Biden approves federal aid for California counties damaged by winter storms
The Chronicle, JOEL UMANZOR: "President Biden approved federal aid Monday for various California counties affected by February's winter storms, according to a White House press release.
The federal aid was approved to supplement recovery efforts in Kern, Mariposa, Monterey, San Benito, Santa Cruz, Tulare, and Tuolumne counties due to winds, flooding, landslides and mudslides beginning on Feb. 21, 2023 and continuing, the press release said."
Stunning before-and-after images: California reservoir went from almost empty to 100% full
LA Times, TERRY CASTLEMAN: "California’s reservoirs have been in the spotlight following months of precipitation and the end of the drought in much of the state.
A surplus of water has filled several major reservoirs, which had seen perilously low water levels.
Among them is the San Luis Reservoir, which sat at just one-quarter of its capacity on Dec. 1. The basin is now 98% full."
It’s official: California Sierra snowpack ties all-time record. Well, kind of
BANG*Mercury News, SCOOTY NICKERSON: "How epic is the Sierra snowpack of 2023? In some places, the tubes that state water officials routinely use to measure the snow’s depth weren’t long enough.
California water officials gathered near Echo Summit south of Lake Tahoe on Monday for one of the most highly anticipated snowpack readings in decades, confirming what an army of snow-sensors scattered across the Sierra already showed: The statewide snowpack is tied with 1952 as the biggest haul since official statewide records began in 1950.
As of Monday morning, the statewide snowpack reached an astonishing 237% of normal compared to historical data for this date. The record-tying snowpack is a stunning turnaround from a year ago, when the official April snowpack measure was just 35% of normal. And it is an alternate universe away from 2015, when then-Gov. Jerry Brown stood on a barren mountaintop to announce the first-ever statewide water restrictions."
Where will California’s record snow go when it melts? State’s ‘big focus’ is underground
Sac Bee, JACQUELINE PINEDO, MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "California’s snowpack is one of the deepest on record — a big win for the drought-stricken state — but as temperatures rise, flooding concerns loom.
Average statewide snow water equivalent was 61.1 inches as of Monday morning, or 237% of California’s average for the date and 235% of its average for April 1.
Here’s what to know about the state’s flood mitigation plans, reservoirs and groundwater:"
This hidden flaw in California homes can cause major earthquake destruction
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II: "It is a housing design common across California: single-family homes with living spaces atop garages.
But seismic experts are now raising alarms about this style, saying it is vulnerable to collapse in a major earthquake.
The homes are at risk because the weight of the living space — which is held up on either side of the garage door by skinny, flimsy supports that can bend or break in a quake — can cause the room to come crashing down."
Will California see more storms in April? Here's what to expect this month
The Chronicle, GERRY DIAZ: "What started as a rare September storm turned into a parade of storms this winter, each fueled by torrential atmospheric rivers ferrying moisture toward California. By January it was apparent that the state was experiencing a historic wet season, as wave after wave of low-pressure systems evolved into bomb cyclones and winter storms, lasting all the way into the end of March. So, what’s coming next?
According to an ensemble of weather models, it looks as though California’s historic wet season finally is coming to an end. But not before another series of low-pressure systems brings more rounds of wind off the Pacific Ocean toward the West Coast. This pattern will come into conflict with April’s warm, dry air. And as moisture levels continue to fall, low-pressure systems will lose their ability to raise showers. Instead, they’ll be able to raise only low clouds, a sea breeze and mist — characteristics that coastal residents will recognize as the marine layer. The stage is set for a seasonal transition over the next couple of weeks."
California’s snowpack is among the deepest ever. Now get ready for the perilous ‘big melt’
LA Times, SEAN GREENE, HAYLEY SMITH: "California’s wet and wintry start to the year has resulted in perhaps the deepest snowpack recorded in more than 70 years, officials said Monday.
The snowpack is so deep that it currently contains roughly 30 million acre-feet of water — or more water than Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, according to a Times analysis of snow sensor data.
But though the bounty has eased drought conditions, experts warn that the dense Sierra Nevada snowpack will soon melt, potentially unleashing torrents of water and creating considerable concern about spring flooding in valleys, foothills and communities below."
Wild week
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Heading into recess, hosts Rich Ehisen and Tim Foster look back on a historic week chock full of political news: the Trump indictment, the governor’s oil price-gouging bill SBx1-2, the Campaign for Democracy, emissions standards and OH SO MANY candidates for the Worst Week in California Politics."
Court orders South Bay construction company to stop dumping hazardous waste in Almaden Valley
BANG*Mercury News, ELISSA MIOLENE: "A Santa Clara County judge has ordered a San Jose-based construction company to stop dumping hazardous waste on protected agricultural land in rural Almaden Valley, county officials announced Monday.
The court decision issued March 30 came in response to a request from Santa Clara County, which conducted an investigation of United Concrete Cutting, Inc. after receiving an anonymous complaint that the company had been pouring liquid concrete into carved-out holes on remote agricultural property.
“All too often, we see that companies and people use protected agricultural land — land that is environmentally sensitive and important — for inappropriate industrial uses,” said Tony LoPresti, the chief assistant county counsel for Santa Clara County. “This case is not unique. But it’s a particularly egregious example of that.”"
Acres of L.A. County sewage sludge threaten to contaminate Tulare Lake floodwaters
LA Times, BRENNON DIXSON, SUSANNE RUST: "Here at the western edge of the Tulare Lake Basin dwells a smelly industrial site the size of 150 football fields. Roughly eight times a day, its operations are replenished with a truckload of human waste from the residents of Los Angeles County.
Since 2016, the Tulare Lake Compost facility has been converting Southland sewage sludge into high-grade organic fertilizer, and sparing L.A. County the bother of burying its waste in local landfills.
But as epic Sierra Nevada snowpack threatens to overwhelm this phantom lake bed with spring runoff — inundating a region that has already suffered flooding from a series of powerful storms — some fear the facility could be transformed into an environmental disaster."
Strong winds to hit Southern California as region braces for possible outages, fire risk
LA Times, SUMMER LIN: "Strong winds are expected to hit much of Southern California on Monday, bringing the risk of downed trees, power outages and elevated fire danger.
A high wind warning is in effect until 5 a.m. Tuesday for the San Gabriel Mountains, Ventura County mountains, Antelope Valley foothills, Antelope Valley, the Interstate 5 corridor and the Highway 14 corridor, according to the National Weather Service.
Northwest winds could reach 35 to 45 mph, with gusts up to 80 mph, according to the weather service. Large objects, such as trees and power lines, could be downed by the winds. Power outages are to be expected."
Court reinstates suit with religious objection to California loyalty oath
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "A federal appeals court reinstated a religious-discrimination suit Monday by a California woman who said the loyalty oath she was required to take when applying for a job with the state — pledging to uphold the California and U.S. constitutions “against all enemies, foreign and domestic” — violated her primary allegiance to the Kingdom of God as a Jehovah’s Witness.
Brianna Bolden-Hardge, a Sacramento County resident, proposed instead to swear that she would uphold both constitutions while “not giving up my right to freely exercise my religion.” She also sought to delete the reference to “all enemies” and instead declare that she would “not be required to bear arms, engage in violence, nor to participate in political or military affairs.”"
CA 120: Biden re-election decision looms large in CA primaries
Capitol Weekly, PAUL MITCHELL: "If you’re one of the hundreds of candidates for the Legislature, Congress, or even the pending US Senate race, one data question is hovering over everything you’re planning for the 2024 primary election: what will turnout look like?
The presidential primary offers up an interesting conundrum for candidates. Presidential primary elections, more than any other, can see very different types of voters turning out depending on the composition of the race at the top of the ticket. These elections have a critical asymmetry in their ability to motivate different partisan voters to return a ballot or show up at the polls on Election Day."
How Kevin McCarthy’s Bakersfield is reacting to Trump’s indictment
LA Times, ARIT JOHN: "Before a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict former President Trump in connection with an alleged hush-money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters how he thought the American people viewed the case.
“I think in your heart of hearts you know, too, that you think this is just political,” McCarthy said during a March 21 news conference. “And I think that’s what the rest of the country thinks, and we’re kind of tired of that.”
But back home in McCarthy’s Bakersfield congressional district, the reaction is more nuanced. Some think it’s about time, while others wonder if the time has passed."
Why Mayor Breed says an S.F. 'doom loop' is not inevitable
The Chronicle, NOAH ARROYO: "In spite of worsening budget projections, Mayor London Breed struck an optimistic tone Monday about San Francisco’s future, citing a litany of efforts to fix the beleaguered downtown and help it recover from the pandemic. Her statements came in the wake of coverage by The Chronicle that painted a potentially dire outlook for the city.
Economists and urban planning experts told The Chronicle that a doom-loop scenario is possible in which connected forces send the city into an economic death spiral. For example, if workers stay remote and office buildings remain empty, then mass transit suffers from a lack of riders and workers needed for small businesses leave. That in turn hurts tax revenue, which spurs budget deficits, leading to cuts to city services. Those cuts hurt the city’s quality of life, which prompts more people to leave, some experts argue. The Chronicle editorial board weighed in as well, arguing that San Francisco needs a strong vision for reinvention."
Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor’s mystery “special advisor” raises legal concerns, experts say
BANG*Mercury News, GRACE HASE: "Santa Clara resident and small business owner Kirk Vartan has been a special advisor to Mayor Lisa Gillmor for the last three years, but now the city says it was never aware of the appointment — and few records between the two exist, sparking concerns about transparency, ethics and even legal complications.
In February 2020, Gillmor asked Vartan, who is the general manager at local pizza parlor A Slice of New York, to be her special advisor on small businesses and worker cooperative initiatives. Vartan had previously converted his business to a worker cooperative.
In an email, Gillmor said he has provided her with “information and insight on what was happening at the local, state and national level.”"
Today the classroom, tomorrow Congress? Sam Liccardo takes teaching gig at Stanford Law School
BANG*Mercury News, GABRIEL GRESCHLER: "As he eyes a possible run for Congress to represent the South Bay region, former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has taken up teaching at Stanford University’s Law School.
Liccardo, who oversaw the country’s 10th-largest city for eight years, will lead a class on “How Cities Can Save the World” two times a week on Stanford’s campus beginning April 3, according to the university’s website. The class will touch on issues surrounding affordable housing, climate change and violent crime through an urban-policymaker lens.
“We will seek to move beyond familiar ideological battles to emphasize outcomes, evidence-based solutions, and analytical rigor,” the class description reads. “From contemporary academic studies and journals, news articles, case law, and guest speakers, students will gain an appreciation for cities as policy laboratories for pragmatic solutions that often elude binary labelling as ‘progressive’ or ‘conservative.'”"
California may change its mental health funding. Why that might cut some services.
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "For the second time in as many years, Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing for major reform of California’s mental health system, this time by overhauling the way counties spend mental health dollars and placing a bond measure before voters to build more psychiatric beds.
County behavioral health advocates and local service providers fear programs will be cut, and, much like the controversial CARE Courts legislation — which passed last year and allows individuals to petition a court to force seriously mentally ill people into treatment and housing — say Newsom’s initial announcement came as a shock.
“We listened to the press conference just like you,” said Christine Stoner-Mertz, executive director of the California Alliance of Child and Family Services, which represents organizations that provide child welfare, foster care, juvenile justice and youth behavioral health services."
Tesla racism lawsuit: Elon Musk’s firm to pay $3.2 million after $137 million award tossed
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN BARON: "Tesla must pay a Black former Tesla worker about $3.2 million, most of it in punitive damages, after a judge in the racism-based case threw out an earlier jury award of $137 million.
On Monday, a jury awarded Owen Diaz $3 million in punitive damages, plus $175,000 in non-economic damages, according to the verdict form released by the court.
Diaz alleged in a 2017 lawsuit against Tesla that as a contracted elevator operator at the firm’s electric car factory in Fremont in 2015 and 2016, he endured “daily racist epithets,” including the n-word, and that colleagues drew swastikas and left racist graffiti and drawings around the plant."
In Silicon Valley, nearly a dozen renters compete for every available apartment
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN VARIAN: "The Bay Area rental market may be steadying after three years of pandemic fluctuations, but competition is heating up for Silicon Valley apartments as would-be homebuyers are squeezed by astronomical real estate prices and high interest rates on home loans.
Rental listing site RentCafe, in a new report, found that 11 renters are vying for every available South Bay apartment. That compares to a nationwide average of eight applications for each advertised rental unit.
A severe lack of housing has long pushed Silicon Valley residents into fierce competition for apartments. But now, high mortgage rates topping 6% are making it even harder to afford local home prices that regularly top $1.5 million, meaning more people are on the hunt for rentals, said Doug Ressler, a housing market expert with RentCafe."
How a 1,000-unit ‘academic village’ could transform S.F.’s Tenderloin
The Chronicle, JK DINEEN: "When new housing arises in the Tenderloin, it is typically either subsidized low-income complexes built by nonprofits or the sort of full-service rental communities targeting young professionals that have popped up in recent years along the north side of Market Street.
But these days the only housing under construction in the neighborhood is catering to a different group: students."
S.F. set to pay $3 million to man run over by police car
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: "The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider approving a $3 million settlement with a man who was severely injured after a police car struck him four years ago.
The victim, Jose Chavarria, sued the city for the loss of wages and medical expenses he incurred after a police vehicle ran him over at the intersection of Geary Boulevard and Webster Street in Japantown in August 2019, according to the lawsuit."
Here’s how BART plans to reduce its massive budget deficit
The Chronicle, RICARDO CANO: "BART has a plan to reduce its massive budget deficit.
The transit agency wants to restrict future overtime and redirect funds used to pay down its employee pension liability. The savings would make a small dent in BART’s $1.1 billion five-year deficit and buy the agency two more months before it hits its “fiscal cliff” in spring 2025."
Trump braces for criminal charges in New York as mayor tells Marjorie Taylor Greene to behave
LA Times, SALVADOR HERNANDEZ, RICHARD WINTON: "With former President Trump arriving in New York on Monday, Mayor Eric Adams said police were prepared for protests around his Tuesday arraignment but urged protesters and “rabble-rousers” — including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — to “be on your best behavior.”
The warning came as New York braces for the possibility of protests, crowds and global attention as Trump is set to be arraigned.
Adams and New York Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell said there were no specific or credible threats in the run-up to Trump’s court appearance but that the city would be significantly increasing its police presence as a precaution."
Greene fires back at Adams over warning against violence at Trump protests
The Hill, LAUREN SFORZA: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) hit back Monday at New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) for warning her to be on her "best behavior" during protests against former President Trump's arraignment on Tuesday.
"Delusional @NYCMayor is trying to intimidate, threaten, and stop me from using my 1st amendment rights to peacefully protest the Democrat's unconstitutional weaponization of our justice system against our top Republican Presidential candidate, President Trump," Greene wrote on Twitter.
Greene has been among the many Republicans who have railed against Trump's indictment last week over his involvement in hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 to cover up an alleged affair. Greene, along with Trump and his allies, has decried Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation as politically motivated."
