California’s residential solar rules overhauled
The Chronicle, JULIE CART: "The California Public Utilities Commission today overhauled the state’s rooftop solar regulations, reducing payments to homeowners for excess power but providing nearly a billion dollars in incentives to encourage more solar projects for low-income homes.
Commissioners called the new rules — adopted unanimously after hours of highly-charged public comments that were almost entirely opposed — a much-needed course-correction to California’s 27-year-old residential solar rules."
California just slashed rooftop solar incentives. What happens next?
LA Times, SAMMY ROTH: "California sharply reduced incentive payments for rooftop solar power Thursday, taking a sledgehammer to a program that helped 1.5 million homes and businesses put solar panels on their roofs and made the state a leader in fighting the climate crisis.
The unanimous vote by the state’s Public Utilities Commission to reduce payments to solar customers for the electricity they generate comes after a decade of controversy over the program. Critics say it has resulted in higher electric bills for households that don’t have rooftop solar panels, including low-income families that can’t afford them.
Solar installers and clean energy activists call that argument flawed, saying the technology’s benefits — including less air pollution in low-income communities, and protection against utility power shutoffs — far outweigh its costs."
California approves far-reaching strategy for tackling climate change. So what’s next?
CALMatters, NADIA LOPEZ: "California’s air board today unanimously approved a sweeping state plan to battle climate change, creating a new blueprint for the next five years to cut carbon emissions, reduce reliance on fossil fuels and speed up the transition to renewable energy.
Called a scoping plan, the 297-page strategy could serve as a roadmap for other states and countries to follow, including a long list of proposed measures that, once adopted, would slash California’s greenhouse gases and clean up air pollution in the smoggiest state in the nation.
The California Air Resources Board’s plan sets an aggressive target of cutting greenhouse gases by 48% below 1990 levels by 2030, up from the 40% by 2030 required by state law. The ultimate goal is to cut use of oil 94% and become carbon neutral — which means the amount of carbon removed is greater than the carbon generated — by 2045."
Did last week’s storm improve California drought conditions? Here’s what we know
Sac Bee, BRIANNA TAYLOR: "Last week’s winter storm was enough to keep Northern California indoors, but not enough to significantly move the needle on the state’s drought conditions.
The U.S. Drought Monitor, in a weekly update published Thursday, reports the entire state at “abnormally dry” conditions. Close to 98% of the area is experiencing “moderate drought” conditions, 80.6% of the land is in “severe drought,” 35.5% of the state is in “extreme drought” and 7.16% of the state is suffering “exceptional drought conditions.”
This week’s numbers show improvement compared to last week."
Here’s how Southern California’s drought emergency could affect you
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: "The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has declared a regional drought emergency and called on water agencies to immediately reduce their use of all imported supplies.
The reason? Drought conditions are limiting imported water supplies from the State Water Project in Northern California and the Colorado River.
State Water Project-dependent areas have been under mandatory restrictions for months, including limiting outdoor watering to once or twice a week and new pushes for drought-tolerant landscaping."
Low on water, but high on celebrity, Las Virgenes seeks wastewater purification facility
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: "A celebrity-studded, water-strapped region on the western edge of Los Angeles County has cleared a major hurdle for the construction of a water purification facility that officials say will help reduce local dependence on supplies imported from Northern California.
The board of the Las Virgenes-Triunfo Joint Powers Authority this week approved a final impact report for the proposed Pure Water Project at 30800 Agoura Road in Agoura Hills — a facility that would purify the millions of gallons of treated wastewater that are used for irrigation or flushed into the Pacific Ocean.
The facility would supply water to about 75,000 residents in Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Westlake Village, and about 14,000 residents in Ventura’s Oak Park. The communities have long relied almost entirely on state supplies."
Anderson Dam: Crews make progress digging major tunnel as part of $1.2 billion earthquake safety project
BANG*Mercury News, PAUL ROGERS: "A $1.2 billion project to rebuild the largest dam in Santa Clara County to reduce the risk of it failing in a major earthquake has finally begun to make significant visible progress, as construction crews have started to dig a huge new outlet tunnel at Anderson Dam near Morgan Hill.
The tunnel, which will be 24 feet high and 1,700 feet long, will allow the sprawling reservoir east of Highway 101 to be drained more quickly in the event of an earthquake, extreme storm or other incident.
After the tunnel is finished in late 2024, and a 13-foot high pipe installed inside, crews will tear down the existing 240-foot earthen dam, built in 1950. They will then build a new dam and concrete spillway, capable of surviving a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. That project won’t be finished until 2032. Dam experts and safety officials around the state are watching."
Fishing boat runs aground on Santa Cruz Island; Coast Guard works to contain fuel spill
LA Times, CHRISTIAN MARTINEZ: "A fishing vessel ran aground Thursday morning at Santa Cruz Island, prompting the U.S. Coast Guard to launch oil cleanup operations, the agency said.
The 60-foot Speranza Marie ran aground around 2 a.m. in Chinese Harbor on the northeastern side of the island. The vessel was carrying six people and approximately 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel, the Coast Guard said in a release.
A photo posted on Twitter by Santa Barbara County Fire Department public information officer Scott Safechuck showed the vessel on its left, or port, side near a rocky shoreline."
Downsize this: California prisons to close and shrink
Capitol Weekly, SETH SANDRONSKY: "Under a 2022-23 state budget, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is launching a process to close prisons and deactivate facilities within others. One on the chopping block is Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe, a city of 18,000, in eastern Riverside County, that is closing in March 2025.
“CDCR and the (Gov. Newsom) administration are working to minimize impact to staff and the communities,” according to a Dec. 6 release from the prison agency. “This will include options to transfer both within and outside of impacted counties, and identification of employees for redirection to neighboring prisons where there are existing identified vacancies. Incarcerated people at these locations will be rehoused into appropriate level prisons.”
Blythe City Councilman Johnny Rodriguez is skeptical over how closing the male-only prison there can proceed without major impacts to the rural community. He points to how the closure process began. “There was no community outreach before CDCR’s prison closing announcement on December 6,” he says. “It was a total surprise.”"
Sacramento’s City Council just moved to the left. Here’s what to expect on big issues
Sac Bee, THERESA CLIFT: "The Sacramento City Council moved to the left in the last election and now counts a “solid” liberal bloc of four members, one of them said this week.
That’s not quite enough votes on the nine-member council to be able to adopt any given item, but it means the group is much closer to winning majorities than it was prior to Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony.
The trend began in December 2020 when three new faces took office, including self-identified progressives Katie Valenzuela and Mai Vang."
Sunnyvale District 3 votes to be recounted after race is split over one vote
BANG*Mercury News, VANDANA RAVIKUMAR: "Sunnyvale’s District 3 city council election isn’t quite over after all — the votes will soon be recounted at the request of candidate Justin Wang.
Wang requested the recount after the city certified the results last week and initially declared his opponent, Murali Srinivasan, as the winner. The race between the two candidates was extremely tight, and the initially certified results showed that Srinivasan ended the race ahead of Wang by just one vote.
Wang told the Mercury News that he requested the recount to ensure that the election is given due process and that every voter is accurately represented."
Are at-home COVID tests still effective? Here’s what you should know
The Chronicle, SHWANIKA NARAYAN: "As Americans experience their third holiday season of the pandemic, millions are gathering and traveling to see family and friends. The White House on Thursday announced a limited distribution of free at-home test kits to curb the spread of COVID-19 during the holidays. But the news came only a few days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had warned that some COVID rapid antigen tests may be less reliable in detecting omicron subvariants such as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1.
Three years into the coronavirus crisis, prevention measures such as mandatory masking and social distancing have largely been eliminated. Most people are vaccinated, and many are boosted and have stocks of home test kits. But in light of the recent FDA caution, are at-home tests still worth using? And what should you do if you need laboratory testing or medication in the San Francisco Bay Area? Here’s what experts say."
California has plenty of anti-COVID drugs, but doctors aren’t prescribing them
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II/LUKE MONEY: "With California staring down the triple threat posed by the coronavirus, RSV and flu, health officials are urging the wider use of anti-COVID drugs to help prevent people from falling seriously ill and keep them out of the hospital.
The drugs include pills such as Paxlovid, which can reduce the risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 by almost 90%, and another oral medication known as molnupiravir.
The drugs are free and widely available, but officials say some doctors are not prescribing them as much as they should."
California’s only HBCU aims to solve Black doctor shortage
CALMatters, ALYSSA STORY: "Medical student Allison Leggett knows the power of her presence as a Black health professional. During her clinical training she met a young patient with social-developmental delays, who was very sick and spent a lot of time in the hospital alone because her father, her sole caretaker, worked three jobs. “At first I thought she didn’t like me, but when I told her it was my last day and I was leaving, she started crying!” said Leggett. “Afterwards, her dad pulled me aside and told me, ‘I don’t think you realize how much of an impact you made on her.’”
That moment also had an impact on Leggett, who realized how representation at the bedside can put a family at ease. “Having a Black physician on the team really made him feel comfortable, especially since he couldn’t be there all the time advocating for his daughter, and he really felt like we were taking care of his baby girl,” she said. “He was extremely scared, but he knew we were fighting for him and for her.”
As a student, Leggett wants to fight for the community that raised her, which is why she began her medical career at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, California’s only historically Black university. The university has graduated more than 900 physicians since 1981 through a joint program with the University of California Los Angeles."
California’s early college high schools can improve dual enrollment diversity
EdSource, ASHLEY A. SMITH: "Merging high schools and community college classes in areas with a high number of Latino, Black and low-income students is emerging as a way to overcome disparities in who gets to take dual enrollment courses.
The schools, known as “early college” or “middle college” high schools, give students access to dual enrollment courses as early as middle school.
Megan Liu was one of those students who got the opportunity to take a dual enrollment class the summer after her eighth grade year — even before she had taken a high school course."
As UC strike enters second month, grad workers risk arrest pushing for raises
CALMatters, MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN: "As a labor standoff drags into its second month at the University of California, the graduate student workers on strike are bringing their fury — and hopes for higher wages and benefits — directly to UC leadership through civil disobedience and other tactics that go beyond standard picketing.
Across several episodes in recent weeks, dozens of striking academic workers have ramped up their activism, putting themselves in positions that they know lead to handcuffs and arrest.
“There are lots of members who are very frustrated with the process so far … and they are ready to escalate, and they have been escalating by engaging in civil disobedience,” said Rafael Jaime, a doctoral candidate in English at UCLA who is president of United Auto Workers 2865, the union representing 19,000 mostly graduate students who work as teaching assistants, tutors and instructors."
‘Enough is enough!’ Striking UC workers say they are weary but won’t give up
LA Times, DEBBIE TRUONG/GRACE TOOHEY: "During the fifth week of the historic strike by UC academic workers, hundreds of demonstrators converged on the UCLA campus, shouting for better pay and benefits, and forcing the delay of a regent’s meeting, as picketers said they were determined to show that winter break will not erode their momentum.
The striking student workers rallied outside UCLA’s Luskin Center, where the UC Regents were scheduled to meet Wednesday morning. They shouted “Shut it down!” and jammed along with Tom Morello, former guitarist with Rage Against the Machine, who led the assembly in songs that included lines like, “Sí, se puede!” and “Hold the line!”
It was the latest action in the protracted standoff over wages and other issues between UC leaders and 36,000 striking academic student workers as the 10-campus system embarked on winter break and stalled negotiations spurred the union to agree with UC’s request to bring in an independent mediator."
Stanford fields new questions about internship program named for Nazi war criminal
BANG*Mercury News, AUSTIN TURNER: "New attention shined on a decades old program at Stanford University this week, when a political writer raised questions about an internship named for a long-dead industrialist who used slave labor to support the Nazi regime and was convicted of war crimes.
The Krupp Internship Program at Stanford University allows students to immerse themselves in Germany, working and receiving invaluable international experience. According to the university’s website, “more than 1,300 Stanford students have completed full-time, paid internships at over 590 German host companies and institutions after studying at Stanford in Berlin” through the program.
While the program intends to give students “deeper immersion into German language and culture,” its namesake is a part of the broader issue of “deception by omission”, according to a recent New York Times opinion piece from political writer Lev Golinkin. In the article, titled “Why Do Stanford, Harvard and NASA Still Honor a Nazi Past?“, Golinkin, a Jewish Ukrainian-born journalist, discusses the American legacies of institutions and programs named for Nazi rocket scientists Wernher von Braun and Kurt Debus, as well as the influence of Krupp’s fortune long after his death."
New data shows how dire S.F.’s budget deficit could get as economic outlook sours
The Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: "San Francisco is facing a projected $728 million deficit over the next two fiscal years as the city confronts falling tax revenue amid a lackluster recovery from the pandemic.
Mayor London Breed’s office told city departments Thursday that it’s forecasting a shortfall of more than $200 million in the 2024 fiscal year and a $528 million deficit in the 2025 fiscal year. Breed is asking departments to prepare for 5% budget cuts in the first year and 8% in the second."
Elon Musk speaks out after Twitter suspends several journalists who covered him
LA Times, JAIMIE DING: "Several journalists who covered Elon Musk were suspended from Twitter on Thursday night, days after an account tracking the whereabouts of Musk’s private jet was also banned from the platform.
Among those whose accounts were suspended are Ryan Mac from the New York Times, Donie O'Sullivan from CNN, Matt Binder from Mashable, Drew Harwell from the Washington Post, political pundit Keith Olbermann and Steve Herman from the government-funded Voice of America. Musk suggested later Thursday night that the suspensions would be temporary.
Harwell’s last post before being suspended was about Twitter removing the account of one of its competitors, Mastodon, for posting a link to its own version of the @ElonJet account that tracked Musk’s plane, according to a tweet from NBC News reporter Ben Collins. (Mastodon’s Twitter account was also suspended Thursday.)"
California has 11 of the top 20 most expensive U.S. regions — here's where S.F. metro area stands
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI/YURI AVILA: "The San Francisco metro area remained the most expensive region in the U.S. in 2021, mostly due to crushing housing and utilities costs.
According to federal data released Thursday, overall prices in the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area were 19.8% higher than the national average, with housing costs 113% higher and utilities 67.5% higher than the national average. The data from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis also incorporates the cost of goods including apparel and food, as well as education, medical, recreation and transportation services."
L.A.’s rich are already scheming ways to avoid new ‘mansion tax’
LA Times, JACK FLEMMING: "Death and taxes are life’s two certainties — but not if the rich can help it.
Just weeks after Los Angeles voters backed a new measure that puts a one-time transfer tax on property sales above $5 million to generate money for affordable housing and homelessness prevention, the city’s affluent homeowners are exploring potential ways of avoiding the tax.
Known as Measure ULA — for “United to House LA” — the ordinance marketed as a “mansion tax” will impose a 4% tax on property sales above $5 million, rising to 5.5% on sales above $10 million. So a $5-million sale would include a $200,000 tax, and a $10-million sale would include a $550,000 tax, which is typically paid by the seller."
25 best California experiences to add to your winter bucket list
LA Times, CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS: "Egg nog is not enough. A new pair of slippers is not enough. A dab of cranberry sauce on a holiday plate is definitely not enough. To spice up this winter and put all the waiting and wondering of 2022 behind us, I’m thinking we need something more profound. An adventure. Or maybe 25 of them.
So I’ve pulled together this roster of California winter experiences, from skiing and boarding down mountains to building driftwood forts and slurping cool, fruity desert refreshments.
Before you head to any of these places, check websites (and maybe make a phone call or two) to be sure what each destination’s latest ground rules are for vaccination, masking and occupancy."
L.A. County sheriff’s deputy under investigation after sex act is caught on hot mic
LA Times, RICHARD WINTON: "The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a deputy for allegedly engaging in a sex act during a break and broadcasting the tryst over her radio, officials said Thursday
A short audio recording first made public by TMZ captured part of the alleged encounter. In it, a woman laughs and says, “You’re going to rip my underwear!” A man replies and a beep common on police radios sounds.
A source familiar with the investigation, who requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, said the woman’s voice belongs to a rookie deputy assigned to the downtown jail complex that includes the Men’s Central Jail and that she rendezvoused with her paramour in a parking structure during a break period."
Virginia governor asks for inquiry into hiring of ‘catfishing’ cop who killed 3 in California
LA Times, ERIN B. LOGAN/SUMMER LIN: "Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has asked the state’s inspector general to investigate the Virginia State Police’s hiring of Austin Lee Edwards, the now-deceased cop who killed three family members of a 15-year-old Riverside girl he “catfished” online.
Macaulay Porter, a spokesperson for Youngkin, confirmed Thursday that the inspector general will “undertake an independent and thorough investigation of all allegations” surrounding Edwards’ hiring. Porter declined to specify which agencies are being investigated.
The state inspector general’s office does not have the authority to probe local policing agencies, according to Kate Hourin, the office’s spokeswoman. Hourin declined to comment further."
No way out: Why a mentally disabled man was jailed nine years awaiting a murder trial that never happened
CALMatters, JOCELYN WIENER: "Eight years, 9 months, 24 days.
That’s how long Lorenzo Mays waited inside a cell in the Sacramento County jail, struggling to understand the court system well enough to stand trial for a 2010 murder he insists he didn’t commit.
Arrested at age 27, Mays’ intellectual disability made it hard for him to make sense of terms like “no contest” or “plea bargain” or even the role of a judge and jury. He told one psychologist he thought he was in jail for witnessing a murder."
Names read during vigil of homeless people who died on San Francisco’s streets this year
The Chronicle, JOEL UMANZOR: "The names of more than 200 homeless people who died on the streets of San Francisco in 2022 were read aloud during an annual vigil on Thursday night at Civic Center Plaza.
The readings were accompanied by bell chimes as attendees joined in a number of prayers and songs, many mourning loved ones and friends who died this year. Names of some of those who died were also displayed on banners.
“Part of what we gather to affirm... is that though there is much that divides people of faith, the things that we can join together on are so much more obvious and pressing,” Minister Vanessa Southern, chair of the San Francisco Interfaith Council, said. “Moments like this where we gather to witness to life, to its loss and to the work it points us toward in restoring our fuller humanity in a larger vision of our city and how we hold one another.”"
