California officials urged to help migrants flown to Sacramento secure visas for crime victims
LA Times, ANDREA CASTILLO: "More than four dozen immigrant rights groups sent a letter Wednesday to California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, urging him to help 36 migrants who were flown to Sacramento by Florida contractors secure visas to remain in the U.S.
The news comes as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that he had sent a busload of migrants to Los Angeles, saying in a news release that “border towns remain overwhelmed.” The 42 migrants, including eight children, arrived at Union Station on Wednesday afternoon. Texas and Arizona leaders have bused thousands of migrants to Democratic strongholds since last year."
Silicon Valley tech executive considers jumping into US Senate race to replace Dianne Feinstein
Mercury News, KAITLYN SCHALLHORN: "Lexi Reese, a former tech executive and documentary filmmaker, has filed paperwork to run for the open U.S. Senate seat in California.
A San Mateo County resident, Reese is a former Google and American Express executive and the former chief operating officer for Gusto, an HR company for small businesses. She announced her exploratory committee for the seat on Thursday, saying an official announcement about a decision is forthcoming."
Trauma has shaped Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s life. Now it helps fuel her work for California
LA Times, TARYN LUNA: "Written on a dry-erase board in Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s office overlooking the dome of the California Capitol are two phrases: “gender equity” and “support for survivors.”
As a feminist and documentary filmmaker, Siebel Newsom has been on a mission to tell women’s stories and upend the gender imbalance that permeates life in America. As the first partner of California and wife of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, she has influence at the highest tier of state government."
Rising Stars: Sean Porter, office of Assemblymember Tina McKinnor
Capitol Weekly, LISA RENNER: "Sean Porter describes himself as “very competitive” when working to pass bills he believes in.
Porter, who is the legislative director for Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, D-Inglewood, enjoys negotiating with the governor’s office, working with sponsors and committees and planning how best to get legislation approved."
U.S. labor board restores rules that workers like Uber, Lyft drivers have right to unionize as employees
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "The National Labor Relations Board is reinstating rules, dismissed by former President Donald Trump’s administration, that could allow drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft to form labor unions and negotiate with the companies on wages and working conditions, regardless of their employment status.
The NLRB, whose current members were appointed by President Biden, announced this week that it was returning to standards it had adopted under President Barack Obama in 2014 and changed under Trump in 2019. Under the rules, many so-called gig workers are more likely to be classified as employees than as independent contractors if their work is part of a company’s regular business, instead of their own separate business."
CHP drug crackdown: Arrests increase, but are state police using tactic S.F. is trying to limit?
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH, SUSIE NEILSON, KEVIN FAGAN: "California Highway Patrol Sgt. Ryan Burns was leaving a routine drunk-driving bust on Polk Street on Monday when a beat-up Chevy Camaro two blocks away started racing through the Tenderloin.
One of Burns’ motorcycle officers had tried to pull the driver over for a flat rear tire and heavily tinted windows, and instead of stopping, the driver gunned it."
Critics blast CHP for stopping cars in S.F. in drug crackdown as city moves to limit practice
The Chronicle, KEVIN FAGAN: "Critics of cops making traffic stops for minor infractions, in an effort to investigate motorists for more serious crimes, denounced the California Highway Patrol on Thursday for its apparent use of the technique in San Francisco to help make drug busts — at a time the city is moving away from so-called pretextual stops.
But there was no indication from the mayor’s office or Board of Supervisors that the CHP’s efforts in the battle against open-air drug dealing in the city are unwelcome."
Rob Manfred tries blaming Oakland for A’s move; Nevada governor signs bill
The Chronicle, JOHN SHEA: "A day after the Oakland Athletics virtually punched their ticket for a one-way trip to Las Vegas, failing to make good on their rooted-in-Oakland pledge, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred on Thursday morning addressed the relocation process by providing what might be seen at best as revisionist history while claiming sympathy for A’s fans.
Hours later, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed Senate Bill 1, which calls for $380 million in public funding for a 30,000-seat ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip and leaves A’s fans to mourn the pending loss of a franchise that has been in the East Bay since 1968."
COVID vaccine should be updated to target XBB strain, FDA committee says
LA Times, LUKE MONEY, RONG-GONG LIN II: "With an eye toward enhancing protection against the coronavirus, which is still evolving and circulating, federal health advisors said Thursday that the next round of COVID-19 vaccines should be updated to target one of the XBB strains currently dominating the viral landscape.
The unanimous recommendation from the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee follows that of agency staff, who in a memo acknowledged that while older vaccine formulas can still help stave off severe disease, “protection wanes with time and is reduced against subsequent waves of variant viruses.”"
Why this Bay Area beach is one of the most bacteria-ridden in the country
The Chronicle, MARA DIAS: "Surfers of all abilities and ages flock to Pacifica’s Linda Mar Beach to enjoy consistent swells and gently rolling waves. The crescent-shaped shoreline of the beach extends for nearly a mile, with room for newcomers and seasoned surfers alike. Linda Mar’s mellow waves and gradual sloping shoreline have earned it a reputation as a hub for surf education. You can often find children playing in the surf or in San Pedro Creek, which flows across the sand and empties into the ocean here.
Unfortunately, despite its splendor, all is not well at Linda Mar."
Nearly one-fourth of SFUSD teachers not fully credentialed, grand jury finds
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "Nearly one-fourth of teachers in the San Francisco Unified School District are not fully credentialed, and the district’s teacher shortage is worse than that of California and the Bay Area as a whole, according to a new report from the San Francisco civil grand jury, a court-appointed panel that acts as a watchdog over local government.
In its report issued Thursday, the grand jury pointed to several reasons the shortage in SFUSD is so acute: its low starting salaries; its failure to promote the district’s competitive benefits and programs to help teachers; its continuing payroll fiasco; and its lack of data on why teachers decline job offers or leave the district."
California's plan to change literacy instruction advances
EdSource, DIANA LAMBERT: "California is moving closer to eliminating the unpopular Reading Instruction Competence Assessment for teachers and replacing it with a performance assessment based on a new set of literacy standards and Teaching Performance Expectations that focuses on how to teach literacy using phonics and other foundational reading skills.
The new standards, mandated by state legislation, also include support for struggling readers, English learners, and pupils with exceptional needs, incorporating the California Dyslexia Guidelines for the first time."
UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ says she will step down in 2024
The Chronicle, NANETTE ASIMOV: "UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ, who took over the University of California’s flagship campus in 2017 at a time of low morale over deep financial problems and high-profile sexual harassment cases, announced Thursday that she will step down in June 2024.
In a message to the campus, Christ said she hadn’t intended to stay beyond five years, but when the pandemic dramatically slowed the university’s fundraising efforts, housing projects and other endeavors, she stayed on."
‘We urgently need to discuss Westfield’: Emails shed light on safety problems at downtown S.F. mall
The Chronicle, JD MORRIS: "Westfield executives and their retail store tenants at the troubled San Francisco Centre complained in recent months that the city’s attempts to address rampant theft and other crime at the mall have fallen short, records obtained by The Chronicle show.
In response to concerns raised by the mall, the city agreed last year to provide a dedicated law enforcement presence at the ailing downtown shopping center, sending two police officers to patrol the facility every day."
Fox News demands that Tucker Carlson stop posting videos on Twitter
LA Times, STEPHEN BATTAGLIO: "Controversial news personality Tucker Carlson posted his second video on Twitter last week, and Fox News has had enough.
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The network has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Carlson’s attorneys, claiming the videos are in violation of Carlson’s contract with Fox News Media, one of his attorneys said on Twitter."
FAA will require secondary cockpit barriers for new planes; ex-FAA special agent says majority of aircrafts ‘still vulnerable to a 9/11 style attack’
