California moiving to pioneer free meals for all students
EdSource's ALI TADAYON: "As students gradually return to classrooms, advocates and lawmakers say it’s more important than ever to provide free meals in schools without burdensome eligibility requirements, just as California has done during the pandemic.
The “Free School Meals For All” bill, SB 364, introduced last month by East Bay Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, would establish a statewide Universal Meal Plan starting in the 2022-2023 school year. It would guarantee free breakfast and lunch for all California students and eliminate the application process that proved a barrier to many families.
Though New York City, Chicago and other U.S. cities have created such programs, California would be the first to do it statewide.
Why wasn’t Tiger Woods cited for speeding after he crashed his SUV going 87 mph?
RICHARD WINTON, LA Times: "An investigation into the February crash that seriously injured Tiger Woods found that the golfing great was traveling at almost double the posted speed limit on Hawthorne Boulevard on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
But officials said they would not cite Woods with speeding even though the investigation concluded he was going more than 80 mph in a 45 mph zone.
Investigators examined the SUV’s advanced data systems to determine Woods reached speeds of up to 87 mph around the time of the crash in Rolling Hills Estates. Authorities said Woods was accelerating down the steep grade on the northbound side, which sometimes catches drivers unaware of their growing momentum. Woods hit the median, then a Rolling Hills sign, and then the west curb before striking a tree 71 feet off the roadway."
Legacy of a young woman’s murder: Will the counties step up?
SIGRID BATHEN, Capitol Weekly: "Sue Frost, chair of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, did not originally support a 2002 state law that provides family members with one of the few legal avenues to get severely mentally ill relatives into intensive treatment. Like other public officials, she was concerned about patient rights and cost.
But she supports it now.
“There are people in our world who cannot take care of themselves, and they need help,” the former emergency room nurse said in a recent interview with Capitol Weekly. “You can’t exercise your civil rights if you’re seriously mentally ill or in a drug-induced psychosis.”
These hurdles could block California's ambitious reopening timeline
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The Chronicle's ERIN ALLDAY: "Gov. Gavin Newsom made a bold declaration on Tuesday: By June 15, California will be able to almost fully reopen after a year and three months of pandemic restrictions.
The clock has started, and California now has a little under 10 weeks to stabilize its vaccine supply and ward off another deadly wave of the coronavirus to meet its self-appointed target. On the whole, the state is in good shape, public health experts say, and that date seems reasonable for reopening.
But 10 weeks is still plenty of time to get knocked off the path to recovery, they warned. Especially when it comes to a pandemic defined by its twists and turns, and as the U.S. faces down a fourth surge."
Anti-fracking bill could severely curtail oil and gas extraction in California
Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: "California may soon take one of its most aggressive steps yet to fight climate change.
A bill before the state Legislature seeks to ban the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, in response to a high-profile request by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last year urged lawmakers to move to halt the fossil fuel extraction technique.
But Senate Bill 467 wouldn’t stop there."
How a surprising Newsom veto threw California's garbage, building industries into chaos
Sac Bee's RYAN SABALOW/DALE KASLER: "For years, contractors and trash haulers in California have been accepting discarded fence posts, backyard deck planks and other chemically treated wood debris without giving it much thought.
That all came to an abrupt end earlier this year, courtesy of an unexpected veto by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Last fall, Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 68, which would have allowed landfills to continue accepting hundreds of thousands of tons of “treated wood waste” — the remnants of railroad ties, decking materials, agricultural stakes and other wooden material that had been pre-treated with industrial chemicals to withstand the elements."
Vaccines now open to everyone age 16 and older in hardest-hit Alameda County ZIP codes
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "Alameda County on Wednesday extended coronavirus vaccinations to everyone at least 16 years old, jumping a week ahead of California’s eligibility expansion, but only in 12 ZIP codes across Oakland, Hayward, San Leandro and San Lorenzo, where thousands of COVID-19 cases have devastated communities.
Statewide, people aged 16 to 49 won’t become eligible for vaccinations until April 15. But in the targeted Alameda County ZIP codes, county officials said there was no time to waste.
Those areas have had 43,106 coro: "navirus cases — an average of 3,592 cases per ZIP code — records show. By contrast, the ZIP code for Oakland’s tony Rockridge area has had just 249 cases."
Why California isn't getting rid of its mask mandate just yet
The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI: "News that California will finally emerge from nearly all pandemic restrictions on June 15 included one glaring exception: The face coverings that have hidden our grins and grimaces for the better part of a year are not going away.
Given a chance to provide a glimmer of hope for ending California’s mask mandate, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s health secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly, firmly decided not to go there, saying there was no end date goal just yet.
“It’s the most powerful and important non-pharmaceutical intervention we can do to mitigate the spread of this disease,” Newsom said during his briefing on Tuesday. “We are committed to extinguishing this disease, and we don’t have any short-term goals as it relates to lifting the mass mandate.”"
California Democrat moves to strengthen state's oversight of unaccompanied immigrant children
Sac Bee's KIM BOJORQUEZ: "In the wake of a recent influx of migrants arriving to the U.S.-Mexico border, a Democratic lawmaker is carrying a bill that would strengthen the state’s mandate to look out for the welfare of unaccompanied immigrant children housed in state-licensed facilities across California.
After four years of the Trump administration’s strict immigration policies, Assemblyman Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, said more must be done on a federal and state level to protect immigrant children arriving to the U.S. after fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries.
His Assembly Bill 1140 would explicitly charge the California Office of the Foster Care Ombudsperson to provide oversight over the treatment of unaccompanied immigrant children staying in state-licensed facilities run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a program under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services."
Newsom sounds like Gray Davis in fighting recall as GOP 'power grab'
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "A California governor takes the stage of a Los Angeles ballroom to denounce the recall election he faces. As supporters cheer him on, he warns that the drive to remove him from office is part of a national effort by Republicans to steal elections they cannot win.
“This right-wing power grab is something we won’t get over,” he says. “It would do lasting damage to our state, our environment and the very fabric of our democracy. This is a fight worth making.”
In August 2003, two months before he became the second governor in American history to be recalled, this scene kicked off Gray Davis’ crusade to save his job. It didn’t work, but nearly two decades later, the early weeks of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s own recall defense campaign have played out like a remake."
How an anti-mask, anti-vaccine activist became a leader of the Newsom recall
Sac Bee's LARA KORTE: "Six weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom handed down a statewide shelter-in-place order, hundreds of people who resented his coronavirus restrictions gathered at the Capitol to decry his emergency powers.
They waved American flags, and hoisted “defend freedom,” “let us work,” and “f--k Newsom” signs. A banner depicting the governor as Adolf Hitler flew above. Protesters clashed with California Highway Patrol Officers, who were policing the scene. Ultimately, 32 people were arrested and cited.
Among the protesters was Cordie Williams, a former Marine and Carlsbad chiropractor who grabbed a megaphone, urging the lines of law enforcement guarding the Capitol to stand down."
Four women say Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli, 'prince' of Wine Country, sexually assaulted them
The Chronicle's ALEXANDRIAN BORDAS/CYNTHIA DIZIKES/JESSICA CHRISTIAN: "In the summer of 2019, Rose Fumoso left her home in southern France to intern at a Sonoma County winery, where the 21-year-old greeted customers in the tasting room and assessed the ripeness of grapes from the vineyard. As the season wound down in September, a friend invited Fumoso to a party celebrating the end of harvest.
There, she met the host: Dominic Foppoli, the mayor of Windsor.
A small town in the heart of Wine Country, Windsor has transformed in recent years from a sleepy neighbor of Healdsburg to a tourist destination. Much of that rise has been credited to Foppoli, a young winery owner whose political star and push for development have attracted outside investments in the community."
The Chronicle's MICHAEL WILLIAMS: "University of San Francisco officials are investigating after a noose was found hanging off the balcony of a student dormitory last month.
The noose, a historical symbol of America’s racist history of lynchings of Black people, was found hanging off the fourth-floor balcony of the university’s Loyola Village housing complex March 30, USF Black Student Union President Brianna Johnson wrote in an open letter published by the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper.
“This is a violent and dangerous act that students were not made aware of until the morning of the following day,” Johnson wrote. A picture attached to the letter shows a rope with one end wrapped several times around the balcony’s railing, and the other end looped into the shape of a noose."
The Chronicle's ANN KILLION: "After months of being stonewalled by Stanford administration, the group fighting to save the 11 sports programs slated for elimination suddenly has new hope.
On Tuesday, 36SportsStrong — the alumni group working to restore the targeted teams — will meet with Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, at his request. The group has been told that the athletic subcommittee of the university’s board of trustees will consider its petition to save the programs. The board of trustees meets next week.
This is the first sign that Stanford is reconsidering its decision."
New location for Sacramento Zoo stuck in decision gridlock
Sac Bee's MICHAEL FINCH II: "More than three decades after the first talks of moving the Sacramento Zoo to North Natomas began, the facility remains in Land Park where it has been since 1927 — without room to grow and with fewer and fewer animals on view.
Situated on some 15 acres, the Sacramento Zoo can no longer support the wide variety of animals that could draw crowds from across the region and beyond. In recent years they’ve reduced the number to meet regulatory standards, sending critters to other zoos with more space.
With each reduction, zoo officials say the facility slips deeper into obscurity. At a meeting with the city this week, Jason Jacobs, the zoo’s executive director, warned that it’s either “expansion or extinction” for the facility."
These California Latinos didn't grow up speaking Spanish. Here's why
Sac Bee's KIM BOJORQUEZ: "Growing up in Stockton during the 1970s, Bill Esparza’s father forbade him from speaking Spanish at home.
His father, he said, grew up in an era where signs like “No dogs or Mexicans allowed” hung in storefronts along the U.S. border. When his Mexico-born father began attending school in the U.S., he was placed in special education classes for speaking Spanish.
“I found out later about the racism that he endured,” Esparza, 52, said. “He was so ashamed of speaking Spanish, I hardly ever heard him speak Spanish my entire life.”"
Half of Forbes' Top 10 billionaires have Bay Area ties -- but two have left California
The Chronicle's JESSICA FLORES: "Five of the top 10 billionaires from Forbes’ annual World’s Billionaires List made their fortunes with Bay Area companies, but two have recently left California.
Forbes released the list this week with more than 2,700 of the richest people in the world in 2021. Jeff Bezos ($177 billion), founder of e-commerce giant Amazon, came in as No. 1, followed by Elon Musk ($151 billion), CEO of Tesla Motors in Palo Alto.
Here’s a list of the five billionaires among Forbes’ Top 10 with companies in the Bay Area:"
Former Diocese of Oakland office manager accused of embezzling nearly 600K
The Chronicle's MICHAEL WILLIAMS: "A former office manager with the Diocese of Oakland is facing embezzlement charges after she was accused of stealing more than $500,000 from the church, Alameda County prosecutors said.
Rhina Ruggiero faces charges of grand theft by embezzlement and tax evasion. She is the former office manager at the Church of the Assumption Parish in San Leandro.
In a letter addressed to parishioners, Bishop Michael C. Barber said Ruggiero had embezzled $590,377 between 2010 to 2019 “by writing checks listing herself as the payee and requesting checks be written to ‘cash’ and receiving the cash.”"
