California law requiring women on corporate boards is ruled unconstitutional
LA Times, NATHAN SOLIS: "A California law that required companies primarily based in the state to have women on their corporate boards has been ruled unconstitutional by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge.
In a 23-page ruling filed Friday, Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis found the state could not prove that the “use of a gender-based classification was necessary to boost California’s economy, improve opportunities for women in the workplace, and protect California taxpayers, public employees, pensions and retirees.”
The state Legislature also did not consider amending existing anti-discrimination laws or putting into effect a new anti-discrimination law focused on the board selection process before Senate Bill 826 was signed into law, Duffy-Lewis wrote."
L.A. coronavirus hospitalizations start rising again; officials urge mask-wearing
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II: "Los Angeles County’s coronavirus-positive hospitalizations are rising again, causing health officials to urge residents to put masks back on if they have stopped doing so.
L.A. County already requires mask-wearing on public transit and at its airports, and Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer urged residents Monday to wear masks inside schools, stores and workplaces.
“This would give us a chance at slowing down spread while we continue to increase the numbers of residents and workers up to date with their vaccinations, since vaccines give us the most protection from severe illness and death,” Ferrer said in a statement."
CA120: Reading the tea leaves as early votes come in
PAUL MITCHELL, Capitol Weekly: "Ballots have been mailed to all 22 million California voters and many have already been returned.
As has been the pattern for the last several election cycles, this begins a month-long stretch where most voters will cast their ballots by mail or at in-person voting centers. Some will wait until Election Day and vote at the polls, but that is a declining portion of the electorate.
This primary election is different in that California is now in a permanent status as an all-mailed ballot state.
California cop killer gets minimum sentence, prompting El Dorado DA to rebuke judge
MICHAEL McGOUGH, SacBee: "The man who fatally shot El Dorado County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Ishmael in October 2019 has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for second-degree murder, California’s statutory minimum for the crime.
Juan Carlos Vasquez-Orozco, 22, was convicted last month by a jury for killing Ishmael as the deputy responded to a midnight 911 call at an illegal marijuana grow site near Somerset.
Christopher Garry Ross, the property owner who called 911 and told authorities he saw men he believed to be stealing his plants from his grow, actually knew Vasquez and another man were tending to the property.'
California properties at risk of wildfire expected to see sixfold increase in 30 years
LA Times, ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "The number of California properties facing severe wildfire risk will grow sixfold over the next 30 years when considering only the impact of climate change, according to projections released Monday by a nonprofit research group.
Just over 100,000 properties in the state currently have a 1% or greater annual chance of being affected by wildfire. The number is expected to reach about 600,000 by 2052, according to the data from First Street Foundation.
The modeling, which marks the first effort to calculate the fire risk of each property in the United States, assumes that development will remain constant and takes into account only climate inputs, according to Jeremy Porter, the foundation’s chief research officer."
READ MORE on wildfire risk: Is my California home at risk for wildfires? New tool lets you check your ZIP code -- HANH TRUONG, SacBee.
Bay Area cities where homeowners have saved up to $30,000 on property taxes in the real estate boom
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "As the Bay Area’s top-in-the-nation home prices surged even higher during the pandemic, most buyers who managed to score a house are also likely paying far higher property tax bills than their neighbors who paid less for comparable homes and have owned them longer.
That “double whammy” caught the attention of Bay Area resident Phil Levin, who created the interactive data website Tax Fairness Project to explain the complexities — and point out the disparities — in how homeowners benefit from Proposition 13, California’s landmark tax law.
Approved overwhelmingly by voters during a housing bubble in 1978 when assessments were skyrocketing, Prop. 13 caps property taxes to 1% of a home’s assessed value at the time of purchase, and limits annual increases to 2%. Properties are reassessed for tax purposes only when they change hands."
Capitol Weekly Podcast: Introducing the California Legislative Black Staff Association
CW Staff: "April saw the introduction of a new organization devoted to supporting and mentoring Black professionals in the Capitol community: the California Legislative Black Staff Association.
CLBSA was formed out of the merger of the California Capitol Black Staff Association and the Black Legislative and Capitol Association and will continue the work of recruiting and retaining Black staff throughout the Capitol community.
Our guests this episode are newly-elected Board Chair Alchemy Graham and Vice Chair Cassidy Denny. Graham is a lobbyist with Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange; Denny works in the office of Senator Nancy Skinner. We asked them about their goals for the Association, why a Black Staff Association is needed, and about their own paths to working in the Capitol.
Court rules COVID restrictions impeded a Bay Area man’s right to a public trial, overturns gun conviction
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Fears of spreading COVID-19 did not justify a federal judge’s decision to bar both spectators and video cameras from a criminal trial in his courtroom, a federal appeals court ruled Monday in overturning a Bay Area man’s gun conviction and prison sentence.
James Allen II was arrested in July 2020 on a street in Pinole, where police found a loaded semiautomatic rifle in his vehicle. He was convicted of being a felon in possession of a gun and ammunition and sentenced in February 2021 to six years in federal prison.
But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned Allen’s conviction Monday and granted him a new trial. The court said U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam of Oakland had violated Allen’s constitutional right to a public trial by excluding spectators and refusing to allow video recording of his trial or an earlier hearing on evidence."
Garcetti’s nomination remains stalled in Senate
LA Times, JENNIFER HABERKORN: "Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s nomination to be ambassador to India is dangling by a thread in the Senate, with several Democrats continuing to express hesitation over the nomination.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) office issued an informal “temperature check” to Democratic senators on May 6 to see where lawmakers stood on the nomination coming to the floor for a vote. Several of them indicated concerns, according to Democratic aides.
Garcetti’s nomination cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January but has since stalled."
S.F. waste giant Recology made millions more in profits than allowed, according to new report
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH: "San Francisco waste hauler Recology pulled in $23.4 million more in profits over a four-year period than its agreement with the city allows, according a new report from the controller.
The revelation emerges after the company already paid San Franciscans $94.5 million to reimburse them for overcharges unearthed as part of the City Hall corruption scandal linked to former Public Works director Mohammed Nuru.
The additional $23.4 million will not be paid back to customers directly but will be used to offset any future rate increases from Recology, officials said."
State attorney general asks for hold on Angel Stadium land sale amid corruption probe
LA Times, BILL SHAIKIN: "Harry Sidhu made it his business and his campaign promise in 2018: I’m the mayor that is going to keep the Angels in Anaheim for decades to come.
In 2022, Sidhu is campaigning for re-election as mayor. The city had agreed to sell Angel Stadium and the surrounding parking lots to the team owner in 2019, but the state housing agency had found the deal in violation of California affordable housing law.
Anaheim could have redone the deal. Instead, the city remained liable for a $96-million fine."
Images of the blood moon total eclipse light up Bay Area social media
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: "The blood moon total eclipse on Sunday night brought people together online and in person to watch the rare event.
Many people across the Bay Area shared images of the red moon in the sky, even in some areas where fog and high clouds made getting a clear view of the lunar eclipse tricky, according to the National Weather Service.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, earth and moon are aligned and the moon moves through the Earth’s shadow, according to NASA. The moon becomes red during a total lunar eclipse when the entire moon falls into the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow, or umbra."
Long-awaited Bay Area homelessness numbers show a worsening crisis
MARISA KENDALL, Mercury News: "Multiple Bay Area counties saw their homeless populations swell during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data released Monday, despite an increase in federal and state funding for new shelters, housing and other resources.
But officials say it could have been worse. They credit pandemic aid programs with preventing a catastrophic surge in homelessness during a time when many low-income workers lost their jobs.
The much-anticipated new data comes from a Bay Area-wide census conducted in February. Santa Clara County counted 10,028 unhoused residents — up 3% from the last tally in 2019. Alameda County counted 9,747 people — up 22% from three years prior. Contra Costa County saw the biggest jump, counting 3,093 unhoused people this year — up 35% from 2019."
New data shows fewer people are homeless in San Francisco. Here’s why
The Chronicle, ANDRES PICON/J.D. MORRIS: "Despite expert predictions that local homelessness rates have soared due to the pandemic, new data released Monday showed that San Francisco’s unhoused population has fallen 3.5% since 2019, the first such decline the city has reported in years.
The data shows the total number of unhoused residents in San Francisco at 7,754, down from the 8,035 homeless people counted in 2019 when the city saw a 17% spike. The number of unsheltered people in tents and cars dropped 15%.
The data from San Francisco’s point-in-time count, which was conducted during one night in February, is preliminary, pending a more robust analysis to be released in July. But the early findings show a clear reduction in the city’s total homeless population and more homeless people living in shelters rather than on the street or in a vehicle than in 2019."
