L.A. County aims to collect billions more gallons of local water by 2045
LA Times, JACLYN COSGROVE: "Over the next two decades, Los Angeles County will collect billions more gallons in water from local sources, especially storm and reclaimed water, shifting from its reliance on other region’s water supplies as the effects of climate change make such efforts less reliable and more expensive.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday adopted the county’s first water plan, which outlines how America’s largest county must stop importing 60% of its water and pivot over the next two decades to sourcing 80% of its water locally by 2045."
Experts Expound: The impact of the budget shortfall
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "It is shaping up to be a very tough budget year in Sacramento, with the Legislative Analyst’s Office predicting the Golden State could be facing a $58 billion budget shortfall. With that in mind, we posed the following question to our panel of experts and let them expound:
How will the LAO’s projection of a $58 billion budget shortfall impact the upcoming legislative session?
“The projected budget deficit won’t constrain the Legislature, it always believes there’s extra money under a mattress somewhere to fund its spending bill. But Newsom’s been pretty brutal about kayoing Democratic-sponsored legislation that would cost money he thinks the state doesn’t have, so I guess he’ll be wearing out his veto pen next year.”"
Kamala Harris just broke this VP record, topping John Calhoun and John Adams
The Chronicle, SHIRA STEIN: "Kamala Harris just broke through another barrier: She has now cast the most tie-breaking votes of any vice president in history.
In voting to advance the nomination of Loren AliKhan as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday, Harris has cast 32 such votes in just two and a half years. The previous record-holders — John Calhoun and John Adams — each served about eight years."
Gavin Newsom won't hold in-person tree lighting, citing protests
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom opted to make the Capitol’s annual tree-lighting ceremony virtual amid safety concerns over protests, his office said Tuesday, prompting harsh criticism from the organizers of a pro-Palestinian rally.
“As we continue to see protests across the country impacting the safety of events of all scales — and for the safety and security of all participating members and guests including children and families — the ceremony this year will be virtual,” Newsom spokesperson Omar Rodriguez said in a statement."
Supervisors appoint David Villanueva as Sacramento County’s new executive to succeed Edwards
Sacramento Bee, ARIANE LANGE: "The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors appointed Assistant County Executive David Villanueva to serve as the new county executive leading 13,000 employees. He will replace Ann Edwards, who is set to retire in January.
Villanueva will take up the reins Jan. 28. He began working for the county in 2008, in the Department of Technology. He became assistant county executive in May after serving as the deputy county executive for the Administrative Services Agency since 2011."
With CIRM funds, UCD stem cell ‘fairy godmother’ leads fight against spina bifida
Capitol Weekly, DAVID JENSEN: "The California stem cell agency had a $9 million moment last week that involved a “stem cell fairy godmother,” two English bulldogs named Darla and Spanky, four lambs and a baby from Texas named Robbie.
While it took the agency only moments to hand out the $9 million, it took the fairy godmother more than 25 years to make it happen."
California threw a $50 million lifeline to a bankrupt hospital. It’s scrambling to reopen
CALMatters, ANA B. IBARRA: "California’s special emergency fund for financially distressed hospitals probably would not have passed the Legislature this year had it not been for the failure of a rural hospital off Highway 99 in the San Joaquin Valley.
The bankruptcy and closure of Madera Community Hospital spurred lawmakers to allocate $300 million in loans for it and other troubled medical facilities. The state began doling out the money this fall, earmarking up to $57 million for Madera alone."
California, Colorado looking to put unused prescriptions in the hands of low-income patients
KFF Health News, KATE RUDER: "On a recent November evening, Angie Phoenix waited at a pharmacy here in Colorado’s second-largest city to pick up prescription drugs to treat her high blood pressure and arm seizures.
But this transaction was different from typical exchanges that occur every day at thousands of pharmacies across the United States. The cost to Phoenix, 50, who lives in the nearby community of Falcon and has no health insurance, was nothing."
COVID, flu, RSV on the rise in California. Is another ‘tripledemic’ coming?
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II: "Respiratory virus season is ramping up in California, prompting health officials to renew their calls for residents to get vaccinated in hopes of reducing potential pressure on health systems across the state.
While conditions so far are nowhere near as daunting as last autumn — when hospitals labored under the strain of a “tripledemic” spawned by wide simultaneous circulation of COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus — the transmittable trio is on the rise."
‘We failed her.’ Santa Clara County social workers publicly rebuke boss, agency over handling of high-risk kids like baby Phoenix
BANG*Mercury News, JULIA PRODIS SULEK, SCOOTY NICKERSON: "In an extraordinary show of force, Santa Clara County social workers spoke out against their own agency Tuesday during a county Board of Supervisors meeting, criticizing leaders for “family preservation” practices that left Phoenix Castro in the care of her father despite drug problems and other red flags that led to the three-month-old San Jose baby’s death.
More than two dozen social workers and their supervisors shared emotional accounts of being hamstrung in protecting children from drug-addicted parents by policies that emphasize keeping families together over removing abused or neglected children from their parents. Some broke down in tears."
‘Gut punch’: Huge, rare creature found dead in crab trap off S.F. coast
The Chronicle, CLARE FONSTEIN: "A highly endangered turtle from a species that produces the world’s largest turtles has turned up dead in abandoned crab gear off the San Francisco coast, sparking a renewed spotlight on Dungeness crab fishing shortly before the commercial season is due to start.
The adult turtle was entangled and killed in the abandoned gear near the Farallon Islands, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) confirmed late Monday."
After Times investigation, L.A. County seeks to add kennels, review policies at animal shelters
LA Times, ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN, ALEXANDRA E. PETRI: "The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is seeking to add kennels to the Palmdale Animal Care Center and make them more accessible to visitors following a Times investigation into rising dog euthanasia rates in the Antelope Valley.
At a meeting of the board Tuesday, Supervisors Kathryn Barger, whose district includes Palmdale and Lancaster, and Hilda Solis brought forward a motion asking that the county’s Department of Animal Care and Control look into building temporary kennels and search for other facilities that could be used to house more dogs."
250,000 birds euthanized due to avian flu in Sonoma County, state of emergency declared
The Chronicle, JORDAN PARKER: "The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday declared a state of emergency after approximately 250,000 birds were euthanized following the discovery of a “highly pathogenic” avian flu at two commercial poultry farms in the county.
County officials said the emergency declaration would provide emergency services to businesses affected by the outbreak and that remaining birds at both farms were under quarantine. The detection of the virus was announced Friday by local and state agencies. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported that the two poultry farms affected were Sunrise Farms and Reichardt Duck Farm, both located near Petaluma."
Early literacy funding raises reading scores of California’s lowest performing schools
EdSource, CARA NIXON, JOHN FENSTERWALD: "Research by Stanford University found that 75 of the lowest-performing California elementary schools that received funding from an out-of-court settlement made significant progress on third-grade state Smarter Balanced tests this year.
The results indicate that the $50 million the schools received for effective reading instruction in the primary grades carried over to third grade after two years of funding."
Lawsuit intensifies spotlight on free speech controversies at UC Berkeley
EdSource, KAREN D'SOUZA: "Long revered as the birthplace of the free speech movement in the ’60s, UC Berkeley now finds itself at the center of a fractious debate about First Amendment protections and religious intolerance amid the unfolding tragedy in the Middle East.
Tempers are running high on all sides amid the bloodshed in the Middle East, which has already claimed thousands of lives, exposing ideological rifts between students and professors at the law school, spurring a discrimination lawsuit against the UC system and setting off a broader a debate over who gets to define the boundaries of First Amendment protections, a drama heightened by Berkeley’s legendary status as the heart of the ’60s student protest movement."
Leaked Amazon memo shows efforts to shape public opinion on warehouses, critics say
SCNG*The Press Enterprise, JEFF HORSEMAN: "Inland Empire lawmakers and a warehouse worker advocacy group are condemning what the group says is a leaked memo that details Amazon’s efforts to buy influence through charitable donations and oppose legislation deemed hostile to the global retailer’s interests.
The eight-page memo also reveals Amazon’s plans to no longer donate to the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum over a display of artwork showing an Amazon facility ablaze."
CalMatters adds six new board members
CALMatters, KATE LOOBY: "CalMatters is proud to announce the addition of six outstanding leaders to its Board of Directors who will share their skills, experience, and expertise with California’s statewide nonprofit newsroom.
“It’s gratifying that these wonderful Californians care so deeply about quality journalism, said John Boland, who chairs the CalMatters board. “I’m pleased to be able to serve with them.”"
Alameda supe: A’s are leaving, Fisher owes $45 million for Coliseum purchase
The Chronicle, SCOTT OSTLER: "John Fisher is about to get some bad news.
In the next day or two, the owner of the Oakland Athletics will be getting a phone call from Alameda County Counsel Donna Ziegler. On instructions of David Haubert, vice president of the five-person county Board of Supervisors, Ziegler will inform Fisher that he owes the county $45 million by the middle of May."
Exclusive: S.F. supervisor wants to ban ‘dangerous’ landlords from buying rental properties in city
The Chronicle, LAURA WAXMANN: "Can San Francisco block landlords with track records of endangering their tenants from buying or owning property in the city? A San Francisco supervisor is exploring the idea.
Furious about the recent sale of a residential building in his district to a San Francisco landlord with a problematic past, District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston announced Tuesday that he plans to propose legislation banning “dangerous” landlords from owning or operating rental properties in the city."
S.F. supervisors pass housing reform package that protects rent-controlled units, pre-1923 homes
The Chronicle, ALDO TOLEDO: "As San Francisco faces a looming state housing deadline that threatens local control and state funding, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a housing reform package that includes protections for rent-controlled units and historic buildings.
The board’s decision comes a week after San Francisco missed its first deadline to reform its residential development rules under a mandate laid out in an Oct. 25 letter from the California Department of Housing and Community Development."
Santa Clara County approves six affordable housing projects with some of the last of Measure A funds
BANG*Mercury News, GRACE HASE: "Santa Clara County is adding 716 new affordable homes to its housing stock, largely using Measure A money, leaving the county down to its last dollars from the 2016 affordable housing bond.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved six new developments — one in Palo Alto, two in Mountain View and three in San Jose — that will house up to 2,762 residents once completed."
East Bay jet pilot indicted over in-flight sabotage incident, but not for attempted murder
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "A grand jury in Oregon indicted an East Bay pilot for Alaska Airlines on charges of endangering an aircraft and recklessly endangering others during an October flight when he allegedly tried to shut off the plane’s engines, prosecutors said Tuesday, but did not indict the pilot for attempted murder.
Joseph David Emerson, 44, of Pleasant Hill, who remains in custody at the Multnomah County Detention Center, is scheduled for arraignment at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 7 on the indictment charges of endangering an aircraft and 83 counts of recklessly endangering another person, the Multnomah County District Attorney said."
Nicolas Cage says he’s quitting movies. Here’s why
The Chronicle, G. ALLEN JOHNSON: "Nicolas Cage, one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, says he is planning to quit the movie business very soon.
Speaking on the red carpet at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts before this year’s SFFilm Awards Night on Monday, Dec. 4, Cage admitted he’s assessing his life ahead of his 60th birthday on Jan. 7."
