months of isolation — is a stark expression of vulnerability in a nation long accustomed to burying those felled by gun violence."
Suspect in Boulder mass shooting had history of anger issues, assault
LA Times's JAWEED KALEEM/RICHARD READ/MELISSA ETEHAD: "The 21-year-old accused of killing 10 people at a supermarket here had a history of angry outbursts — including a conviction for violently attacking a high school classmate — and told relatives that he believed he was “being chased” by people who were out to get him.
A day after the shooting massacre, authorities offered few clues about what may have motivated Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, who was charged Tuesday with 10 counts of murder.
The dead ranged in age from 20 to 65 and included a grocery bagger, an Instacart shopper, an actress-turned-financial counselor for the poor and a police officer who was the first to respond to reports of shots fired Monday afternoon at the King Soopers grocery store."
Public weighs in on racist tweets by SF school board member
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "San Francisco school board members gathered for the first time, since the rediscovery of racist tweets posted by one of their own, in a meeting attended by more than 1,000 community members looking to weigh in on the scandal.
President Gabriela López set aside time for each board member to address the issue of Vice President Alison Collins’s social media posts against Asian Americans, and then allotted 50 minutes for the public to speak as well.
Two school board members, Jenny Lam and Faauuga Moliga have called for Collins’ resignation as have dozens of public officials and community groups. In the tweets posted in 2016, Collins said Asian Americans had used “white supremacist thinking to assimilate and ‘get ahead.’""
10 California counties move to looser reopening tiers
Sac Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "With statewide COVID-19 rates still dropping and the vaccination pace improving, 10 California counties had their restriction tiers loosened Tuesday in a weekly update from state health officials.
Kern, Nevada and Stanislaus counties moved from the strict purple tier into the red tier.
Six others — Lassen, Marin, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Trinity and Yolo — moved from red to the looser orange tier."
Oakland launches one of the largest guaranteed income programs in the country. Here's how it will work
The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI: "Oakland plans to start a guaranteed income program this spring for 600 residents — one of the largest such programs in the country, city officials said — as Bay Area leaders search for solutions to rising poverty and inequality in the wake of the pandemic.
Through the pilot program, residents will receive $500 a month for at least 18 months with no strings attached, Mayor Libby Schaaf said at a Tuesday news conference. Checks could be in residents’ hands by this spring or summer. Low-income families — with at least one child under 18 — who are Black, indigenous or people of color will be randomly selected through an application process to vet eligibility, Schaaf said. Officials said those groups suffer from the greatest wealth disparity, according to data on Oakland’s population.
More than 70,000 people — or 16.7% of Oakland’s population — live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census."
Jewish lawmakers condemn anti-semitic rhetoric emanating from recall campaign
Sac Bee's LARA KORTE: "California Jewish lawmakers on Tuesday condemned the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom for repeatedly comparing the governor to Adolf Hitler and comparing his coronavirus restrictions to the Holocaust.
At a meeting of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, lawmakers expressed dismay that recall supporters and leaders had compared the governor and his efforts to save lives during the pandemic to the Nazi movement, which systematically murdered more than 6 million Jews.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said some recall supporters are also following the dangerous ideas promoted by QAnon, which has recently shifted towards spreading conspiracy theories about Asian and Jewish people."
Sacramento Mayor Steinberg won't be next state AG
Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG/HANNAH WILEY: "Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg won’t be the next California attorney general, The Bee confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
Steinberg was considered a leading contender to replace Xavier Becerra in the role after Becerra was confirmed last week to be U.S. Health and Human Services secretary.
Newsom, who is expected to appoint Becerra’s appointment soon, called Steinberg on Tuesday and told him he didn’t get the job, according to a source with knowledge of the conversation."
Central American migrants navigate jungle river en route to the US
LA Times's PATRICK J MCDONNELL: "A steady stream of boats packed with Central American migrants navigates a river that delineates the international boundary. Adults carrying babies and holding the hands of young children alight from the craft. Guides baring cellphones point the way into a new country.
“Why am I here?” asked Norma Rodríguez, a U.S.-bound Honduran who was traveling with her children, ages 16, 11 and 3. “To find a better life for my family.”
Is this the Rio Grande, dividing Mexico and the United States? No, this is the Usumacinta River, which forms the border between Mexico and Guatemala in the Lacandon Jungle of Mexico’s southern Chiapas state."
Waiting for California's new COVID unemployment payment? You may have to be patient
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Is the extra $300 promised in the latest economic relief bill coming soon? Hard to say.
That benefit was supposed to end March 13, but was extended through early September in the new economic relief plan signed into law by President Joe Biden earlier this month.
Qualifying people receiving their regular unemployment insurance payments — that is, people who get benefits because their employer paid into the system, or those on the FED-ED extended benefits program — will keep getting the additional $300 a week, uninterrupted."
California office holding $10B in unclaimed assets hacked
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "A hacker accessed personal identifying information of up to about 9,000 people in California last week, according to the State Controller’s Office.
The breach came after an employee in the office’s Unclaimed Property Division was targeted by a “spear phishing” attack Thursday, said Jennifer Hanson, a spokeswoman for the office.
The division safeguards about $10 billion worth of lost or forgotten properties, including money in bank accounts, stocks, bonds, never-cashed checks, insurance benefits, wages and safe deposit box contents."
700 janitors to walk off job sites in SF
The Chronicle's LAUREN HERNANDEZ: "Hundreds of San Francisco janitors who are represented by SEIU Local 87 plan to walk off their job sites citywide Wednesday morning as part of an unfair labor practice strike demanding workplace safety measures, union officials said Tuesday.
Roughly 700 custodians are expected to form roughly 20 strike lines at various locations across San Francisco at 6 a.m. Wednesday. Among the buildings being picketed is the Salesforce Tower. The strike, which is expected to last for three days, comes after eight months of negotiations in an effort to reach a union contract, said Olga Miranda, the president of SEIU Local 87.
Striking workers are calling for fair pay, seniority rights and workplace safety protections, such as “sexual harassment safeguards” and improved ventilation in the buildings they work, union officials said. At least 26 San Francisco custodians in the union have died from COVID-19 since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Miranda said, and roughly 3,000 have been laid off."
What are California teachers seeing as the early grades go back to school?
EdSource's KAREN D'SOUZA: "Rarely has the prospect of going back to school generated so much glee in the hearts of young children. Now, as many California children in the early grades have started to venture back into the classroom after a long year of lockdowns and distance learning, teachers say they are seeing much rejoicing, as well as some anxiety, on campus.
For many children in K-2, remote learning has been fraught with challenges, educators say. Some youngsters struggle to engage online. Many small children resist sitting still for hours. Technical snafus often require constant parental input.
“Young children don’t learn particularly well from screens. Social-emotional learning is vital with young children, and it needs to be in person, face to face, masks and all,” said Brad Zacuto, the head of school at Westside Neighborhood School in Los Angeles, which brought students back to school last fall. “The laughter, the joy you hear and see throughout the school day is evidence of this.”"
CCPOA asks retirees to pay more dues to keep death benefit
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "The California Correctional Peace Officers Association is asking retired correctional officers to pay more in dues or lose a life insurance benefit, according to a letter sent to the retirees.
The union, which represents about 28,000 state correctional officers plus roughly 15,000 retirees, is holding a vote on the proposal. Ballots are due March 30, according to the letter.
If approved, the measure would raise retirees’ monthly dues to $20, from $10. Retirees pay less than active members, who pay about $97 per month."
Months after escaping Pier 45 fire, WWII ship Jeremiah O'Brien comes home
The Chronicle's ANNIE VAINSHTEIN: "An air of joyful pride wafted aboard the cargo ship Jeremiah O’Brien as two tugboats pulled the historic World War II cargo vessel back home — after months away — to Pier 45.
The 7,600-ton, 441-foot floating museum had been docked at Pier 35 since May, when a fire destroyed a fish processing and storage warehouse just inches away from its longtime home at Pier 45. The 77-year-old ship — which was part of the D-Day armada at Normandy, and is only one of two surviving liberty ships — was saved with only minor damage.
“This is living history,” said Randy Quezada, communications director for the Port of San Francisco as he watched the tugboats gently pull the ship into the San Francisco Bay. “It’s a shot in the arm.”"
Biden urges gun controls as another mass shooting alters his pandemic-relief tour
LA Times's ELI STOKOLS: "For the second time in a week, President Biden’s campaign to broaden public awareness and support for his pandemic relief benefits has been overshadowed by a mass shooting, thrusting the fraught issue of gun control to the fore.
Delivering hastily scheduled remarks Tuesday from the White House before departing for Ohio, Biden said, “We have to act.” He vowed “to use all the resources at [his] disposal to keep the American people safe,” but called on Congress to expand background checks and ban assault weapons.
The president, in traveling to Columbus, planned to highlight how the new $1.9-trillion relief law will reduce healthcare costs. But first he had to address Monday’s mass shooting in Boulder, Colo., that left 10 people dead, just six days after the mass shooting of eight people in the Atlanta area."
