Serial ADA filer in California submits 1,000 complaints after indictment on tax charges
SAM STANTON, SacBee: "By the time Sacramento attorney Scott Johnson was indicted in May 2019, he had filed thousands of disability access lawsuits in the Sacramento area, sometimes filing as many as six or more a day at the downtown federal courthouse.
Johnson, 59, a quadriplegic who uses a motorized wheelchair to make the rounds of restaurants, office buildings and merchants he suspects are violating the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, has been one of the most prodigious serial filers of ADA lawsuits in California for years.
So, when a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of filing fraudulent tax returns on funds he received from the lawsuits, some Sacramento-area merchants rejoiced, and Johnson’s filings at the I Street courthouse stopped coming."
LA County Supervisors vote 4-1 to close Men’s Central Jail
ELIZABETH MARCELLINO, City News Service: "The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Tuesday, June 22, to set up a team to implement the long-promised closure of Men’s Central Jail.
Supervisor Hilda Solis said it was time to stop studying the issue and take action, co-authoring a motion finding that the decrepit downtown lockup must be demolished and that no replacement jail is needed.
“We have long talked about why we need to close this jail. The jail has been tainted by mismanagement, corruption (and) mistreatment of people incarcerated in its cells,” Solis said."
California's COVID-19 vaccinations rise as US struggles. Does the lottery deserve credit?
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II/LUKE MONEY/MATT STILES: "After a steep and sustained decline, California’s COVID-19 vaccination rate rose markedly earlier this month, outpacing the inoculation trends in much of the country, a Los Angeles Times data analysis shows.
The recent boost in vaccinations in the Golden State is a bright spot that comes as officials confirmed Tuesday that the nation probably will fall short of President Biden’s goal of administering at least one dose to 70% of U.S. adults by July 4. California is one of 16 states, along with the District of Columbia, that have reached that target, but it will take a few more weeks after the Fourth of July for the nation as a whole to meet the benchmark.
California has long been a leader in vaccinations. But the uptick in recent weeks offers an early suggestion that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s elaborate — and, in some corners, derided — program offering the chance at cash prizes to those who got vaccinated may have reaped some rewards."
L.A. County extends COVID-19 eviction moratorium through September
JACLYN COSGROVE, LA Times: "Fearing a “potential tsunami” of evictions, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor voted Tuesday to extend an eviction moratorium through the end of September.
The moratorium bars landlords in the county from evicting tenants who cannot pay their rent because of financial burdens related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to announce an agreement later this week with legislative leaders for an extension of the state’s eviction moratorium, which expires June 30."
In one Bay Area city, nearly half of all homes are worth over $1M (it's not SF)
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "Two Bay Area cities dominate the list of large U.S. cities with the most houses valued at over $1 million — far outdistancing all others, according to a new study.
The study by mortgage website LendingTree, which looked at the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country, found that in San Jose, almost half of all owner-occupied, single family homes — 47.3% — are valued at or over $1 million.
That was the largest share by far among big U.S. cities. San Francisco followed at No. 2, with 36.3% of its homes in the $1 million-and-over category."
Teamsters vow to unionize Amazon, taking on an anti-union behemoth
MARGOT ROOSEVELT, LA Times: "One of the nation’s largest unions, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, announced it will mount a nationwide effort to organize Amazon’s delivery and warehouse workers, declaring that the multibillion-dollar behemoth is an “existential threat” to workers across the logistics industry.
In a resolution presented Tuesday at its 30th international convention, the 1.4-million-member union proposed to fully fund and “supply all the resources necessary” to help Amazon workers organize.
The announcement, coinciding with Amazon’s annual sales bonanza Prime Day, comes in the wake of a stunning defeat for the labor movement and its progressive allies."
Drought: Emergency project being built to protect California water supplies
PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News: "In a new symbol of California’s worsening drought, construction crews are putting the finishing touches on a $10 million emergency project to build a massive rock barrier through part of the Delta in Contra Costa County to preserve water supplies for millions of people across the state.
The 800-foot long barrier — the size of San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid laid on its side — is essentially a rock wall, 120 feet wide, built in water 35 feet deep.
Its purpose: To block salt water from the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay from flowing too far east and contaminating the huge state and federal pumps near Tracy that send fresh water south to 27 million people — from San Jose to Los Angeles — and to millions of acres of farmland in the Central Valley and beyond."
Shasta County Planning Commission denies use permit for controversial wind farm
DAVID BENDA, Redding Record Searchlight: "Bucking a staff recommendation, the Shasta County Planning Commission late Tuesday night unanimously rejected the use permit for a controversial wind farm project planned for the Intermountain area just west of Burney.
Commissioners sided with opponents who said the Fountain Wind project's impact on the environment, the scenery and the potential long-term harm it would do on the area's economy outweighed the benefits of the massive wind farm.
The 5-0 vote capped a marathon meeting that went nearly 10 hours and ended just before 11 p.m. The unanimous vote was met with cheers from those opponents who were still in audience at the Shasta College theater."
Can a dog smell COVID-19? Testing and training is niow under way to see
The Chronicle, NANETTE ASIMOV: "It can sniff out the location of a buried landmine. Get a whiff of a human armpit and find its owner a quarter mile away. It can even direct conservation researchers toward fresh killer whale poop floating in the ocean.
Now the super nose of Canis lupus familiaris — your basic dog — is also detecting COVID-19 in people who may not know they have it.
“It’s remarkable,” said Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance (Los Angeles County), who introduced a bill in the House this month to create a pilot program at the Defense Department to see if using dogs to sniff out COVID can slow the spread of the disease."
Sacramento cannabis business owners sue city over fee they say violates state, federal law
Sac Bee, THERESA CLIFT: "The city of Sacramento is violating state and federal laws by charging a fee to cannabis business owners, a lawsuit alleges.
A group of Sacramento pot cultivators, distributors, manufacturers and retailers — with gross revenues in excess of $300 million and thousands of employees — filed the lawsuit earlier this month in Sacramento County Superior Court.
The city charges cannabis business owners a fee of 1% of their gross receipts, to be used to mitigate adverse impacts on the area the business is causing. The money is used for what’s called the Neighborhood Responsibility Plan program."
Truck carrying nearly 4,000 gallons of fuel overturns on Northern California highway
VICTORIA HSIEH, SacBee: "A diesel truck carrying 3,800 gallons of fuel overturned on Highway 37 next to Napa Sonoma Marshes Wildlife Area and shut down the freeway, according to authorities.
Crews from Vacaville Fire Department and Solano County Inter-Agency Hazmat Team worked to transfer fuel to another carrier to upright the truck, the California Highway Patrol said. There is no spill of fuel, according to the Office of Spill Prevention and Response.
Both directions of the highway closed shortly after 11 a.m. Eastbound Highway 37 reopened around 3:30 p.m. according to Caltrans. Westbound traffic was being rerouted through the Mare Island exit."
New mask rules for California state workers: Who still needs a face covering?
WES VENTEICHER, SacBee: "Most fully vaccinated California state employees don’t need to wear masks at work anymore, the state Human Resources Department announced Monday.
The state is following Cal-OSHA COVID-19 safety guidance issued last week for all California workers, CalHR Director Eraina Ortega said in an email to state officials.
The major exception to the relaxed rule is state prisons, which will continue to require masks regardless of vaccine status, according to Ortega’s email."
CalPERS wants diversity on corporate boards. Here’s how it uses its clout to compel change
KIM BOJÓRQUEZ, SacBee: "CalPERS this week appointed its first senior executive to oversee the pension fund’s efforts to nurture diversity in its own workforce and among the publicly traded corporations in which it invests.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System named Marlene Timberlake D’Adamo, who joined in the pension fund in 2016, as its chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer.
CalPERS called for the new office after the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a white Minneapolis office, its chief executive officer said."
New mask rules for California Capitol require face coverings for all in some settings
HANNAH WILEY, SacBee: "California lawmakers, legislative staff and public visitors will still be required to wear face coverings in certain areas of the Capitol regardless of vaccination status, according to internal memos sent on Tuesday to members and employees.
Everyone must wear face coverings in common areas like elevators, hallways, stairs, restrooms, committee rooms and the Senate and Assembly chambers, Secretary of the Senate Erika Contreras and Assembly Rules Chief Administrative Officer Debra Gravert wrote in similar emails.
District employees will also have to wear masks while in shared spaces, and adhere to office building and landlord rules."
Bay Area segregation is worsening, UC Berkeley study finds
SHWANIKA NARAYAN: "Despite its reputation as one of the most progressive regions in the country, the Bay Area grew more segregated over the last three decades, according to a new UC Berkeley study.
Conducted by the university’s Othering and Belonging Institute, the study found that “nearly 81 percent (of) American cities and metropolitan regions are more segregated today than they were in 1990, after more than two decades of federal policy applied to this problem.”
The researchers examined the country through the lens of “racial residential segregation,” which they define as “the separation of people on the basis of race in terms of residence,” and say is the driver of unequal outcomes in life expectancy, access to health care and a host of other factors."
