‘A better life.’ How a Facebook community helps thousands fleeing California for other states
RYAN LILLIS, SacBee: "Hundreds of thousands of residents have fled California for other states during the pandemic and most of them seem to have found a virtual home on one of Terry Gilliam’s Facebook pages.
His groups – Leaving California and Life After California – have a combined membership of nearly 240,000, a number that has doubled in the past six months alone. The groups have created an online community for California refugees.
They seek advice on where and how to move: Has anyone used a storage hauler they like? How’s the weather in Tampa? How much does it cost to a buy a home in Boise? Gilliam started Leaving California in 2018 and the other page about a year later. He has since left his home in the East Bay and moved to Orlando, Florida."
Newsom slams red state governors on D.C. trip, stoking speculation about his future
TARYN LUNA, LA Times: "Gov. Gavin Newsom said he’s frustrated with Republicans and Democrats.
He’s tired of conservatives criticizing California and rolling back rights. And he’s irked that his own national party isn’t fighting harder in the culture war.
If they won’t, he said, he will. He pushed back in a recent television ad in Florida. In an interview Monday. And in a speech in Washington, D.C., Wednesday as he accepted an education award on behalf of the state he governs — while stoking speculation about his possible presidential ambitions."
Tech-linked layoffs jolt hundreds of Bay Area workers, including Tesla employees
GEORGE AVALOS, Mercury News: "Layoffs linked to the tech sector have unleashed job cuts affecting several hundred Bay Area workers, according to official notices filed with the state’s labor agency.
Tesla, AppLovin and a custodial service for the owner of the Facebook app disclosed plans for a combined total of 659 job cuts in different Bay Area cities, the WARN notices filed with the state Employment Development Department show.
The planned reductions in staffing levels will occur over the next few weeks and should be completed by the end of August, according to the filings."
Police have ‘responsibility to intervene’ in illegal eviction lockouts, California AG says
LINDSAY HOLDEN, SacBee: "California police must help protect tenants from landlords illegally locking them out of their rental housing, according to new guidance from the Attorney General’s Office.
Attorney General Rob Bonta said Wednesday that police have a “responsibility to intervene” when they witness landlords executing “self-help evictions,” or kicking tenants out without first going through the required court proceedings.
Only sheriff’s deputies or marshals are legally allowed to lock tenants out, and landlords must first obtain court orders before changing the locks."
Column: Would California’s abortion ballot measure allow late-term abortions? Its author says no
GEORGE SKELTON, LA Times: "Based on a simple reading, Proposition 1 would seem to push California abortion law far left by allowing pregnancy termination right up until birth.
Could that be correct?
No, that’s a false read, according to the legislation’s author and two law professors.
The measure on the November ballot merely cements into the state Constitution current law, they say."
Warner Bros. Studios facing significant COVID outbreak
MELISSA HERNANDEZ, LA Times: "Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank is reporting a sudden spike in COVID cases as Los Angeles County grapples with its highest weekly average of new cases since last summer’s Delta surge.
As of Tuesday, 43 confirmed cases had been reported to the L.A. County Department of Public Health. The rise in infections comes just one month after the studio began requiring employees to return to the office at least three days a week.
Warner Bros. is not the only studio to see a recent COVID outbreak. On Tuesday, Walt Disney Co. and Fox Sports reported six and 10 new cases, respectively, among their employees. In May, Lionsgate reported 21 new infections."
California went big on rooftop solar. It created an environmental danger in the process
RACHEL KISELA, LA Times: "California has been a pioneer in pushing for rooftop solar power, building up the largest solar market in the U.S. More than 20 years and 1.3 million rooftops later, the bill is coming due.
Beginning in 2006, the state, focused on how to incentivize people to take up solar power, showered subsidies on homeowners who installed photovoltaic panels but had no comprehensive plan to dispose of them. Now, panels purchased under those programs are nearing the end of their 25-year lifecycle.
Many are already winding up in landfills, where components that contain toxic heavy metals such as selenium and cadmium can contaminate groundwater."
‘Poetic justice’? GOP congressman with anti-LGBTQ past tries to win over gay Palm Springs voters
SEEMA MEHTA, LA Times: "Ken Calvert has held on to his seat in Congress for 30 years, in part by opposing gay rights.
Now that he’s running for reelection against a gay rival in a district that includes one of the largest concentrations of LGBTQ voters in America, Calvert says his views have changed.
Despite his previous opposition, the Republican says, he believes the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage across the nation should not be overturned.
“It wasn’t always my position,” Calvert said. “It’s a different country than it was 30 years ago.”
California solar firms decry ‘nightmare’ as state considers rule change that could raise costs
The Chronicle, EMMA TALLEY: “Summer Rogers had her heart set on solar panels.
She had wanted to make her El Cerrito duplex more environmentally friendly for years. The opportunity came in 2019 when the roof of the home, which she owns with her mother, needed to be replaced. Solar was easy to add.
“It’s been one of the best decisions we’ve made as far as investment in our home,” she said.”
‘Are the police capable of changing?’: Data on racial profiling in California shows the problem is only getting worse
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER/SUSIE NEILSON: “For close to a decade, California has pushed local police agencies to combat a long-standing pattern of racial profiling with new training and policies designed to confront the unconscious bias of officers.
But these efforts have done little to root out vast racial disparities in traffic and pedestrian stops, according to a Chronicle analysis drawing from data the agencies are now required to collect.
The data, provided by the state attorney general, reveals that Black people are far more likely to be stopped by police than white people, and that the disparity widened in 11 of the state’s 15 biggest law enforcement agencies from 2019 to 2020.”
Making the leap into California’s future — and the unknown
Capitol Weekly, SETH SANDROSKY: “California faces many challenges now. One is the climate emergency. Another is economic recovery. Add COVID-19 positivity. That is a partial list. You get the picture. Why imagine scenarios for the Golden State over the next decade or century?
We turn to Marina Gorbis. She helms the Institute for the Future (IFTF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group in Silicon Valley. The IFTF partnered with California 100, an initiative launched jointly with the University of California and Stanford, to release “Mega Scenarios: A Toolkit for the Future of California” recently.
Mega Scenarios is not a set of future predictions, according to Gorbis. “The future is not preordained,” she told Capitol Weekly. Instead, Mega Scenarios is a guide for policymakers, thought leaders, and decision-makers to explore urgent potential opportunities and risks for all residents of the Golden State.”
November election: Oaklanders to vote on 8 ballot measures, with taxes, housing and more on tap
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: “Oakland voters will weigh in on eight ballot measures when they vote in the November election, in addition to selecting a new mayor and at least two new council members.
Mayor Libby Schaaf is terming out after eight years in office, and voters will have a chance to select a new leader from a slate of candidates. In addition, two council members are giving up their seats to run for mayor, while another is running for re-election.
At the same time, voters will decide on whether the city should implement a new progressive business tax, expand eviction protections, and approve an affordable housing bond.”
CARE Court: Can California counties make it work?
CALMatters, JOCELYN WIENER/MANUELA TOBIAS: “In early March, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a controversial proposal to compel people with serious mental health issues into care and housing.
Mental health advocates, mayors and family members who stood alongside him at the press conference at a San Jose behavioral health treatment program heralded the plan, known as CARE Court, as a visionary move.
But some county officials say they were stunned.”
COVID variants mean ventilation is more important than ever. So what does ‘good’ air flow look like?
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: “As coronavirus variants like BA.5 and BA.2.75 become more prevalent and more transmissible, experts are repeatedly pointing to a transmission reduction strategy that’s worked since the beginning of the pandemic — air ventilation, especially indoors.
“We don’t know what variants we’re dealing with in the future,” said Stanford University infectious disease specialist Dr. Abraar Karan, “but transmission is always the same.”
Because of that, he said, there “has to be a strategy of cleaning the air.””
COVID in California : FDA authorizes new and different coronavirus vaccine
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: “The newest noteworthy omicron subvariant, called BA.2.75 (and unofficially nicknamed “Centaurus”), has already turned up in the Bay Area and in spots all over the globe. It appears to have a large number of mutations that could make it more infectious and help it evade prior immunity. Meanwhile, whatever happened to sterilizing surfaces? Here’s the lowdown on whether that matters anymore. Probably much more important is improving indoor air circulation, which a growing number of scientists are pushing to help battle the coronavirus.
Latest updates:
New COVID variants mean ventilation is more important than ever.”
‘How do we define pro life?’ Gavin Newsom wants to use conservatives’ talking points against them
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: “During a speech in May, Gov. Gavin Newsom proudly claimed to have a “pro-life agenda.”
The Planned Parenthood-endorsed Democrat wasn’t announcing a reversal of his support for abortion rights. He was trying to wrest the term “pro-life” away from conservatives and redefine it to use against them.
“If you’re pro-life, you would actually support common-sense gun safety laws, you would be expanding after-school programs,” Newsom said. “The same folks that claim to be pro-life are cutting those programs.””
S.F. running out of monkeypox vaccine as demand surges
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: “San Francisco’s monkeypox vaccine supply is running critically low, city health officials said Wednesday in an effort to urge action from the Biden administration.
Some vaccination sites in the city are down to their last remaining doses of Jynneos, the San Francisco Department of Public Health said in a statement.
San Francisco’s LGBTQ community, led by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, called on the federal government Tuesday to step up the distribution of the vaccines against monkeypox, a highly infectious virus now spreading primarily through male-to-male sex.”
Groups step up to prevent student homelessness during academic breaks
EdSource, BETTY MÁRQUEZ ROSALES: “Without her full-ride scholarship to Cal State San Bernardino, third-year sociology student Syerra Gardner may have been unable to pursue higher education altogether.
“I knew that I had to graduate high school, but I just didn’t know what I wanted to do after,” said Gardner, who learned about the scholarship from a high school counselor while living in a homeless shelter. “She was just explaining all these great things that I’m able to apply for to be able to make a life for myself, and I took the opportunity and I ran with it, you could say.”
But Gardner could have faced homelessness again if it wasn’t for programs and scholarships that make it possible for her to stay in the dorms over winter and summer breaks. She lives in campus dorms, a cost that her scholarship covers during the school year, where she typically has access to the school’s meal plans. During academic breaks, she largely relies on canned food, her campus food pantry, or CalFresh, the state’s food benefits program.”
It’s official: Bay Area home values are finally going down
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG/RICARDO CANO: “As mortgage rates climb and stock prices founder, housing markets in the Bay Area and Northern California are cooling faster than the rest of the country, according to data provided by two national real estate listing sites.
The slowing demand has yet to translate to notable declines in home prices in the Bay Area, but it’s given active buyers something they lacked in the past two years amid a historic growth in home prices: leverage.
The latest data from home listings website Zillow shows that home values have started cooling in the Bay Area for the first time since the start of the pandemic. There was a slight month-over-month decrease in typical home values from May to June for five out of the top 50 largest metro areas: San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Austin and Seattle. Matt Kreamer, data spokesperson for Zillow, said the main theme among these areas is affordability.”
Suit accuses Uber of turning a blind eye to drivers’ sexual assaults
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: “The ride-hailing giant Uber, already battling for its future in court, was hit Wednesday with a lawsuit accusing it of turning a blind eye to repeated sexual assaults by its drivers.
The abuses are a product of a “toxic-male culture ... which started at the very top of Uber by placing profits and growth over safety above all else,” said the suit, filed in Superior Court in San Francisco, Uber’s home city. The plaintiffs were five women, all identified as Jane Does, but attorney Michael Carney said his law firm, Slater Slater Schulman, plans to file similar claims on behalf of about 550 women and men.
The suit said Uber “became aware as early as 2014 that its drivers were sexually assaulting and raping female passengers” but did virtually nothing to prevent the attacks. The same year, Carney said in the court filing, Uber began charging passengers a $1 “Safe Rides Fee” and advertised that it would be used for background checks and other safety measures, but instead simply pocketed the money.”
