Affordable housing in California now routinely tops $1 million per apartment to build
LIAM DILLON and BEN POSTON, LAT: “More than half a dozen affordable housing projects in California are costing more than $1 million per apartment to build, a record-breaking sum that makes it harder to house the growing numbers of low-income Californians who need help paying rent, a Times review of state data found.
The seven subsidized housing developments, all in Northern California, received state funding within the last two years and are under construction or close to breaking ground. When completed, they will provide homes for more than 600 families.
But their exorbitant price tags mean that taxpayers are subsidizing fewer apartments than they otherwise could while waiting lists of renters needing affordable housing continue to grow.”
California thinks it can be an abortion sanctuary in a post-Roe nation. These battlegrounds tell a different story
The Chronicle, LAUREN HEPLER: “Michelle Rivera didn’t think it would be easy to open a new Planned Parenthood clinic in one of the roughly 40% of California counties without an abortion provider.
But the 31-year-old Central Valley sex-ed instructor didn’t expect quite so many kids holding “Little lives matter” posters at the Visalia City Council meeting. Or the antiabortion demonstrator sporting an entire sweatsuit scrawled in scripture. At least there’s security, Rivera thought, when clergy from nearby towns urged the council to “reject the arbitrary dictates of the state” and ban abortion in the city of 143,000 people.
“I was like, ‘OK,’” recalled Rivera, a program manager with Visalia reproductive-justice nonprofit ACT for Women and Girls. “They came all out.””
California to create teaching credential covering pre-K through 3rd grade that requires literacy training
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: “The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing agreed this week to create a new teaching credential for pre-kindergarten through third grade that will require teacher candidates to show they are trained in how to teach reading.
The decision came after the commission addressed criticisms that a separate credential that lacked identical literacy instruction coursework and a reading performance test could undermine separate efforts to improve reading instruction in elementary grades.
The critics included two influential legislators who questioned whether the commission had the authority to establish an early childhood education teaching credential – particularly one that could “sidestep” reforms to teach foundational reading skills. The commission tried to assure them that wouldn’t happen.”
As Colorado River reservoirs drop, Western states urged to ‘act now’
LAT, IAN JAMES: “With the Colorado River’s depleted reservoirs continuing to drop to new lows, the federal government has taken the unprecedented step of telling the seven Western states that rely on the river to find ways of drastically cutting the amount of water they take in the next two months.
The Interior Department is seeking the emergency cuts to reduce the risks of Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the country’s two largest reservoirs, declining to dangerously low levels next year.
“We have urgent needs to act now,” Tanya Trujillo, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for water and science, said during a speech on Thursday. “We need to be taking action in all states, in all sectors, and in all available ways.””
Court says California utilities commission must obey state Public Records Act
San Francisco Public Press, SETH ROSENFELD: “In a broad victory for government transparency, an appeals court has ruled that the California Public Utilities Commission must comply with a state law requiring all agencies to promptly release information to the public.
In a unanimous decision issued Friday, a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said the commission’s lengthy and open-ended administrative procedures violate the strict timelines of the California Public Records Act.
The ruling could bring more accountability to the commission, which has faced criticism of excessive secrecy and ineffectiveness, advocates said. It regulates corporations ranging from utilities to ride-hailing services.”
As Title IX turns 50, it plays a surprise role in transgender athlete access debate
LAT, DAVID WHARTON: “On the spring day when Lia Thomas made history by winning an NCAA swimming championship as a transgender female, protesters gathered outside the arena to do what protesters normally do. Chant. Wave signs. Wear T-shirts with slogans.
“Support fair sports,” they yelled.
Thomas, who transitioned in college, was too fast, too strong, too male to race against cisgender women, they insisted. Their complaint was typical of a backlash that has grown louder as transgender female athletes become more common and successful.”
Californians brace for increased healthcare premiums if federal subsidies expire
LAT, MELODY GUTIERREZ, ANABEL SOSA: “For the last two years, Syd Winlock has had a major burden lifted from his surgically repaired shoulder.
Federal subsidies passed as part of a temporary pandemic relief package have drastically cut how much he pays in healthcare premiums, allowing the Sacramento-area small-business owner to purchase an insurance plan during the last two years that provided better coverage for his shoulder and knee replacements.
Those federal subsidies, however, will expire at the end of this year if Congress does not extend the program. His “very manageable” price — about $700 a month for him and his wife — will increase to $2,300, Winlock said.”
Hotter weather is on its way for the first week of summer
LAT, DAVID ZAHNISER: “Say goodbye to the mild and breezy weather of Father’s Day weekend. Hotter temperatures are on their way, just in time for the first week of summer.
Monday’s initial blast of heat is expected to push temperatures several degrees above normal, reaching 83 in downtown Los Angeles, 94 in Palmdale and 100 in Woodland Hills, said David Gomberg, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office.
Further inland, temperatures could hit 96 in Riverside and 97 in San Bernardino, according to National Weather Service forecasts posted Sunday afternoon.”
Thousands of baby salmon get a big lift on trip to the San Francisco Bay
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG/JOHN KING: “About 200,000 baby salmon were released into San Francisco Bay on Sunday night in an effort to save them from drought conditions that threaten their life-cycle swims to the ocean.
The fish came in two tanker trucks from the Feather River Fish Hatchery in Oroville, and the assist with their migration is part of a larger effort by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to help its hatchery salmon survive by trucking them to the San Francisco and San Pablo bays.
The release took place at 9 p.m. and was done within moments. The timing was calibrated so that the tide would be receding fast and the sky would be dark enough that birds wouldn’t see they had to feast on a buffet of smolts no more than five inches long.”
Fire risk is so extreme in this Bay Area neighborhood that just one home in flames could be catastrophic for the region
The Chronicle, EMMA TALLEY: “Homes nestled in the Oakland hills sit among oak woodland trees and shrubs, an enclave from city life. But the dense vegetation and steep terrain mean such communities could be in great peril over the dry summer — if even a single house catches fire on a windy night, the result could be catastrophic for the region, fire officials say.
“That’s what keeps me up at night,” said Heather Mozdean, a 17-year veteran of the Oakland Fire Department who is now its deputy chief of operations.
Plenty of green spaces across the Bay Area are at high fire risk, but the extreme danger is concentrated in the Oakland hills. The community has about 25,000 homes. Many are accessible only by narrow roads with hairpin turns — which makes it hard to escape quickly and difficult for fire trucks to race up to a blaze. The deepening drought has wrung moisture out of the vegetation, increasing the risk of a wildfire erupting.”
A bill to repeal California’s anti-loitering law divided sex workers, advocates. It’s now up to Newsom
LAT, HANNAH WILEY: “A controversial bill to repeal a provision of California law that prohibits loitering with the intent to sell sex is on its way to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, nine months after it passed the Legislature and deeply divided Democrats, sex workers and trafficking survivors along the way.
Senate Bill 357 would rescind the misdemeanor law against loitering in public for the purpose to engage in prostitution. Advocates for the measure argued that law enforcement uses California’s loitering rules to disproportionately target Black, brown and transgender Californians, and that the practice leads to unsafe conditions for workers. They also contend that loitering arrests make it difficult for people to find housing and jobs due to criminal records, and that police use subjective criteria when pursuing an arrest, such as the type of clothing or makeup a person wears.
Opponents said SB 357 would remove a critical tool to stop sex trafficking, especially of children, and will hamstring victim outreach efforts.”
Column: Why L.A., not San Francisco, could become the most progressive city in California
LAT, ERIKA D. SMITH: “In an election year supposedly defined by the public’s anxiety over rising crime and diminishing law enforcement, Los Angeles is on the verge of electing its first abolitionist City Council member.
Wrap your mind around that one.
It even took Eunisses Hernandez — the abolitionist in question — a little while to get over the shock of it. But by the time we spoke late last week, she seemed to understand what had happened in the Eastside race — and, more importantly, why it happened — better than most people.”
‘There is just a lot of anxiety in the community’: Bay Area drag queens become targets for right-wing agitators
The Chronicle, RYAN KOST: “Per Sia was on edge. She had read to children more times than she could count as part of Drag Queen Story Hours throughout the Bay Area. When the program started in 2015, she was its first reader, one of the founding queens. She calls it “one my favorite things to do in the whole world.”
But last Tuesday, as she got ready for a reading in Oakland, she couldn’t shake a deep anxiety. Just days before, five men thought to belong to the far-right Proud Boys group had stormed a storytelling event in San Lorenzo, shouting down the reader, calling her a pedophile.
Story hour has long been a target of right-wing outrage, but it had never felt so real, so close, Per Sia said. “What makes me think that I’m excluded from having someone barge into a Drag Queen Story Hour?””
This type of second mortgage is becoming popular in the Bay Area amid surging interest rates
The Chronicle, KATHLEEN PENDER: “When Sean and Kate Sitter needed money last year to update their home in San Jose, they took out a new loan for more than the balance on their existing loan, paid off the old loan and used the extra money for home improvements. This is known as a cash-out refinance.
Since then, mortgage rates have shot up by about three percentage points. So when the couple needed more money this year to do more renovations on their home and a second one in Carmel, there was no way they were going to touch that mortgage, which is fixed at 2.875% for 30 years. Instead, they did what more homeowners wanting to borrow against their home equity have been doing: They got a variable-rate home equity line of credit, which is one type of second mortgage secured by equity in a home.
Commonly known as HELOCs, they let you borrow up to a certain dollar amount, but rather than taking it all in a lump sum, you can borrow just what you need and make payments only on your outstanding balance.”
Move over happy hour, there’s a new corporate response to stressed-out workers
LAT, RINA RAPHAEL: “Painting sunsets and tie-dying T-shirts might be more closely associated with middle school than corporate America, but such artistic activities are making their way into workplace wellness.
Twitch employees braided friendship bracelets. Tinder staff wood-burned cheese boards. And over 100 Zynga employees participated in a glass-etching class.
The crafting workshop company CraftJam hosted a watercolor painting session for current and potential clients — namely human resource managers — in April in the outdoor courtyard of the Arts District restaurant Manuela. Attendees swirled brushes into watercolor palettes to paint their zodiac sign as the instructor explained how to layer colors. While working on their masterpieces, participants discussed how employees look to the arts for therapeutic relief, a trend that took off in 2020.”
