California legislative staff’s wait for a union just got even longer
CALMatters, SAMEEA KAMAL: They have waited decades for the right to form a union. But it looks like California’s legislative staffers will have to wait at least two more years.
After a unionization bill failed on the last day of the session last year, legislative leaders declared support for the effort this year, even designating the measure as Assembly Bill 1. But this week, that bill was changed to not take effect until 2026."
Legislative findings and declarations versus intent statements in California Legislation
Capitol Weekly, CHRIS MICHELI: "In reading bills in the California Legislature, you may encounter findings and declarations, or intent statements, or even a combination of the two. Questions are often raised regarding which approach should be given greater weight by the courts. Or, are they of equal weight? Does it matter if one is codified and the other is not? These and other questions could be raised when determining how these types of statements should be viewed, particularly by the judicial branch of state government.
The following is a recent example from a bill introduced in the 2023 California Legislative Session with the legislative findings and declarations contained in Section One of the bill (which would be uncodified if the bill were enacted) and the statements of legislative intent contained in Section Two of the bill (which would be codified if the bill were enacted):"
California Assembly candidate gets a DUI. It’s her second in 10 years.
Sac Bee, ANDREW SHEELER: "Riverside City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes’ bid for an Assembly seat hit a major stumbling block on July 1, when she was arrested for driving under the influence. Again.
Cervantes, 32, was arrested while traveling on I-10 in Banning, according to CBS News."
Newsom ‘would not recommend’ Democrats appearing on Fox News
The Hill, JULIA MUELLER: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in an interview suggested Democrats shouldn't appear on Fox News, arguing it "contributes to the mental health crisis."
"Do you think Democrats should still be appearing on Fox, or should they not be appearing on Fox?" host Jen Psaki asked Newsom in an interview on MSNBC's "Inside with Jen Psaki.""
This is the hometown of San Francisco’s drug dealers
The hronicle, MEGAN CASSIDY, GABIRELLE LURIE: "Thirty-five hundred miles southeast of San Francisco, a dirt road in Honduras shared by pickup trucks and oxcarts cuts through mostly abandoned farmland. On the outskirts of a small village, a jewel-toned mural appears like a mirage: the Bay Bridge, sparkling at night, stretching across a 10-foot-high wall.
In a nearby town square, a skinny child in a Steph Curry T-shirt climbs a tree. A few blocks away, a three-wheeled mototaxi whizzes by, a San Francisco Giants sticker affixed to its bumper."
Yosemite’s top official says reservation system could return amid crowding: ‘We can’t keep going like this’
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "When Jeff Harris arrived at Yosemite National Park last week, the Maryland resident had already heard the horror stories of hours-long lines at entrance stations and packed parking lots at the famed waterfalls, sequoia groves and mountain overlooks this summer.
So he did what he could to avoid the crowds. He, his wife, two adult daughters and son-in-law, who were staying just outside of Yosemite’s southern gate, made sure they were among the first to enter the park each morning. On all five days visiting, the family got in before 6:30 a.m."
Former worker charged with cyberattack on East Bay water treatment plantvxcz
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "A Tracy man was indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with a cyberattack on an East Bay water treatment plant that endangered the region’s water supply, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office Northern District of California announced.
Rambler Gallo, 53, was charged with intentionally uninstalling the main operational and monitoring systems for the Discovery Bay Water Treatment Facility, which treats water and wastewater for about 15,000 residents in the Contra Costa County community of Discovery Bay, federal prosecutors said in a statement on Friday. "
Explosion spews from PG&E manhole, rocks S.F.’s Pacific Heights neighborhood
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "An underground explosion rocked San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood over the weekend, blowing a manhole cover, damaging a car atop the manhole and shattering windows of nearby homes, authorities said.
The explosion was caused cby a fire that broke out inside an underground Pacific Gas and Electric Company vault around 8:18 p.m. Saturdy, the San Fran
cisco Fire Department tweeted. The force of the blast blew off a manhole cover and damaged property including a Tesla that was parked over the manhole, the department said. "
Alzheimer’s drug trials target older Californians. Do they understand what they’re signing up for?
LA Times, MELODY PETERSEN: "For those fearing their memories are fading, the ads provide hope.
“Early diagnosis extends quality of life,” says an ad by Dung Trinh, an Orange County physician, on the website of a program for seniors at Mount of Olives Church in Mission Viejo."
Should universities share athletics revenue with players? California bill sparks backlash.
CALMatters, RYAN LOYOLA: "For four years, Stanford student Liam Anderson has gone to what he calls his “full-time job.” He puts on his uniform, laces up his shoes and just runs. As captain of the Stanford track and field team, the public policy major has put in 20 to 40 hours of running, conditioning and physical therapy each week — a pace he’ll continue when he returns to campus this fall to pursue his master’s degree.
It’s a lot of time away from academics, with little financial reward, which is partly why Anderson has been supporting and advising California lawmakers on new legislation that could dramatically alter college athletes’ compensation."
Who is a first-generation college student? California colleges, universities can’t agree.
CALMatters, ADAM ECHELMAN: "Across California’s public colleges and universities, one nearly universal admissions factor — first-generation status — is still up to debate because no one can agree how to define it.
The phrase “first-generation college student” is about the education level of a students’ parents and it’s a key predictor of that student’s success in school. For years, California schools have used first-generation college status as a means to boost campus diversity, especially after voters banned affirmative action in 1996. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 29 decision to end race-conscious admissions nationwide, the term is top of mind."
Next, maybe last, big test for California's controversial math framework
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: "The State Board of Education is the SF of students — and 1 in 5 low-income students — met standards in the latest state standardized test.
Critics want California’s college aid program to help poorer students more
The Chronicle, MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN: "California cemented its status among the most affordable states to earn a bachelor’s degree after lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom fulfilled their promise to expand the state’s Middle Class Scholarship program by $227 million in this year’s budget deal.
That overhauled scholarship, which debuted last year, is now an $859 million juggernaut. It’s also a growing slice of the state’s financial aid pie: Between 2016 and 2022, California lawmakers poured roughly $1.4 billion more into grants and scholarships, bringing the state’s total contribution to around $3.5 billion."
Hollywood studios could face two strikes for the first time in 63 years. How did we get here?
LA Times, STACY PERMAN, ANOUSHA SAKOUI: "The year was 1960. An actor named Ronald Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild, which was at the time fired up about residuals over films licensed to or sold to TV.
The result was a strike that lasted March 7 to April 18 and halted movies starring such luminaries as Elizabeth Taylor, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe."
Diaspora Baby: What makes U.S. Latinos so hard to define?
LA Times, SUZY EXPOSITO: "In the spring of 2021, I was riding the high of my first big break. I had just settled into a tiny bungalow in East Hollywood — my first L.A. apartment — when I began fielding calls from a slew of agents, managers and producers about optioning my life story for a script.
At the time, I felt like a hot commodity. The year before, I had become the first Latina to write a Rolling Stone cover story — a pandemic-era profile of Bad Bunny. By January 2021, I published a personal essay in Vogue about growing up tropigoth in 2000s Florida."
