A lurking earthquake fault has blocked Hollywood's tallest building. Will it ever rise?
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II: "When developers announced a decade ago that they intended to build Hollywood’s first skyscrapers along an aging, fading block of the famed boulevard, boosters saw it as a transformational moment.
Gentrification was already remaking Hollywood with a series of big high-end developments, but this project was different. The complex would alter the L.A. skyline and add more than 1 million square feet of office, retail and residential space. Some neighboring residents and others protested, saying the soaring towers would block views, invite horrific traffic and irrevocably alter Hollywood’s character.
But those concerns ended up taking a back seat to a much larger question: What was lurking under the land."
Biden says guilty verdict for police offier in Floyd death 'much to rare'
Sac Bee, FRANCESCA CHAMBERS/ALEX ROARY: "President Joe Biden on Tuesday called the conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin a step forward for racial justice, but warned that such verdicts are “much too rare” and legislative reform must be next.
Chauvin was found guilty on all three charges in the death last year of George Floyd, in a case that has roiled the nation and drawn international attention.
Speaking from the White House, Biden said the conviction can help achieve racial justice in America if lawmakers pass police reform legislation under consideration in Congress."
READ MORE GEORGE FLOYD MURDER VERDICT NEWS -- 'Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.' What Californians are saying about Derek Chauvin's conviction -- Sac Bee, ANDREW SHEELER; 'I just feel so relieved.' America reflects on the murder conviction of Derek Chauvin -- LA Times's MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE/TANIA GANGULI/JAWEED KALEEM
Low-wage workers in California say COVID protocols are lacking on the job
The Chronicle, CAROLYN SAID: "Single mom Aracely Nava said she was constantly afraid of virus contagion while she continued to work at a San Francisco fast-food restaurant during the pandemic.
“All the time people were coming in from the street without masks,” she said in Spanish through an interpreter. “They never put anyone by the door counting the number of people who came in to maintain a certain number. A manager was allowed to work for over a week (while) really sick with flu symptoms.”
Similar accounts of lackluster COVID-19 protocols are all too common among lower-paid California workers still toiling during the pandemic. People who make takeout meals, provide home health care, tend to yards and clean schools, homes and hospitals reported a range of unsafe practices, according to a study called “Few Options, Many Risks” released Wednesday by the Asian Americans Advancing Justice — Asian Law Caucus and UC Berkeley Occupational Health Program."
Daybreak PAC hopes to push Legislature leftward
JOAQUIN ROMERO, Capitol Weekly: "On March 23, about 80 people gathered on a Zoom call to launch Daybreak PAC, a political action committee aimed at moving the California Legislature to the left by supporting progressive candidates and policies.
The PAC is headed by activist Jackie Fielder, an unsuccessful state Senate candidate who challenged incumbent Democrat Scott Wiener last year in San Francisco. Fielder lost by 60,000 votes, but her campaign drew attention from progressives for her ability to build a substantial base of small donors.
“For myself, it was important that we continue our movement for single-payer healthcare, investments in social housing, ending homelessness, workers’ rights, expanded funding for public schools, and alternatives to policing,” she said."
Progressives place reform hopes on Rob Bonta as California AG
The Chronicle, ALEXEI KOSEFF: " There are California Democrats and then there’s Rob Bonta.
The five-term Assembly member represents an Oakland-based district where two-thirds of voters are registered Democrats and is one of the most progressive lawmakers in Sacramento. He has advanced protections for renters and detained immigrants, sought to add warning labels to soda cans and proposed a wealth tax.
His colleagues will decide this week whether Bonta, 49, will become the state’s next attorney general, replacing Xavier Becerra, who stepped down to become President Biden’s secretary of health and human services.
It is an opportunity for a champion of overhauling the criminal justice system to reimagine the role of an office that focused the last four years on filing more than 120 lawsuits against the Trump administration. One of Bonta’s first challenges will be setting up a team to investigate police shootings of unarmed Californians, created by legislation that he helped carry last year."
New, antibody-resistant variant discovered in Texas
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: "Researchers at Texas A&M University this week reported a new strain of the coronavirus called the BV-1.
The BV-1 variant was found in a saliva sample taken from a student who lives off campus and tested positive for the coronavirus on March 5, the university announced Monday.
Researchers have not found the strain in other individuals but called its genetic make-up “concerning” because it may be resistant to antibodies."
California Latinos are missing out on money from COVID rent relief. How to apply
Sac Bee, KIM BOJORQUEZ: "Nearly one month after California opened applications for a $2.6 billion coronavirus rent relief program, state officials say Latino residents are underrepresented among the tens of thousands of people applying for help.
The disparity suggests that people who are eligible for the help aren’t applying for the money that can relieve them of thousands of dollars of debt as the economy recovers from the pandemic.
“Our numbers are good, but there there is still a gap in terms of Latino participation,” said Lourdes M. Castro Ramírez, secretary of the California Business, Consumer Affairs and Housing Agency."
Kristin Smart's body may have been recently moved from under home's deck, DA alleges
LA Times, RICHARD WINTON: "Investigators believe that Kristin Smart’s body was recently moved from beneath the deck at the Arroyo Grande home of the father of Paul Flores, who is accused of her murder, according to court records.
San Luis Obispo County prosecutors said detectives are “in possession of biological evidence that makes them believe the victim was buried underneath [Ruben Flores’] deck at one time.” Few other details were provided.
Smart, a freshman at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, was last seen around 2 a.m. on May 25, 1996, leaving an off-campus party."
SF school board approves unusual contract terms with superintendent
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "After months of conflict and controversy, the San Francisco school board, looking for stability, agreed Tuesday to new contract terms with Superintendent Vince Matthews that requires commissioners to act “in a dignified and professional manner” while focusing solely on reopening.
The addendum to the superintendent’s contract is part of the deal he made with the school board to stay on another year after announcing his retirement in March.
The language in the superintendent’s addendum is unusual, appearing to address an embattled school board facing controversy and a series of lawsuits, which includes board member Alison Collins suing five of her colleagues and the district for $87 million, as the district works to reopen schools to in-person learning following the coronavirus shutdown."
SoCal home prices up 15%
LA Times's ANDREW KHOURI: "Southern California home prices soared in March, rising by double digits for the eighth straight month as a pandemic-fueled housing boom continues to go strong.
The six-county region’s median home price increased 14.5% from a year earlier to a record $630,000, according to data released Wednesday from real estate firm DQNews. The number of houses, condos and town homes that sold rose 32.2%.
A mix of factors is driving the boom, which extends nationwide, real estate agents and economists say."
Garcetti's proposed city budget increases spending for LAPD by 3%
LA Times, DAKOTA SMITH/DAVID ZAHNISER: "Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is proposing a 3% increase in funding for the city’s Police Department for the upcoming budget year, disappointing advocates who have called for the agency’s defunding.
Garcetti’s proposed $11.2-billion budget allocates $1.76 billion for the LAPD, up from the $1.71 billion the council approved in July. The mayor’s plan, which covers the fiscal year starting July 1, would continue to provide a force of about 9,750 sworn police officers.
The number of officers at the department now is lower, however, because of retirements and resignations. The LAPD is expected to have 9,489 officers on June 30."
Biden needs Asia's help to meet climate goals, but is it ready to give up coal?
LA Times's ANNA M PHILLIPS/TRACY WILKINSON: "The Biden administration is spotlighting three powerhouse Asian countries in advance of the climate summit this week, nations whose commitment to slashing carbon emissions could prove key to the meeting’s success.
China, Japan and South Korea are the world’s biggest funders of coal-fired power plants around the globe — and the administration is looking to win their agreement to deep cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade.
Leaders from 40 countries have been invited to the virtual summit at the White House, which is in some ways a dry run for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, this November. It’s also a test for the Biden administration and whether it can claim a leadership role in the battle against climate change after four years of retreat on the issue under President Trump."
