Fact check: Did Gavin Newsom’s parole board release Sacramento suspect early?
LINDSAY HOLDEN and SAM STANTON, SacBee: “California politicians of both parties are finger-pointing in the aftermath of a downtown Sacramento gang shootout that left six people dead.
Democrats want to see more action on gun restrictions, and Republicans want to see the state take a harder stance on criminal justice issues.
The California Republican Party went into attack mode following reporting from The Sacramento Bee that one of the three suspects arrested after the shooting had been released from prison in February after receiving a 10-year sentence for domestic violence and assault in 2018. It said Newsom and his parole board appointees were to blame, which is false, and that Democrats are trying to “score political points” by “blaming the gun and not the criminal.”
Sacramento mass shooting: What we know — and still don’t know — so far
The Chronciel, RACHEL SWAN: "When Sacramento Police began blaming “gang violence” for a mass shooting that killed six people and wounded 12, the shift in language raised questions about an incident that has already spurred polarizing debate.
As information continues rolling out, officials and news outlets are grappling with how to characterize the burst of violence downtown when bars closed early Sunday morning. Here is what we know — and don’t know — so far:
Who are the suspects?"
A homeless measure will be on the Sacramento ballot in November. Here’s what it will do
THERESA CLIFT, SacBee: “City of Sacramento residents in November will vote on a measure that could significantly change the way the city responds to its homeless crisis.
The measure, spearheaded by a top aide to former Mayor Kevin Johsnon and business groups, would require the city to create shelter beds for 60% of its homeless population or face lawsuits.
City Manager Howard Chan scheduled an emergency meeting of the council Wednesday to put the measure on the ballot in order to get the group to drop a different version of the measure that has collected over 20,000 signatures — about half the number needed to qualify.
The new Omicron subvariant XE is getting attention. How concerned should we be?
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II: "Even as the highly contagious Omicron subvariant BA.2 is increasingly dominating California and the U.S., an even more potentially contagious subvariant, XE, has attracted the attention of global scientists.
Early estimates as noted by the World Health Organization say XE may be 10% more transmissible than BA.2, but it’s too soon to say whether XE will become the next prolific Omicron subvariant that will become another household name. The British government has also noted that data showing XE’s growth rate advantage over BA.2 have not remained consistent, so more data will be needed to assess XE’s likely future trajectory.
XE was first detected in Britain on Jan. 19, the WHO said. And more than 700 cases of XE have been reported in Britain, with more than 600 of them in England, according to British authorities."
Longtime California surgeon accused of sexual misconduct surrenders medical licenses
MICHAEL McGOUGH, SacBee: “A Sacramento-area colorectal surgeon who had been licensed to practice in California for nearly two decades surrendered his medical credentials late last month, following a 2021 complaint by the state medical board accusing the surgeon of gross negligence and sexual misconduct involving multiple patients.
Ranganath Pathak was issued his physician’s and surgeon’s certificate in 2002 and had practiced as a surgeon and proctologist in the years since then at facilities in Sacramento and Roseville.
Then, last May, the executive director of the Medical Board of California filed a formal complaint to state Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office seeking a hearing to revoke or suspend Pathak’s licenses. The filing included a litany of accusations, ranging from inappropriate comments to performing sensitive medical procedures without consent.”
Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmed as first Black female Supreme Court justice
AP, MARY CLARE JALONICK and MARK SHERMAN: "The Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Thursday, shattering a historic barrier by securing her place as the first Black female justice and giving President Joe Biden a bipartisan endorsement for his promised effort to diversify the high court.
Cheers rang out in the Senate chamber as Jackson, a 51 year-old appeals court judge with nine years experience on the federal bench, was confirmed 53-47, mostly along party lines but with three Republican votes. Presiding over the vote was Vice President Kamala Harris, also the first Black woman to reach her high office.
Biden tweeted afterward that “we’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer exulted that it was “a wonderful day, a joyous day, an inspiring day — for the Senate, for the Supreme Court and for the United States of America.”"
U.N. removes Russia from human rights panel; Ukraine pleads for weapons
LA Times, PATRICK J. MCDONNELL, LAURA KING, KURTIS LEE: "As Ukraine braced for a redoubled Russian offensive in the east and unearthed fresh evidence of atrocities outside its capital of Kyiv, the United Nations General Assembly sharply rebuked Moscow on Thursday by suspending it from the organization’s 47-member Human Rights Council.
The resolution, spearheaded by the U.S., passed 93 to 24, with 58 abstentions. It needed a two-thirds majority of the “yes” or “no” votes cast.
Before the vote, the representatives of Ukraine and Russia had a brief and bitter exchange. The Ukrainian U.N. envoy, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said suspending Russia was a “duty” on the part of the world community in response to the atrocities that witnesses and independent journalists have uncovered around Kyiv in recent days. Russia denounced the measure as U.S.-inspired “human rights colonialism.”"
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tests positive for the coronavirus
LA Times, JENNIFER HABERKORN: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, the latest in a string of high-ranking officials in Washington to receive the diagnosis this week.
Pelosi is asymptomatic, according to her spokesman, Drew Hammill.
The diagnosis came Thursday morning, one day after Pelosi appeared at the White House with President Biden as he signed a postal reform bill. She huddled with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and nearly a dozen other lawmakers behind Biden as he signed the bill. None of them was masked at that time although Pelosi had a mask in her hand."
How politics is shaping, shadowing — and distorting — the Sacramento mass shooting
ThAe Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "A fiercely contested attorney general’s race. A controversial criminal justice law. Growing concerns about localized crime.
And one mass shooting — two months before Election Day.
It all adds up to a highly combustible — and often misleading — battle over the politics of criminal justice reform in California at a time when concerns about crime are rising, even if the number of actual crimes aren’t in some places."
California salmon are at risk of extinction. A plan to save them stirs hope and controversy
LA Times, Ian James, Szu Yu Chen and Lorena Iñiguez Elebee: "Shasta Dam stands more than 600 feet tall, the height of a 55-story building, with a colossal spillway that towers over the Sacramento River in a curved face of concrete.
Since its completion in 1945, the dam has created California’s largest reservoir, which provides water for farms and cities across the state. But it has also blocked Chinook salmon from returning upstream to the cold, spring-fed streams near Mt. Shasta where they once spawned.
Cut off from that chilly egg-laying habitat, endangered winter-run Chinook have struggled to survive. They’ve had help from an elaborate spawning operation at a government-run fish hatchery, which is intended to function like a life-support system for the salmon."
Sacramento massacre shows rising dangers of handguns converted into automatic weapons
LA Times, LIBOR JANY, RICHARD WINTON, KEVIN RECTOR: "As state and federal authorities continue to piece together how so many people were killed and wounded in Sunday’s shooting in downtown Sacramento, their attention has turned to a small, seemingly innocuous culprit: A gun accessory that quickly and cheaply turns many handguns into weapons capable of spraying dozens of rounds with a single pull of the trigger.
At least one of the guns police say were recovered from the massacre that left six people dead and twice as many injured had been modified with a so-called “auto-sear” or “switch” to boost its firepower. The conversion devices are illegal, and authorities say they are turning up at crime scenes across the U.S. with alarming frequency.
Semiautomatic handguns and rifles require shooters to pull the trigger each time they want to fire a bullet. When retrofitted with a switch, however, these types of weapons become fully automatic and can fire hundreds of rounds per minute, according to Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency room doctor at UC-Davis who studies gun use. Switches, which are small cube-shaped attachements that afix to a gun’s firing mechanism, can be readily purchased on illicit websites or made with a 3-D printer."
Caruso has loaned his campaign $10 million. It’s upending the mayor’s race
LA Times, JULIA WICK/DAVID ZAHNISER: "To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, the very rich are different from you and me: They can bankroll their own campaign for mayor.
Billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso put $4 million into his mayoral bid this week, bringing the total that he’s loaned his campaign to $10 million. His willingness to tap his own fortune has profoundly reshaped the race since he officially entered two months ago.
While the other big-name candidates have not yet begun airing TV commercials, Caruso’s messages have blanketed the airwaves. His campaign has also purchased 30-second radio spots, sent voters glossy foldout mailers and paid for advertising on YouTube and other social media."
LA schools make headway with English learners, but challenges remain
EdSource, ZAIDEE STAVELY: "A state guide for teaching English learners is sparking innovation in school districts in Los Angeles County: classes that help students learn English and prepare students for college at the same time, parents telling stories and leading art projects in their home language in the classroom, and even journalism clubs where English learners write their own newsletter.
The English Learner Roadmap was approved in 2017 by the California State Board of Education to help school districts and education agencies better support the nearly 1.2 million English learners who attend public schools in California.
A new report from the Los Angeles County Office of Education details how nine districts and charter schools in the county have begun to implement the English Learner Roadmap. The report is based on interviews with principals, assistant superintendents and other district leaders in Centinela Valley Union High School District, Compton Unified, Downtown Value Charter School, El Rancho Unified, Green Dot Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified, Monrovia Unified, Rowland Unified and one district that chose to remain anonymous."
Plans for up to 3,600 homes at two Berkeley BART stations move ahead with vote on 12-story buildings
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: "A push to bring 12-story buildings to two Berkeley BART stations — which could eventually allow for up to 3,600 new housing units — moved ahead with a key vote on Wednesday.
In a narrow vote late Wednesday, the Berkeley Planning Commission recommended that the City Council adopt zoning changes that would allow 12-story buildings to rise next to the North Berkeley and Ashby BART stations.
The commission’s decision, which came down to a 5 to 4 vote, is the first of many steps before construction can begin. The City Council will hold a working session on the commission’s recommendation on April 19 and is expected to vote on May 31.
