California’s Feb. 1 snowpack is at its highest point in nearly 30 years. But will it fill drought-depleted reservoirs?
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "The snowpack in California’s mountains weighed in Wednesday as the biggest it has been at the start of February in nearly three decades, a product of the recent storms that have flipped the script on drought by lessening water shortages across the state.
State water officials conducting their monthly snow survey logged snowpack in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades at 205% of the average for the date. At Phillips Station, one of the state’s oldest and most central monitoring sites, where surveyors convened in front of TV cameras for measurements Wednesday morning, the snowpack was 193% of average."
Epic California snowpack is now the deepest it’s been in decades
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: "Drought-weary California is entering February with deeper snowpack than it has seen in four decades, reflecting a healthy boost in the state’s supply of water but also spurring concerns about dryness, flooding and other potential hazards in the months ahead.
Statewide Sierra snowpack was 205% of normal for the date on Wednesday, said officials with the Department of Water Resources during the second snow survey of the season.
Even more promising, snowpack was 128% of its April 1 average, referring to the end-of-season date when snowpack in California is typically at its deepest."
California snowpack at an ‘incredible’ depth. But keep those sprinklers off, state urges
Sacramento Bee, RYAN LILLIS: "California’s snowpack is at a historic level. But state water officials still want you to keep those sprinklers off.
More than 85 inches of snow was measured at Phillips Station in the high Sierra on Wednesday, nearly double the average for this time of year and well above the average for April 1 — the statewide average, according to state Department of Water Resources officials, was calculated at 33.7 inches. The stored water content is ahead of the epic 1982-83 winter that was the wettest in at least the past 40 years.
Similar readings were measured throughout the Sierra. The snowpack provides roughly 30% of the state’s water supply."
Battling to avoid massive water cuts, California offers proposal on Colorado River crisis
LA Times, IAN JAMES: "California has given the federal government its own proposal for making cuts in Colorado River water use, saying a plan offered by six other states would disproportionately burden farms and cities in Southern California.
Water agencies that depend on the river submitted their proposal to the Biden administration on Tuesday, the same day federal officials had set as a deadline for the Colorado River Basin states to reach agreement on how to prevent reservoirs from dropping to dangerously low levels.
The state put forward its proposal a day after Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming released their alternative. A large portion of the cuts they proposed would be made by accounting for evaporation and other water losses along the lower portion of the river — a calculation that would translate into especially large reductions for California, which uses more Colorado River water than any other state."
California releases its own plan for Colorado River cuts
AP, KATHLEEN RONAYNE/SUMAN NAISHADHAM: "California released a plan Tuesday detailing how Western states reliant on the Colorado River should save more water. It came a day after the six other states in the river basin made a competing proposal.
In a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, California described how states could conserve between 1 million and nearly 2 million acre feet of water through new cuts based on the elevation of Lake Mead, a key reservoir.
Its plan did not account for water lost to evaporation and during transportation — a move sought by the other states that would mean big cuts for California."
Recent rains are ‘nowhere near’ what California might see in the future, climate expert says
The Chronicle, JACK LEE: "The atmospheric rivers that pummeled California are a far cry from what a series of extreme storms could potentially bring, climate scientist Daniel Swain said at a legislative hearing on Wednesday that explored the impacts of the recent storm sequence.
“We're nowhere near the kinds of events that we think are possible in a warming climate,” said Swain, a researcher at UCLA and The Nature Conservancy."
How do you track an atmospheric river? Climb aboard this highflying reconnaissance jet
LA Times, IAN JAMES: "The interior of the plane looked like a cross between a private luxury jet and a space mission control room.
The Gulfstream IV cruised at 43,000 feet, high above a seemingly peaceful layer of thick clouds that stretched to the horizon.
Crew members in blue jumpsuits stared at computer screens that revealed their hidden target miles below: a powerful atmospheric river that was churning across the Pacific Ocean toward California, bearing torrential rains and fierce winds."
Lottery to hike California's tallest peak is very competitive — and is now open
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "The lottery to climb Callifornia’s stunning but challenging Mt. Whitney is now open for trips in 2023 - and winning access is itself no small challenge.
The tallest peak in the contiguous U.S., straddling Sequoia National Park and Inyo National Forest east of Fresno, Whitney is the most frequently climbed mountain in the Sierra Nevada, officials say — so popular that all visitors in the Mount Whitney zone, including day hikers, must get a permit to minimize the human impact on the area."
S.F.’s Presidio getting $200 million from Washington. Here’s how the unique national park will change
The Chronicle, JOHN KING: "San Francisco’s Presidio has benefited from ample private donations over the years. Now the federal government is chipping in — with a $200 million grant for such unglamorous essentials as new pipes and power lines.
The funding was announced Wednesday by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, whose involvement with the unusual national park dates back to its creation in 1994. The grant’s impact won’t have the visual pizzazz of projects like last year’s Presidio Tunnel Tops, but park officials say it is vital to insure the long-term health of the former U.S. Army post."
Stem cell agency chooses new board chair amidst funding uncertainty
Capitol Weekly, DAVID JENSEN: "Vito Imbasciani is a man of many parts. Pianist, linguist (English, French, Italian Spanish, German), surgeon, urologist, combat physician, musicologist and head of the $440 million state Department of Veterans Affairs – all of that, at least so far.
Come March 28, Imbascani is scheduled to be sworn in as the new chairman of the $12 billion California stem cell agency – an 18-year-old state program to develop revolutionary treatments for such things as brain and blood cancers, heart disease, diabetes, sickle cell disease, spina bifida, incontinence, blindness, arthritis, HIV, stroke, epilepsy and much more. In all, a host of afflictions that affect about half of the families in California, according to agency backers.
All the while the work proceeds at the agency, it labors under a voter-approved, financial death sentence – most likely the only state department perched in that unenviable position. Depending on the rate of spending by the agency, known officially as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), its cash will run out in about 10 years or so, courtesy of the ballot initiative that gave birth to it in 2004."
A California Democrat is the first LGBTQ immigrant in Congress. Now he’s ready to work
Sacramento Bee, GILLIAN BRASSIL: "Gaby O’Donnell raised her son to be a hard worker, to love the United States and to give back to the communities that welcomed them when she was a young mother who immigrated from Peru.
She made it look easy, even when it was not — like when they struggled to put food on the table, bounced from house to house or had to work long hours to make a better life for her son, future Congressman Robert Garcia. His love of public service comes from his mother, Garcia said in a January interview.
“My mom always wanted us to help neighbors out, be good neighbors, and so we always helped all the local folks in whatever neighborhood we lived in,” Garcia, 45, said. “My mom taught us really early to be grateful to be here in the United States and that it meant something for us to be here.”"
Former Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli is now facing a third lawsuit in Sonoma County related to more than a dozen women’s allegations of sexual assault
The Chronicle, CYNTHIA DIZIKES: "Former Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli is now facing a third lawsuit in Sonoma County related to more than a dozen women’s allegations of sexual assault.
Farrah Abraham, a former reality TV star, filed the lawsuit in December accusing Foppoli of assaulting her in Palm Beach, Fla. in 2021. She is one of 14 women who have accused the one-time Windsor Mayor of sexual assault or misconduct."
San Jose Mayor’s Inauguration: More cops and accountability. Less dillydallying.
BANG*Mercury News, GABRIEL GRESCHLER: "One could call the new mayor of San Jose’s job akin to rolling a boulder up a hill for eternity.
And in his debut inaugural address on Wednesday night as the city’s 66th mayor, Matt Mahan gave a nod to Greek mythology that sums up the task in a single word: Sisyphean.
The reference is likely not hyperbole."
New Sacramento Superior Court judge was attorney for two California governors
Sacramento Bee, ROSALIO AHUMADA: "Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Rei Onishi, an attorney for the Governor’s Office for the past several years, to serve as a Sacramento Superior Court judge.
Onishi, 41, of Sacramento County, was among 10 new California superior court judges appointed by Newsom, the Governor’s Office announced Tuesday in a news release. Onishi is filling a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Michael A. Savage.
He has been deputy legal affairs secretary in the Governor’s Office since 2017 under Newsom and former Gov. Jerry Brown. Onishi, a Democrat, argued on behalf of both administrations in defense of Brown’s pension overhaul law."
Congressmen Buck, Hawley continue with plans to ban TikTok nationally on federal devices
Daily Californian, ELLA CARTER-KLAUSCHIE: "Representative Ken Buck (R-CO) and Senator Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) No Tik Tok on Government Devices Act passed in the Senate on Dec. 14 last year, banning TikTok on federal devices.
A new bill introduced in Congress by Buck and Hawley on Jan. 25 aims to expand these restrictions, preventing TikTok from being downloaded on U.S. devices and penalizing transactions with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.
“TikTok is a clear threat to our privacy and national security,” Buck said in an online statement. “It has been used to spy on Americans and gain an alarming level of access to users’ phones. This should concern every citizen who values their privacy, security, and personal information.”"
‘I will be signing’: Gavin Newsom backs California Democratic push to limit concealed carry guns
Sacramento Bee, MAGGIE ANGST/LINDSEY HOLDEN: "Gov. Gavin Newsom and other high-ranking California Democrats on Wednesday revived a plan to strengthen the state’s concealed carry gun law.
The move marks the second attempt at shoring up California regulations after a June 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down key provisions of the state’s law.
Newsom, standing alongside Attorney General Rob Bonta; Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank; and other Democratic leaders and gun control advocates, said the state’s recent mass shootings pushed him to continue fighting to make California a leader in gun control."
New gun laws: California aims to limit concealed weapons. This time will it stick?
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK/ELIYAHU KAMISHER: "After a slew of mass shootings that put a spotlight on California’s strict gun laws, state lawmakers on Wednesday reintroduced a bill aimed at limiting permits for carrying concealed guns and banning people from entering many public places with firearms.
Concealed firearms would be banned at hospitals, churches, parks and on public transportation. They also would be prohibited at privately owned businesses that are open to the public — unless a business posts a conspicuous sign welcoming guns.
The bill is in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer that loosened gun restrictions and undermined California’s existing limits on secretly carrying firearms. The bill‘s backers said the new legislation is specially crafted to survive what is expected to be a barrage of legal challenges."
College Board details new AP African American studies class amid criticism over changes
LA Times, ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE: "The College Board on Wednesday released details of its first Advanced Placement class on African American studies for high school students, but the course has drawn criticism for changing lessons and texts related to key figures and topics, including the Black queer experience and feminism.
The course recently came under fire from some conservatives and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who responded to a draft version of the course by calling it “indoctrination” that pushed a political agenda — and said his state would ban the course unless changes were made.
In a statement Wednesday, the College Board said changes to the curriculum were made weeks before DeSantis’ objections and denied media reports that the course had been watered down in response to conservative political backlash. The board included in its statement excerpts of the curriculum, which include Black feminist movements and how Black lesbians had a role in developing alternatives to mainstream feminism."
'This is who I am': Black students find support, culture, purpose through peer group
EdSource, CAROLYN JONES: "Black students face ever-increasing rates of depression, anxiety and suicide. But one group of young people is working hard to reverse that – one personal connection at a time.
Black Students of California United, a Fresno-based nonprofit, is a network of hundreds of Black middle and high school students throughout the state who meet regularly to brainstorm about policy and take action on issues affecting them – from mental health to gun violence to substance abuse to school funding.
The key to the group’s success, students said, is that the message comes from young people themselves, not well-meaning grown-ups."
California EDD to feds: Unemployment fraud was Trump’s fault
The Chronicle, CAROLYN SAID: "California has an answer to Congressional Republicans who want to know why it left the door open to unemployment fraud during the pandemic. It was President Donald Trump’s fault.
“Unfortunately, the Trump Administration expressed no interest in establishing (a) coordinated national response when these (emergency pandemic unemployment) programs were initiated in 2020, leaving states to fend for themselves against a clear pattern of sophisticated, international criminal syndicates at work,” Nancy Farias, director of the state Employment Development Department, wrote in a four-page letter to Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight & Accountability."
Is California cooperating enough with Congress’ unemployment fraud investigation?
Sacramento Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "The congressional committee investigating California’s unemployment system says it didn’t get an adequate response from the state about its efforts to combat massive unemployment fraud during the COVID pandemic.
Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told The Bee Wednesday “We just want to know exactly the extent of the fraud there and what measures they’ve taken to prevent this in the future.”
Comer wrote to state Employment Development Department Nancy Farias on Jan. 13 asking that she turn over several documents and communications related to the investigation by a Jan. 27 deadline."
Do Californians owe federal taxes on inflation relief payments? What TurboTax and H&R Block say
The Chronicle, KATHLEEN PENDER: "Although the Internal Revenue Service still has not issued any guidance on whether the California “middle-class tax refund” is taxable on federal returns, some major tax-preparation companies are treating it as not taxable.
But other tax professionals believe it is, prolonging the confusion as tax season begins in earnest."
Costco wants to build a different kind of store in South L.A. — with bulk housing
LA Times, NATHAN SOLIS: "A Costco store could make its way to the Baldwin Village neighborhood and add 800 apartment units and about 400 jobs to the South Los Angeles community, according to renderings released this week.
The apartment units would sit above the warehouse store at Coliseum Street and La Brea Avenue, real estate developer Thrive Living announced in a press release.
Artist’s renderings for the proposed mixed-use project show the familiar Costco Wholesale logo crowned with an apartment complex. The project would sit on a vacant 5-acre lot that was previously home to View Park Community Hospital in Baldwin Village. It would be the first Costco in South L.A."
How an L.A. grifter ripped off his best friends and got rich with his sprawling weed scams
LA Times, MICHAEL FINNEGAN: "During his brief stint as a film actor in Manila, David Bunevacz played a sexy kidnapper named Johnny in a rollicking crime escapade, “Tusong Twosome.”
In one scene, he lounges in bed with a woman in his arms as he haggles over ransom on the phone.
“Honey, they have 10 million to give us,” Johnny tells her. “What do you think?”"
S.F. apartment rents fell again. Tech layoffs could weaken the housing market further
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI: "San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area saw apartment rents fall in January at a higher rate than the national average, another sign of a slowing Bay Area economy that could be hurt further by mass tech layoffs, according to data from Apartment List.
San Francisco median rents fell 1.1% to $2,174 per month compared to December, one of the biggest drops in the country. Metro area rents are down 5% compared to March 2020 when the pandemic started, making San Francisco and San Jose the only two metro areas with more than 1 million people that have rents that are below pre-pandemic levels."
Most Bay Area cities missed the deadline to submit their housing plans. New penalties could be in store.
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN VARIAN: "A key plan to dramatically increase housing across the Bay Area fell flat this week as less than 15% of the region’s cities and counties met the state’s Tuesday cutoff to provide their homebuilding proposals.
Blowing the deadline means they could soon miss out on crucial state funding and be forced to approve new housing projects much larger than local laws now allow.
As of Wednesday afternoon, just 14 of the region’s 109 cities and counties had submitted adopted plans, dubbed “housing elements,” according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development. And so far, just two of those plans — from San Francisco and the city of Alameda — have received final approval from the state."
‘Not specific enough’: Berkeley city’s housing element rejected, pending approval with modifications
Daily Californian, LUCI A UMEKI-MARTINEZ: "The city of Berkeley’s Housing Element was rejected by the California State Department of Housing and Community Development, or HCD, Monday over issues with the proposed sites for new housing and the time frames in which the proposed sites would be developed.
The HCD gave the city 120 days to fix the issues they observed in the 2023-31 Element, such as Berkeley’s permitting process, their commitment to build housing on the vacant sites and providing realistic sites and time frames to build on the proposed sites, according to a letter from HCD.
“These are completely valid complaints because knowing Berkeley and having lived here for as long as I have, this city can stretch out meetings and processes for years if you don’t keep them on it,” said Darrell Owens, policy analyst for California YIMBY, a housing advocacy organization."
Hundreds of Los Gatos residents lose water service for days
BANG*Mercury News, HANNAH KANIK: "Hundreds of Los Gatos residents had their water service shut off on Saturday afternoon, and it’s not clear when their taps will be flowing again.
The entire mountain community of Aldercroft Heights, off of Highway 17 in Los Gatos, is impacted by what the neighborhood’s water provider, Aldercroft Heights County Water District, called a “facility water leak.”
As many as 400 residents were without water as of Monday afternoon, and Eric Lacy, who works for the state Water Resources Control Board, said looking for the leak is like finding a needle in a haystack."
How to take in traumatic news events and preserve your mental health
The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO: "Last week brought a relentless wave of horrific news events: two California mass shootings two days apart, the release of video footage showing Memphis police officers’ violent beating of Tyre Nichols, and the release of a body-cam recording showing an intruder’s attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul in the couple’s San Francisco home.
Each incident was disturbing, and in some cases exacerbated the stress many communities — including Asian American and Pacific Islanders, Black Americans and migrant workers — have already experienced as instances of anti-Asian violence and police brutality gained in visibility during the last few years."
Tenderloin welcomes infusion of funds for small projects as next step in Mayor Breed’s drug crisis initiative
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH: "Two dozen community projects are set to get a chunk of $3.5 million in funds from Mayor London Breed’s ongoing Tenderloin initiative, launched out of her temporary emergency to address drug deaths and street conditions in the neighborhood.
Applications getting money include a program to help kids get safely to and from school, the neighborhood’s first-ever dog park and a center for Arab youth."
California leaders react to fatal shooting of police officer in Fresno County
The Chronicle, JOEL UMANZOR: "Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered flags flown at half-staff at the state Capitol to honor a police officer from Fresno County who was killed in the line of duty.
Gonzalo Carrasco Jr., 24, a 2-year veteran of the Selma Police Department, was fatally shot around 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday after a homeowner flagged him down to report a suspicious person on their property, according to Selma police. Carrasco was taken to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries."
Bill Barr says he didn’t overstep in Durham probe of Mueller investigation
LA Times, LAUREL ROSENHALL/SARAH D. WIRE: "Former U.S. Atty. Gen. William P. Barr on Wednesday stood by his 2019 appointment of prosecutor John H. Durham to investigate the origins of the inquiry into the 2016 Trump presidential campaign’s connections to Russia, and defended his close interactions with Durham during the probe.
Barr’s comments marked the first time he has spoken to the media since The New York Times reported last week that he pressured Durham to find flaws in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election conducted by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Barr spoke to a Times reporter after a speech at the California News Publishers Assn. meeting in Sacramento.
“The idea that there was a thin basis for doing it doesn’t hold water,” Barr said of his decision to appoint Durham. “Because it wasn’t started as a criminal investigation. One of the duties of the attorney general is to protect against the abuse of criminal and intelligence powers, that they’re not abused to impinge on political activity, so I felt it was my duty to find out what happened there.”"
Former AG William Barr visits California, defends probe into Trump-Russia investigation
Sacramento Bee, MAGGIE ANGST/JENAVIEVE HATCH: "Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday defended the investigation he launched into the origins of the FBI’s probe of Trump Administration ties to Russia during the 2016 presidential election, an inquiry that is drawing new questions about its legality.
“You review something to get the facts,” Barr said at a news conference in Sacramento. “We wanted to hold people accountable if something came up that indicated criminality.”
Barr made his comments as two House Democrats called for an investigation into the four-year inquiry — a probe that was itself a re-investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election."
The U.S. military has big plans for an Australian port. So does the Chinese firm that controls it
LA Times, MARIA PETRAKIS: "This port city in hot and humid northern Australia likes to compare itself to Pearl Harbor. Both were bombed by Japanese forces during World War II; the attack on Darwin killed 200 people and flattened the town barely two months after Tokyo’s assault on Hawaii.
Now, 81 years later, Darwin is once again caught up in geopolitical tensions as the U.S. and Australia seek to counter a new threat looming in the Asia-Pacific region. The two countries are beefing up their joint military presence and cooperation here to contain and respond to the danger they perceive from an increasingly aggressive China.
But plans to turn Darwin into a bigger hub for U.S. Marines and Australian troops have refocused attention on an ironic fact: The port is controlled by a Chinese company."
