They are walking out in support of roughly 35,000 unionized Kaiser workers who plan to kick off an open-ended strike Monday and 700 biomedical and structural engineers who have been on the picket line since Sept. 18.
Labor expert Kate Bronfenbrenner said the sympathy strikes are a big deal: “It’s very revealing that all these workers — 20,000 30,000, however many it is — are willing to go on strike in solidarity with other workers. In the rest of the world, this happens all the time, but that is not something that happens in the US.”
The most Latino congressional district in the nation is split apart under draft redistricting maps
SEEMA MEHTA, LA Times: "Veteran Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard would lose her district that includes South and East Los Angeles under draft congressional maps approved by the state’s redistricting commission, a blow to Latino representation in California, according to political analysts.
The Downey congresswoman did not respond to questions about the fate of her district or her plans but acknowledged unhappiness with the commission’s proposal.
“I am aware of the current draft map and I have concerns about the protections of Voting Rights [Act] districts and in particular the diluting of the vote in our Latino communities,” Roybal-Allard said in a statement to The Times. “I look forward to the commission appropriately addressing these issues before final maps are approved.”
READ MORE on redistricting: Draft California political maps would reshape key districts -- KATHLEEN RONAYNE, AP; Redistricting: Orange County could gain clout in Sacramento -- BROOKE STAGGS,OC Register; LA County’s lone GOP House member could face test if proposed maps become final -- RYAN CARTER, LA Daily News; Reps. Aguilar and Obernolte poised to win big under new congressional maps -- BEAU YARBROUGH, San Bernardino Sun
Devin Nunes, Josh Harder could lose their seats in latest California redistricting maps
GILLIAN BRASSIL, SacBee: "San Joaquin Valley’s congressional seats would be scrambled if legislative boundaries drawn by California’s redistricting commission look the way that they do in new drafts released this week.
Reps. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, and Josh Harder, D-Turlock, could lose their seats in the United States House of Representatives, unless they decide to run in different districts than the ones they hold today.
An editor for The Cook Political Report, which tracks elections, wrote on Twitter that Nunes’ district would turn from having voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020 by five percentage points to one that backed President Joe Biden by nine.
Dramatic enrollment drop won’t cost California community colleges state aid but could impact adjunct faculty
MICHAEL BURKE and THOMAS PEELE, EdSource: "The California community college system’s dramatic enrollment drop won’t have immediate financial consequences for the 116-college system — but it could be detrimental for part-time adjunct faculty.
While student enrollment plunged during the pandemic, districts that lost students won’t get hurt financially. The state’s funding formula distributes money based partly on enrollment, but colleges that have lost students in recent years are funded based on higher and older numbers.
Those protections will be in place until at least 2025. For part-time faculty, however, the consequences will be more immediate, as they work semester-by-semester based on the availability of classes."
12 years after being locked up as a teen, he finds mercy from the D.A. who put him there
ANITA CHABRIA, LA Times: "In the lonely monotony of High Desert State Prison, there were no visitors and little mail for Renwick Drake Jr., so the letter was a curiosity when it arrived in the summer of 2020.
It told Drake about a new law meant to undo too-harsh sentences. Maybe, it said, the district attorney would take another look at his case after 11 years of incarceration.
But maybes are dangerous in prison, dealers of counterfeit hope. The letter felt like another false flag from the system that had put Drake behind bars at age 15, when he was a skinny skater who thought he knew everything until, too late, he realized he knew nothing. “Little Ren” to the family he left behind, he’d been inmate No. AL9471 ever since."
Car strikes 2 CHP officers, 3 Golden Gate Bridge workers as they controlled crowd at anti-vax rally
ANDRES PICON and LAURA HERNANDEZ, Chronicle: "A vehicle struck five people — two California Highway Patrol officers and three Golden Gate Bridge workers — on the bridge Thursday as they attempted to control a large crowd of protesters who were rallying against vaccine mandates.
A couple hundred people were at the demonstration on the San Francisco end of the bridge, angry at and skeptical of authorities who say they need to be vaccinated to do their jobs.
At about 6 p.m., two CHP officers and three Golden Gate Bridge personnel were struck by a vehicle in the traffic lane just north of the toll plaza, located northbound on the way out of San Francisco, CHP Officer Andrew Barclay told The Chronicle.
Two CHP officers and one bridge representative were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Barclay said. The incident appeared to be accidental. The driver stayed at the scene and was cooperating with the investigation, Barclay said.
Court permits Newsom to consider clemency for convicted murderer, now a prison journalist
BOB EGELKO, Chronicle: "The state Supreme Court has agreed to let Gov. Gavin Newsom consider clemency for Rahsaan Thomas, a San Quentin inmate who was convicted of a 2000 murder and has turned himself into a prominent prison journalist and co-host of a podcast that was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
Thomas fatally shot a man who he said was trying to rob him, but a Los Angeles County jury rejected his claim of self-defense and convicted him of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 55½ years to life in prison. If Newsom commutes his sentence, he would not be released immediately but would be eligible for a hearing before the state parole board, which has already given him a favorable recommendation, according to the governor’s office.
Thomas “has demonstrated a commitment to rehabilitation while in prison. He has participated in self-help programming and has completed college coursework,” Newsom’s legal affairs office said in a letter to the court. The justices voted unanimously Wednesday to allow the governor to consider the clemency request. Their approval was needed under state law because Thomas had a previous felony conviction, for assault in a 1989 school shooting in New York.
Bomb threat prompts evacuation of 3 USC buildings as threats are also called in to MIT, NYU
GREGORY YEE, LA Times: "A bomb threat prompted authorities to briefly evacuate three buildings on the USC campus Thursday afternoon.
Grace Ford Salvatori Hall, Sample Hall and Wallis Annenberg Hall were evacuated while Los Angeles police and campus Department of Public Safety officers searched the buildings, according to a tweet sent on the University of Southern California’s official account shortly after 4:30 p.m.
Students and others were warned to stay away from the area."
