Trump indicted on 37 charges including Espionage Act violations in classified records case
LA Times, SARAH D. WIRE: "Former President Trump was indicted on 37 charges, including 31 counts of violations of the Espionage Act, as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents from his time in the White House.
The 49-page indictment, released Friday by the Department of Justice, details accusations that Trump stored boxes containing classified documents in various locations at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, including a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, his office, his bedroom and a storage room."
'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski died by suicide in prison medical center, AP sources say
AP. MICHAEL R. SISAK, MIKE BALSAMO, JAKE OFFENHARTZ: "Ted Kaczynski, known as the “Unabomber,” who carried out a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died by suicide, four people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
Kaczynski, who was 81 and suffering from late-stage cancer, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday. Emergency responders performed CPR and revived him before he was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead later Saturday morning, the people told the AP. They were not authorized to publicly discuss Kaczynski’s death and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity."
Migrants say Florida contractors pushed to get them to board planes to California
LA Times, JACK HERRERA: "María traveled more than 2,800 miles from Venezuela to reach the United States in early May. Once crossing the border, however, she made it only four blocks, to a shelter at Sacred Heart Church in downtown El Paso.
Like many asylum seekers released on parole by Customs and Border Protection, she had no money to pay for a plane or bus ticket, she said. She slept in the church shelter, then in the alley outside, for three weeks, until a woman approached and said she would fly María on a private plane to California."
A ‘Pretendian’ claim. Territory disputes. A Bay Area tribe’s bid for federal recognition sparks conflict
The Chronicle, SHIRA STEIN: "A Bay Area tribe whose aggressive bid for federal recognition prompted a confrontation with members of Congress earlier this year is now sparring with other local tribal leaders, who say the effort could set back other Native American interests.
The leaders of the Bay Area-based Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, the Tamien Nation and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone told The Chronicle that the Muwekma Ohlone tribe is making false assertions about the legitimacy of their tribes, including calling themselves the only aboriginal Bay Area tribe and saying the leader of one tribe is not Native American."
Democrats’ plan to take control of Congress could depend on Southern California
LA Times, SEEMA MEHTA: "Democratic hopes to seize control of the U.S. House of Representatives next year at a pivotal moment for policy decisions about reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, education and the economy may hinge on Southern California.
Despite the state’s liberal bent, California has the most competitive congressional races in the nation — an anomaly created by the state’s independent map-drawing process and sheer size."
In burned-out groves of giant sequoias, crews plant seeds of hope. Will they survive?
LA Times, ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "The worker stabbed the loamy soil with a hoedad, dropped in a delicate sequoia seedling and tamped the dirt tight around it. As he moved on to the next spot, and then the next, the hillside of the Alder Creek Grove slowly filled with small clumps of green needles.
Without this planting, naturalists worry giant sequoias will never grow on this charred hillside again. The wildfire that scorched this southern Sierra Nevada forest three years ago burned large swaths of land so intensely that it left thousands of ancient giants dead and smoldering. Their seed cones — which would ordinarily spawn new life — were incinerated."
Capt. Crozier is finally ready to talk about the COVID chaos that cost him his career
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Capt. Brett Crozier became the center of an international story in March 2020 after The Chronicle published his email begging top Navy brass to send more help as COVID-19 quickly spread among the 5,000 sailors on the nuclear aircraft carrier he commanded in the early, chaotic days of the pandemic.
The leak and the turmoil that followed eventually cost Crozier — and Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly, who fired him — their jobs. Crozier, speaking publicly about the incident for the first time, said he would have done it again, even though he was on track to becoming an admiral."
Why Gavin Newsom, state leaders are paying attention to the California school board
SCNG*Mercury News, JEFF HORSEMAN: "“Congratulations Mr. Komrosky you have my attention. Stay tuned.”
That’s how California Gov. Gavin Newsom ended a tweet calling Temecula school board President Joseph Komrosky “an ignorant person” for calling slain LGBTQ civil rights icon Harvey Milk “a pedophile” in a debate over a social studies curriculum."
How well do dual-immersion programs serve English learners?
EdSource, ZAIDEE STAVELY: "If you look at English learners’ third-grade reading scores in English at Dolores Huerta International Academy, a dual-language immersion school in Fontana Unified, you might not be too impressed.
But if you look at how students who began school as English learners do over several years, you see huge growth."
School shootings are a real threat — so these Bay Area students invented a technology to fight back
BANG*Mercury News, ELISSA MIOLENE: "Rebecca Wang was just 7 years old the first time it happened.
She remembers vividly her teacher’s panicked face, and her urgent voice telling Rebecca and her classmates to keep quiet, hide behind their desks and stay calm."
El Niño has officially arrived, signaling a warmer world and possibly a wetter SoCal
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: "After months of anticipation, El Niño has officially arrived.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced El Niño’s emergence on Thursday, advising that the climate pattern could signal another wet winter in Southern California and increased temperatures across the globe, among other effects."
Can’t find a backcountry permit for California’s popular hiking areas? Two new tech services can help
The Chronicle, GREGORY THOMAS: "Negotiating the increasing number of online lotteries and reservation systems for backcountry hiking permits has practically become a competitive sport in California.
The first opportunities to secure summer permits for the state’s peak hiking areas — the John Muir Trail, the Lost Coast, Mount Whitney — came and went months ago, with lottery winners determined and booking dates getting snapped up within seconds of being posted online."
Will IKEA fix San Francisco’s downtown woes? If not, ‘we’re all in trouble’
The Chronicle, CAROLYN SAID: "Can vegan Swedish meatballs and flat-pack furniture save a San Francisco neighborhood?
That’s the question — and hope — on many minds as IKEA winds up construction on its first U.S. mall and city center store on a gritty stretch of Market Street between Fifth and Sixth."
Sacramento is at a tipping point. What’s the future of housing, sprawl and racial inequality?
Sac Bee, RYAN LILLIS: "The Sacramento region is at a tipping point. And the next few years will determine what shape we leave it in for the next generation.
The region’s housing is less expensive than California’s coastal cities, a selling point that motivated thousands of new residents to move inland since the start of the pandemic. Yet housing prices and rents have skyrocketed the past three years, and fewer than one-third of residents here can now afford to buy the median-priced home."
$10,000 to move into a new apartment? Bill would give California renters a break on high security deposits
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN VARIAN: "In California, it’s perfectly legal for landlords to ask renters to cough up more than $10,000 before handing over the keys to a new apartment.
That’s because under state law, property owners can charge up to two months’ rent as a security deposit, on top of the initial lease payment. For a furnished unit, deposits can be as much as three months’ rent."
Is BART policing racially motivated? A new study intends to find out
BANG*Mercury News, ELISSA MIOLENE: "A new study will analyze how the BART police force responds to incidents of fare evasion – and whether race plays a role in the transit authority’s law enforcement.
Past research shows Black BART riders were stopped by the subway’s police eight times more often than their White counterparts from 2012 to 2017, while also being 15 times more likely to experience a use of force from the BART Police Department."
Historic S.F. cable car to go into regular service for first time in 70 years
The Chronicle, SAM WHITING: "In a few weeks, car No. 42 will emerge from San Francisco’s cable car barn and go clanking down the Hyde Street line, twisting and turning and going over the falls to Aquatic Park as it makes its regular run on its regular line for the first time in nearly 70 years.
When it does this next month, it will complete a heroic rescue of a wooden car that was built in 1906, only to suffer the ultimate indignity for a cable car. It had been motorized for transporting cattle buyers on a feedlot in Southern California."
Should behind-the-wheel test be mandatory for drivers 75 and older? Roadshow
BANG*Mercury News, GARY RICHARDS: "Q: Wouldn’t it make more sense for the DMV to give me a behind-the-wheel driving test instead of testing me about axles, which have nothing to do with my driving ability? Wouldn’t it be better if all seniors, starting at maybe 75 years old, were tested on driving skills?
Marlene Burak, Los Gatos
A: The DMV has no plans to require driving tests for all drivers, no matter what their age. Anyone concerned that a driver may be unsafe can submit a DMV Request for Driver Reexamination (DS699)"
‘When people understand our humanity, we win.’ L.A. Pride parade celebrates community
LA Times, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "Sebastian Soto wishes there could be an LGBTQ+ Pride parade every day — in every city and every country in the world.
Alas, that’s not the case. But for Soto, who is gay, there was plenty of joy and laughter to be had Sunday at the Los Angeles Pride parade, one of the nation’s oldest and biggest LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations."
