Should Newsom be doing more to protect kids from social media harm?
Capitol Weekly, RICH EHISEN, BRIAN JOSEPH: "During his time as governor, Gavin Newsom has not been shy about using the gubernatorial bully pulpit to prod lawmakers to take up causes he feels passionately about.
Advocates for greater regulation of social media sites like Meta, X, Instagram and Tik Tok hope this is the year he does the same for their cause as well. After all, they say, excessive social media use has been linked to any number of mental health issues in young people, from anxiety and depression to drug abuse."
Paul Mitchell: Changing voter demographics; Plus the Senate Primary (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "Veteran California political data expert Paul Mitchell joins us to talk about his recent CA120 column examining shifting behavior by California’s Latino and Asian voters. Turns out that Asian voters are becoming more Democratic while Latinos move slightly toward the GOP. We also look at California’s confusing Presidential Primary ballot, and the recent Berkeley IGS Poll that found Rep. Barbara Lee in fourth place – behind Republican Steve Garvey – in the race to fill Sen. Feinstein’s seat. Plus, Who Had the Worst Week in CA Politics?"
Why Nikki Haley’s best — and perhaps last — chance to beat Trump is next week in New Hampshire
LA Times, DAVID LAUTER: "With a frigid and anticlimactic Iowa caucus night behind them, the Republican presidential field moved Tuesday to New Hampshire, where Nikki Haley has her best — and perhaps only — chance to prove that Donald Trump can still be beaten in a GOP primary.
The shift means more than a change of scenery: For a brief moment, the spotlight will be on independent voters and non-Trump Republicans, who have only limited sway in most GOP primaries but are a force here and may also play a major role in the November general election."
READ MORE -- A fiery lawyer’s longshot bid to put Donald Trump in the hot seat goes cold -- LA Times, DOUG SMITH
Trump’s victory in Iowa puts him on track for comeback bid, despite criminal charges
LA Times, SEEMA MEHTA, DAVID LAUTER, FAITH E. PINHO: "Former President Trump has passed the first milestone in what his allies hope will be a quick march to a third presidential nomination.
The voting by Iowa Republicans on Monday moved the country closer to a presidential contest unlike any other in U.S. history: A defeated former president facing four criminal cases and multiple felony allegations — including an effort to subvert the last election — taking another shot at the White House."
Four Californians walk into an Iowa caucus
LA Times, FAITH E. PINHO: "The Californians pulled on hats, gloves, scarves and puffy winter coats. Michael Porter covered his face in a warm balaclava and his wife, Natalia, stepped into the boots she had just purchased at Costco. Their 28-year-old daughter, Deborah Stoner, pulled a neon orange Ron DeSantis T-shirt over her head and popped on a matching “DeSantis Precinct Captain” hat. Her husband, Jonathan, wrapped a scarf around his head.
Then they pushed their way out the front door, their breath making puffs in the frigid winter air."
Sacramento NAACP probes prompt questions over county agency’s oversight of COVID meals program
Sacramento Bee, DARRELL SMITH: "Dual inquiries by national NAACP and Sacramento County officials following the suspected mismanagement of a county pandemic-era meals program by Greater Sacramento NAACP branch leaders are raising questions about whether county officials missed signs of potential self-dealing. N
ational NAACP officials are performing a forensic audit of its Greater Sacramento branch following allegations of financial misdeeds by chapter leaders; while county Department of Human Assistance officials have asked to see branch financial records related to the Dine-In 2 program which ended last June."
Widespread rain is in the California forecast this week. Here’s when
The Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "After a weekend storm brought flooding rains and mountain snow to Northern California, nearly the entire Golden State is anticipated to get wet in the coming days. A weak system is forecast to bring about a half-inch of rain to San Francisco and Oakland on Tuesday evening, but stronger storms are on the horizon.
The jet stream, a ribbon of fast-moving air high in the atmosphere, is expected to strengthen throughout the week. Weather models predict the jet stream will point from Japan to California by Friday, allowing several storms to ride its winds across the Pacific Ocean."
String of COVID infections hit my family for 20 days. Has what we know about contagion changed?
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "Yet again, COVID-19 took over my holiday planning, though not in the way I expected. Starting on Christmas Eve and then continuing until Jan. 10, one person from my family was testing positive for COVID-19 every day.
First, it was my nephew, then two days later my brother, then my mother, then me, my husband and — 13 days after the first family infection — my youngest child. Then my husband tested positive again on Jan. 10 (we suspect it’s Paxlovid rebound), which means another five days of isolation."
California needs to do more to ensure teachers can teach kids to read, national study says
EdSource, DIANA LAMBERT: "Despite a newfound national focus on the science of reading, states, including California, aren’t doing enough to support and train teachers to effectively teach literacy, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality.
Thirty-two states have passed laws or implemented policies related to evidence-based reading instruction in the last decade. Despite that, nearly every state could do more to support literacy instruction, according to the report, “Five Policy Actions to Strengthen Implementation of the Science of Reading.”"
Why California community colleges are reluctant to spend more than $500 million in state money
CALMatters, ADAM ECHELMAN: "More than a year after California community colleges received $650 million in state COVID-19 relief money, schools have spent less than 20% of it.
Colleges say they desperately need the money, but that they are reluctant to spend it because of ongoing uncertainty surrounding the state’s budget. Namely, they fear they’ll be asked to give it back."
Parents’ rights groups mobilize as California advances a ban on youth tackle football
CALMatters, RYAN SABALOW: "Anaheim Assemblymember Avelino Valencia is a former tight end for Cal State San Jose who tried out for the NFL. Before entering politics, he was a community college football coach.
“The benefit that football has had in particular to my life, I cannot put a monetary amount on it,” he told his colleagues on the Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Tourism Committee."
She was viciously attacked by a dog at an S.F. beach. Here’s why the city couldn’t do anything about it
The Chronicle, EMILY HOEVEN: "A lifelong dog lover and owner, Allison Hooker never thought that one day, the mere sight of a certain type of dog would cause fear to course through her body.
But now, whenever the 39-year-old real estate agent and standup comedian glimpses a large black pit bull, she’s transported back to the traumatic events of Nov. 9, 2023."
Exclusive: Historic S.F. office tower could become housing and a ‘poster child’ for conversions
The Chronicle, JK DINEEN: "A local developer is pushing ahead with a plan to convert the historic Humboldt Bank Building in San Francisco’s Financial District into apartments, a project officials hope will become a model for how to revive obsolete office buildings to boost the city’s struggling downtown.
Forge Development said it plans to spend $70 million to acquire and convert the 19-story, 100,000-square-foot tower at 785 Market St. into about 120 apartments."
San Jose wage theft proposal considered after Silvery Towers scandal
BANG*Mercury News, GABRIEL GRESCHLER: "A San Jose wage theft rule years in the making after a scandalous residential development was linked to human trafficking and slave labor in the late 2010s is being championed by local labor leaders as a way to ensure that construction workers aren’t cheated out of their earnings.
If passed, the ordinance would prevent developers and contractors from moving forward on San Jose construction projects if they have unresolved violations regarding unpaid wages. The rule will go before the City Council on Jan. 23."
Would you take cash to leave a rent-controlled apartment? Data show it happens often in L.A.
LA Times, PALOMA ESQUIVEL: "In 2022, not long after a new owner bought the Highland Park rental home where Ana Lopez, 66, lives with her husband, the tenants began receiving offers to leave. At first it was about $22,000, she said. One of her neighbors took the offer and left. But Lopez, desperate to stay in the rent-controlled home where she has lived for more than two decades and pays $800 a month, repeatedly turned down the offers, even when the amount increased to $100,000.
After taxes, she felt, the money was not enough to remain long-term in her community, where the average monthly rent is more than $2,000 and the median sale price of a home is more than $1 million."
