State PUC proposes $12 million fine against PG&E for mismanaging public safety power shut-offs
The Chronicle, LAUREN HERNANDEZ: “The California Public Utilities Commission has proposed fining Pacific Gas & Electric Co. a $12 million penalty for “Poor Execution” of the utility’s public safety power shut-offs in 2020, commission officials announced Wednesday. Two other California utilities also received proposed orders related to reported violations.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. cuts electricity to the utility’s distribution and transmission lines as a safety precaution when there is a confluence of weather conditions that make for heightened fire risk and to prevent the utility’s equipment from sparking wildfires. In 2020, there were 26 public safety power shut-offs that were executed by PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, officials said.
An analysis by the commission’s Safety and Enforcement Division found that there were “multiple violations” of the commission’s guidelines for public safety power shut-offs, officials said.”
Juneteenth as a paid holiday? Some states stall or say no
AP, KIMBERLEE KRUESI/CHEYANNE MUMPHREY: “Recognition of Juneteenth, the effective end of slavery in the U.S., gained traction after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. But after an initial burst of action, the movement to have it recognized as an official holiday in the states has largely stalled.
Although almost every state recognizes Juneteenth in some fashion, many have been slow to do more than issue a proclamation or resolution, even as some continue to commemorate the Confederacy.
Lawmakers in Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and other states failed to advance proposals this year that would have closed state offices and given most of their public employees paid time off for the June 19 holiday.”
Sacramento moves to protect Planned Parenthood as Supreme Court abortion ruling nears
THERESA CLIFT, SacBee: "As the U.S. Supreme Court nears an expected decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Sacramento City Council Tuesday passed an emergency ordinance aimed at deterring harassment of patients and staff outside Planned Parenthood clinics.
The ordinance, which goes into effect immediately, expands on an existing code that prohibits harassment of people within 100 feet of health care facilities.
The new measure retains the same distance for protections against harassment, but details potential criminal penalties and empowers police to order the immediate dispersal of any groups who appear to violate the ordinance."
FDA moves closer to authorizing COVID-19 shots for kids under 5
AP, LINDSEY TANNER/MIKE STOBBE: “COVID-19 shots for U.S. infants, toddlers and preschoolers moved a step closer to becoming available Wednesday.
The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisors gave a thumbs-up to vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer for the littlest kids.
The outside experts voted unanimously that the benefits of the shots outweigh any risks for children under 5 — that’s roughly 18 million youngsters. They are the last age group in the U.S. without access to COVID-19 vaccines, and many parents have been anxious to protect their young children.”
Column: The Senate gun safety deal may seem like small potatoes — but it’s not
GEORGE SKELTON, SacBee: "Politicizing is paying off. And hopefully we’re headed for the slippery slope that gun lobbies long have dreaded.
The response is automatic from gun groups and their elected toadies every time there’s another horrific mass shooting and frustrated firearms safety advocates go beyond the conventional “thoughts and prayers” by asking why we allow civilians to acquire weapons of war. Why is America the undisputed gun violence leader of the industrialized world?
Sane people who raise these sensible questions are immediately denounced for “politicizing” the tragedy."
This left-leaning Central Valley district is set for tight fall race and possible GOP pickup
GILLIAN BRASSIL, SacBee: "Assemblyman Adam Gray, a Democrat from Merced, will face John Duarte, a Modesto Republican, in November’s election for California’s 13th Congressional District.
The Associated Press called the win for them Wednesday afternoon.
Duarte had 33.6% of the vote. Gray had 32.9%. Almost 60% of the ballots had been counted. Under the state’s primary system, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election."
With a big rate hike, the Fed hopes to slow, but not stifle, the economy
LA Times, LAURENCE DARMIENTO/SOMESH JHA: “Just a month ago, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point for the first time in 22 years as it stepped up its attack on accelerating inflation.
On Wednesday, the U.S. central bank raised rates by an additional three-quarters of a percentage point. It hadn’t done that in 28 years since the advent of the first tech boom, reflecting a widespread sense that inflation is out of control — and, some say, beyond its control, having hit a 40-year high.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated inflation at the grocery store. At the pumps, the conflict has driven average Los Angeles gas prices to $6.44 a gallon for regular. Lingering pandemic-related supply snarls have caused a chip shortage and sticker shock in auto showrooms. And a nationwide housing shortage particularly acute in California has seen prices skyrocket in markets as far-flung as Boise, Idaho.”
Mass shooting suspect Mtula Payton in Sacramento jail, headed to court on murder charges
SAM STANTON, SacBee: "Mtula Payton, the suspect arrested in Las Vegas last month in connection with the gang shooting in downtown Sacramento April 3, has been booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail and is scheduled to make his first court appearance on murder and other charges Thursday.
Payton, who turned 28 last month as he was being sought as a fugitive, is one of three suspects facing murder charges in the mass shooting that killed six people and wounded 12.
He was booked into the Main Jail late Tuesday after spending more than two weeks in custody in the Clark County, Nevada, jail.
Brothers Dandrae and Smiley Martin also are charged in the case and have been in custody since shortly after the shooting."
Downtown S.F. on the brink: It’s worse than it looks
The Chronicle, NOAH ARROYO: “As with many cities, a stroll through downtown San Francisco on any business day reveals signs of renewed life.
Against the backdrop of shuttered, graffitied storefronts and other detritus left in COVID-19’s wake, including on this two-block stretch of Kearny Street, professionals can once again be seen en route to their now sparsely populated offices or the few cafes and restaurants that survived their absence, now eager for their precious patronage. Some new businesses have opened, and tourism has ticked up.
Don’t be fooled. The downtown area, the city’s primary economic driver, is teetering on the edge, facing challenges greater than previously known, new data shows. The wounds suffered by the economic core are deep, and city officials have yet to come up with a plan to make the fundamental changes that some economists and business leaders argue could make the area thrive again.”
S.F. supervisor pushes for big increase in affordable housing spending
The Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: “San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston has a new strategy to boost affordable housing that would set aside $135 million through a combination of funds in the next city budget and new debt financing.
Preston said Wednesday that he’s asking his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors to approve $35 million to help pay for several initiatives: teacher housing projects, elevator improvements at aging single-room occupancy hotels, rental subsidies for low-income seniors or disabled people and aid to communities that want to set up housing cooperatives or land trusts.
If Preston gets his way, those funds would be allocated in the next city budget that supervisors have just begun to evaluate. Mayor London Breed proposed a $14 billion spending plan for the next fiscal year, but Preston and some of the city’s other progressive leaders don’t think it envisions nearly enough funds for affordable housing.”
At this Oakland high school, restorative justice goes far beyond discipline
EdSource, CAROLYN JONES: “Five years ago, Fremont High in East Oakland had some of the highest discipline rates and lowest attendance in the city. Fights and conflicts were common occurrences. Only 1 in 4 graduates were qualified to attend public college in California. One in 3 dropped out entirely.
But Fremont High is – literally – a different place now. With a newly rebuilt campus and an intensive focus on improving campus climate, Fremont has seen its enrollment jump 20% even as districtwide enrollment has dropped, and the number of students who qualify for college admission has nearly tripled.
Much of the credit, students and administrators say, goes to a restorative justice program that’s evolved beyond its original mission of resolving disputes to encompass a total transformation of school culture.”
San Francisco rent prices have diverged from every other big U.S. city in one key way
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: “San Francisco’s apartment rental market has been the slowest in the country to bounce back after vacancies soared early in the pandemic, fueling a big drop in rents, new data shows.
In fact, San Francisco is the only big metro area in the U.S. where people are currently paying less for an apartment than they were before the outbreak of the coronavirus more than two years ago, according to real estate listings website Apartment List. The South Bay is right behind, with the San Jose metro area in second to last place for rent growth since the beginning of the pandemic.
The data illustrates just how much the Bay Area’s economy and rental market stand apart from other big U.S. cities, especially the population centers in the Sun Belt, which saw an influx of renters during the pandemic that caused vacancies to plummet and rental prices to soar over the course of two years, said Rob Warnock, senior research associate at Apartment List.”
Alameda County gets a new sheriff — first woman, Latina to head the office
The Chronicle, MICHAEL CABANATUAN: “Alameda County has a new sheriff after challenger Yesenia Sanchez, a sheriff’s commander, easily surpassed the 50% mark needed for outright victory over Sheriff Greg Ahern in the June 7 primary election.
Updated vote counts released by the Alameda County registrar of voters Wednesday night showed Sanchez with 52.8% of the vote and too few ballots awaiting tallying to make up the difference. Ahern had 31.2% of the vote with Joann Walker, a San Francisco police officer finishing third with 15.9%.
In primary elections, the top two vote-getters earn the right to face off in the general election — unless they receive more than 50% of votes cast. Sanchez achieved that a week after the election. She will become Alameda County’s 23rd sheriff and first woman and Latina to hold the office.”
Two police officers killed in motel shootout were ‘El Monte homegrown’
LA Times, CHRISTIAN MARTINEZ/JONAH VALDEZ/MELISSA HERNANDEZ/ MARISA GERBER/ANDREW J. CAMPA: “The day after a deadly shootout at a motel left El Monte reeling, the police officers killed were identified Wednesday as two men united by the shared drive to serve the city that raised them.
Cpl. Michael Paredes, 42, and Officer Joseph Santana, 31, were killed Tuesday while responding to a reported stabbing at an El Monte motel. Both leave behind families in mourning.
“They grew up here; to us, they’re El Monte homegrown,” Mayor Jessica Ancona said. “They’re our boys.””
In closing statements, Bill Cosby’s lawyer tries to poke holes in accuser’s testimony
LA Times, CHRISTI CARRAS: “Attorneys for Bill Cosby and Judy Huth delivered closing statements Wednesday in the latest sexual assault trial against the disgraced actor and comedian.
Huth, a 64-year-old California resident who has accused Cosby of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion when she was a teenager, recalled the alleged assault in graphic detail last week during the civil trial unfolding this month in Santa Monica.
Via video testimony taped in October 2015 and screened last week for the jury, Cosby denied Huth’s allegations and claimed that he didn’t remember meeting her in the mid-1970s when the incident allegedly occurred.”
‘They probably would have killed him’: Jan. 6 hearing to show Trump put Pence in danger
LA Times, SARAH D. WIRE: “When the House committee investigating Jan. 6, 2021, meets Thursday, the highest-ranking member of House leadership serving on the panel will be in an unusual position: praising a leader of the opposing party.
The hearing will focus on the intense pressure then-President Trump and conservative lawyer John Eastman put on then-Vice President Mike Pence to either reject certain states’ electoral college votes or delay Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“Mike Pence did his job,” House Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands) told The Times. “He did his job throughout. He didn’t waver in his reading of the Constitution. Even after all of that, the president of the United States still used every method to call him names, to call him out, and to summon a mob to get him.””
