California’s reparations proposal moves to Newsom, state lawmakers
LA Times, TARYN LUNA: "After two years of deliberations, California’s Reparations Task Force on Thursday sent its final report and recommendations to the state Capitol, where Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers will ultimately decide how the state should atone for slavery.
“We must remind each and every one of us that the final report is not the end of the work. It’s really just the beginning,” Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), who served on the task force, said during its final meeting. “It is now up to the Legislature, which I’m part of, and the governor to implement it.”"
California gets reparations recommendations, as some bemoan Supreme Court’s ruling and Newsom’s absence
CALMatters, WENDY FRY, RYA JETHA, ALEXEI KOSEFF: "California’s reparations task force delivered its final recommendations to lawmakers in Sacramento Thursday, and some in the audience commented on the absence of one of the early champions of the task force, Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Task force members also noted the irony of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action in higher education on the day the task force’s nearly 1,200-page final document, with hundreds of recommendations, is released to the public."
California’s slavery reparations plan: Eligibility, payments and other details
LA Times, TARYN LUNA: "California’s Reparations Task Force on Thursday released its final report, marking a milestone in the state’s historic effort to consider remedies for slavery.
The task force has spent the last two years hearing testimony from academics, economists and other experts to gather evidence of the effects of slavery and to prove the ways in which government sanctioned policies continued to discriminate against Black people long after slavery was abolished."
California is the first state to tackle reparations for Black residents. What that really means
CALMatters, WENDY FRY, ERICA YEE, RYA JETHA: "Will reparations for Black residents in California become a reality? If not, are they likely to happen anywhere else in the United States?
All eyes are on California, long considered the nation’s test tube for progressive policies, and its pioneering reparations task force, which this week gave the state Legislature its recommendations for repairing the damage of slavery and racism."
Supreme Court rules Christian web designer can turn away business related to same-sex weddings
LA Times, DAVID G. SAVAGE: "The Supreme Court ruled Friday that conservative Christians have a free-speech right to refuse to provide some business services for same-sex marriages, even in states like California where civil rights laws forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The justices by a 6-3 vote sided with a graphic artist in Colorado who said she wants to expand her business to design custom websites that celebrate impending marriages, but not for same-sex couples. She cited her belief as a Christian that marriage is limited to a man and a woman."
SCOTUS’ scandals and affirmative action ruling solidify a liberal broadside: The court has lost touch
The Chronicle, SARA LIBBY: "There was plenty of passionate reaction from both sides following the Supreme Court’s decision Thursday to effectively ban affirmative action as a tool in the admissions process at U.S. universities.
But liberals’ criticism of the decision was remarkably consistent: It was peppered with words like “ignorant” and “blind” (Vice President Kamala Harris used the word four times in one sentence during remarks after the decision) and even “ostrich-like” — a bird that isn’t blind but might as well be when it buries its head underground."
The end of affirmative action won’t change much for them, some Asian Americans say
LA Times, JEONG PARK, MILLA SURJADI: "Cecilia Chang bluntly told her two kids: You have to try harder because of who you are.
She believed that admission to elite colleges was stacked against Asian Americans — “You’re competing for a very little number of seats with all these qualified Asian kids,” she said."
S.F. budget deal funds reparations office, more police, downtown recovery plan
The Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: "Several San Francisco supervisors and Mayor London Breed have agreed to fund a new City Hall office that would seek to implement reparations for Black residents, while steering more money toward law enforcement and the city’s economic recovery as part of a broader budget deal.
The $4 million that would go toward creating the reparations office is a small but notable aspect of a budget agreement reached overnight Thursday governing about $14.6 billion in expected annual city spending over the next two fiscal years. But it’s not clear whether the reparations funds will ever be used as supervisors intended: Breed, who approved of the appropriation, would need to allow her administration to spend the money, and “she has not agreed to do that,” said mayoral spokesperson Jeff Cretan."
Supreme Court strikes down Biden’s plan to forgive millions of student loans
LA Times, DAVID G. SAVAGE: "The Supreme Court on Friday rejected President Biden’s plan to forgive millions of student loans, ruling the nation’s chief executive did not have legal authority to waive more than $400 billion owed to the government.
The Biden administration had asserted its right to cancel the loans as part of its emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic and under a 2003 law called the HEROES Act, passed during the Iraq War."
University of California looks to ‘share expertise’ after decades without affirmative action
EdSource, MICHAEL BURKE: "With the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Thursday that race-conscious admissions are unlawful, colleges and universities across the country hoping to enroll diverse student bodies will need to turn to different strategies to do so.
For ideas, those institutions could look to California, where public colleges haven’t considered race in admissions since voters in 1996 approved a ballot measure banning it."
Bay Area temperatures will go up, and snakes likely will be coming out
BANG*Mercury News, RICK HURD: "As a precursor to the summer’s first intense warm-up, the National Weather Service on Thursday issued a Bay Area heat advisory that will kick in Friday and could last the whole weekend.
Bay Area fire officials were watching the heat with concern, as well, though a slow start to the state’s fire season allowed them to focus on one other potential problem."
‘Worst we’ve ever seen’: Huge crowds crush Yosemite
The Chronicle, GABE CASTRO-ROOT: "If you’re thinking of a visit to Yosemite National Park in the next few weeks, you may want to reconsider your plans. Huge crowds are causing such long waits to get into the park that visitors have been forced to turn back.
“It’s the worst we’ve ever seen,” said Teri Marshall, marketing director at Rush Creek Lodge and Spa, which sits east of Groveland near Yosemite’s Big Oak Flat entrance."
UCLA to expand in downtown L.A. with purchase of historic building for satellite classes
LA Times, TERESA WATANABE, ROGER VINCENT: "In another milestone move to expand its reach, UCLA announced Thursday that it has purchased a landmark building in downtown Los Angeles for satellite classes, aiming to widen access at the nation’s most popular university and help revitalize the city’s historic core.
UCLA purchased the 11-story, Art Deco-style Trust Building on Spring Street, and expects to begin classes in it later this year — initially through its large Extension program. But Chancellor Gene Block said in an interview that the university has “not precluded” eventually developing the site, renamed UCLA Downtown, to accommodate more undergraduate and graduate students with possible housing nearby."
How did USC and Turnkey miss on Mike Bohn? Search firm industry insiders expose flaws
LA Times, RYAN KARTJE, J. BRADY MCOLLOUGH: "Word first began to spread that Cincinnati’s Mike Bohn was USC’s top choice to lead its athletic department on Nov. 1, 2019.
Celebratory announcements often follow such leaks, but USC President Carol Folt did not officially announce Bohn’s appointment until Nov. 7."
Homelessness continues to soar, jumping 9% in L.A. County, 10% in the city
LA Times, DOUG SMITH, RUBEN VIVES: "Homelessness continues to rise dramatically, increasing by 9% in Los Angeles County and10% in the city of Los Angeles last year, a stark illustration of the challenges faced by officials trying to reduce the number of people living on the streets.
Efforts to house people, which include hundreds of millions of dollars spent on shelter, permanent housing and outreach, have failed to stem the growth of street encampments, as reflected in the annual point-in-time count released Thursday by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority."
Looming strike poses challenge for Mayor Karen Bass at homeless housing hotel
LA Times, JULIA WICK, DAVID ZAHNISER, RUBEN VIVES: "Thousands of Southern California hotel workers are poised to go on strike if a deal isn’t reached by midnight Friday, threatening to upend the region’s tourism industry.
In a city where hotels have played a central role in the push to address homelessness, the looming strike by Unite Here Local 11 could also pose new challenges for Mayor Karen Bass — and her push to get people off the streets."
Faced with another bad homelessness count, L.A. reacts with frustration
LA Times, DAVID ZAHNISER, DAKOTA SMITH, REBECCA ELLIS: "L.A. leaders have thrown themselves into the fight against homelessness in recent years, spending an ever-growing amount of money on programs meant to pull the city’s neediest residents back from the brink.
Elected officials have celebrated the opening of new homeless shelters, cut ribbons outside nearly a dozen “tiny home” villages, and welcomed the completion of nearly 3,000 subsidized apartments — housing paid for, in part, with funds from a $1.2-billion property tax hike passed by voters."
See which California counties are the most expensive for renters in the U.S.
LA Times, TERRY CASTLEMAN: "Minimum-wage workers shouldn’t bother trying to find a two-bedroom apartment — anywhere in the U.S.
According to a new federal report, “in no state, metropolitan area, or county in the U.S. can a worker earning the federal or prevailing state or local minimum wage afford a modest two-bedroom rental home at fair market rent by working a standard 40-hour work week.”"
Can’t find affordable housing in the Bay Area? This new tool can help
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN VARIAN: "For many people struggling to make ends meet in the Bay Area, how to go about finding affordable housing is anything but clear.
Some may get a tip from a social worker or stumble upon a for-rent sign on the side of an apartment building. Others are left scouring online for openings scattered across city websites and listing platforms."
See the ‘Western White House’ replica for sale in Hillsborough for $38.9 million
The Chronicle, SAM WHITING: "A Hillsborough mansion designed a century ago by Julia Morgan as a replica of the White House in Washington is on the market for nearly $39 million.
The home, known as the “Western White House,” was envisioned by its owner George Hearst to serve as an outpost for the president of the United States, and be used as a springboard to the presidency by its owner, according to the listing agent, Alex Buljan of Compass."
S.F. Bay Area real estate: Property tax cut coming for many homeowners. How to know if you qualify
The Chronicle, KATHLEEN PENDER: "In response to falling home prices, tens of thousands of Bay Area homeowners will be getting an unsolicited property tax cut for 2023-24.
That’s because assessors in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties proactively sliced the assessed value on homes and condos that sold near the peak of the market, which generally was around the middle of last year."
Marin County D.A. charges San Rafael officer, former officer with assault in violent arrest of day laborer
The Chronicle, STAFF: "Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli filed criminal charges Thursday against two San Rafael police officers who prosecutors say brutalized a day laborer during an arrest last summer.
Officer Brandon Nail and former Officer Daisy Mazariegos are charged with assault by an officer under color of authority and making false statements in a crime report, the DA’s office said Thursday."
