California board blasts EV charger company, then approves its $200-million plan anyway
LA Times, RUSS MITCHELL: "After ripping into Electrify America’s latest public EV charger spending plan for its perceived inadequacies, members of the California Air Resources Board approved it unanimously.
“I want to get the money out,” board member Davina Hurt said."
What’s happened since California cut home solar payments? Demand has plunged 80%
CALMatters, JULIE CART: "Weldon Kennedy and his wife make it their business to keep up with California’s fast-changing clean energy landscape. So when the climate-conscious couple began planning to add a solar system to the roof of their Oakland home, they took their time to talk to installers and shop around for the best deal.
But then, last spring, he heard that a neighbor had decided to accelerate their solar project. Other homeowners in the area were rushing to get in line, too."
California state worker pay database updated with 2023 wages, overtime for civil servants
Sacramento Bee, PHILLIP REESE, MAYA MILLER: "The Sacramento Bee’s State Worker pay database has been updated with data for 2023.
The state paid roughly 266,000 civil service employees a total of about $24.4 billion in the 2023 calendar year, according to updated pay data from the State Controller’s Office. That includes full-time, part-time and intermittent workers, and excludes employees at the California State University and the University of California."
New California ruling targets pension ‘spiking’ as retirees appeal for relief
CALMatters, ADAM ASHTON: "A California Supreme Court decision three years ago was supposed to be the final word on former Gov. Jerry Brown’s marquee pension limit law, but judges are still sorting it out — and making decisions that could mean thousands of dollars a year to government retirees.
Last week a state appeals court affirmed a Ventura County Employees’ Retirement Association’s decision undoing a perk that had allowed government workers to increase their pensions in a way banned by Brown’s 2013 law."
New, expanded child tax credits are back — and they may actually pass Congress
LA Times, DAVID LAUTER: "Congress, which has been setting records for a lack of accomplishments, may be on the verge of actually doing something big: passing a bill that could lift half a million kids out of poverty by next year.—
The proposal, which the House could vote on as soon as next week, involves an expanded tax credit for parents of children 16 and younger. If that rings a bell, congratulations, you’ve been paying attention. The proposed credit is a scaled-down version of a plan that passed during President Biden‘s first year in office, but only lasted one year."
IRS’ free program to file taxes is coming soon. Here’s what Californians need to know
The Chronicle, KATHLEEN PENDER: "Some California taxpayers with relatively simple 2023 returns will be able to try out the new Internal Revenue Service Direct File program starting in mid-March, the IRS announced Thursday.
An IRS official demonstrated it for the media and revealed new details about the pilot program, which will let certain taxpayers in 12 participating states file their taxes directly with the IRS for free rather than using commercial tax preparers, tax-prep software or free volunteer-staffed sites such as AARP Foundation Tax-Aide or the IRS-sponsored VITA."
‘Reality is setting in’: Possibility of a Trump return jolts Dem groups into action
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Watching Donald Trump virtually wrap up the GOP nomination early is good news to an unlikely set: organizations devoted to defeating him.
They are seeing Trump’s re-emergence jolt their supporters to stop doom-scrolling about a second Trump term and get back on the streets to do something to stop it. They know that President Joe Biden is unlikely to defeat Trump unless Democrats do what they do best: talk to voters in person."
‘I lost everything.’ Former L.A. Councilman Jose Huizar seeks leniency in corruption case
LA Times, DAKOTA SMITH, DAVID ZAHNISER: "Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar, awaiting sentencing in a sprawling criminal case, asked a judge for leniency on Thursday, saying “I lost everything.”
In a letter to U.S. District Court Judge John F. Walter, Huizar apologized to his family, his former constituents and the city, saying he has paid a huge price — losing his reputation and his ability to provide for his family, harming his children’s future and their mental health."
Mayor Breed is taking credit for the dip in S.F. crime last year. What’s behind the trends?
The Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: "Mayor London Breed is touting a drop in crime in San Francisco as she pushes a police ballot measure in March and looks ahead to her own re-election bid in November.
With one survey showing that San Francisco residents feel less safe than at any point in more than 20 years, Breed is hoping to convince voters that she’s making progress on public safety, even while acknowledging that the city still has a long way to go."
S.F. City Hall corruption: Another employee charged in alleged kickback scheme
The Chronicle, ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH: "A San Francisco city employee was charged Thursday with helping embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from a program meant to fund neighborhood improvements, prosecutors said.
Stanley Ellicott, a 38-year-old manager in San Francisco’s Department of Human Resources, is charged with eight felonies, including one count of misappropriation of public money, six counts of aiding and abetting a financial conflict of interest in a government contract, and one count of receiving stolen property."
Did legal marijuana help or harm Californians? Here’s what the data says
BANG*Mercury News, LISA M. KRIEGER: "When California’s cannabis shops opened their doors six years ago this month, they inaugurated the world’s largest market for legalized recreational marijuana.
This historic step would transform the state, predicted supporters and opponents. Californians would get justice and gobs of money – or fall victim to reefer madness."
California weather set to see huge swings, ending in atmospheric river storm
The Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "Huge weather swings are coming to California over the next week, from record-setting temperatures to a potentially strong atmospheric river storm.
This weekend will likely be the warmest since November throughout much of the Bay Area. Highs on Sunday and Monday are expected to be in the upper 60s to mid-70s. Parts of Southern California could hit the upper 70s."
Copper recycling is critical for a green economy and the environment (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, BENJAMAIN ALLEN & ROBERT WIECKOWSKI: "Historically, “copper” pennies used to be 95 percent copper. Now they are just 2 percent. Why? Copper is now too valuable to be used to make pennies, millions of which are simply thrown away or lost by people every year due to their low cash value. Due to its high conductivity, copper is needed for renewable-energy technologies, energy-efficient systems, and sustainable infrastructure, making it essential for our societal transition to cleaner energy and reduced carbon emissions.
Copper is a finite resource and is in short supply. All the copper mines in the world – which are concentrated mainly in just seven countries, including the U.Ss – can’t produce enough copper ore to meet the current demand for this valuable metal. Electrification is predicted to increase annual copper demand to 36.6 million metric tons by 2031, compared to 25.3 million tons in 2021, while the supply of mined copper ore is projected to be only 30.2 million tons by 2031, leaving a 6.4-million-ton shortfall between supply and demand."
Citing risks, UC won’t hire its immigrant students without legal status, work permits
LA Times, TERESA WATANABE: "University of California regents declined Thursday to move forward on a bold plan to hire immigrant students who lack legal work authorization, crushing the hopes of thousands of young people seeking to escape precarious futures without adequate access to jobs and research opportunities.
UC President Michael V. Drake told regents he would not recommend a proposed plan to challenge federal law barring employment of those without legal status because the potential consequences were too risky to UC students, families and staff. UC students could be subject to deportation, employees could risk civil and criminal prosecution if they knowingly participate in hiring practices deemed impermissible under federal law, and the university could lose federal contracts and grants, he said."
READ MORE -- University of California won’t allow hiring of undocumented students -- EdSource, MICHAEL BURKE; UC rejects proposal to allow campuses to hire undocumented students -- CALMatters, MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN
‘My confidence grew’: LAUSD student board member works to elevate Latino, student voices
EdSource, MALLIKA SESHADRI: "After hours of test taking last May, Karen Ramirez perked up when she saw a district leader and a camera crew walking onto her high school campus.
She had a hunch good news awaited."
How S.F.’s Embarcadero could be transformed by this $13.5 billion proposal
The Chronicle, JOHN KING: "If federal planners have their way, and San Francisco can raise its share of the money, the city’s bay shoreline is on the verge of becoming a radically different place.
Much of the Embarcadero would be seven feet higher than it is now. So would the Ferry Building — but only after massive construction likely to force the iconic landmark to be closed for months or years."
Levi’s announces plan to lay off up to 15% of global workforce in 2024
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Levi Strauss & Co. is set to reduce its global corporate workforce by up to 15% in the first half of this year.
The San Francisco company disclosed the impending layoffs during its fourth-quarter earnings call to investors on Thursday, the same day it announced its $170 million commitment to maintain its sponsorship of the San Francisco 49ers’ stadium."
How big is California’s homelessness crisis? Inside the massive, statewide effort to find out
CALMatters, MARISA KENDALL: "Thousands of volunteers fanned out across California this week, peering down alleyways, into parked cars and along creek beds in a mass effort to count the state’s homeless population.
The federally mandated census, done every two years and dubbed the point-in-time count, serves as the main framework Californians use to understand their state’s homelessness crisis. The data it produces influence everything from allocations of state funding, to local policy decisions, to the way politicians talk about homelessness in campaign speeches."
Sacramento County drops shelter plans after intended homeless residents are lost in sweeps
Sacramento Bee, ARIANE LANGE: "Sacramento County has scuttled plans to open a $1.3 million sanctioned parking lot for 30 homeless people after the city displaced dozens of individuals the county intended to serve through “sweeps” and then surprised the county with an announcement that it would open a different shelter not far from the parking lot.
The lack of communication between the city and the county is a large factor in the sudden reversal. County spokeswoman Janna Haynes wrote on Wednesday, “The opening of the City’s Safe Ground wasn’t something we had planned on when initially applying for this grant and, in fact, did not know of this location until it was announced in early January.”
S.F. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins fired him. Now he’s running against her
The Chronicle, DAVID HERNANDEZ: "Ryan Khojasteh, an Alameda County prosecutor, plans to announce Friday that he will run for San Francisco district attorney in the November election, kicking off a campaign to unseat incumbent Brooke Jenkins, who fired Khojasteh amid a wider staff purge when she took office in 2022.
In an interview with the Chronicle, Khojasteh, 30, said he would present himself to voters as a fair prosecutor intent on remedying what’s broken in the criminal justice system. Khojasteh said he would file paperwork to officially declare himself a candidate on Friday."
Sorry, speeders: New bill would require speed-limiting devices in California cars
LA Times, NOAH GOLDBERG: "What if you could not speed that much?
That’s the premise of a new bill in the California Senate that would require vehicles sold in the state to be equipped with speed governors to limit how fast they can go."
Top U.N. court rejects demand for Gaza cease-fire but cautions Israel on its war conduct
LA Times, KATE LINTHICUM: "The United Nations’ top court Friday ordered Israel to take steps to limit death and destruction in its war in Gaza, but stopped short of demanding a cease-fire.
The International Court of Justice issued the ruling in a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. South Africa had asked the court to issue an emergency decree ordering Israel to halt its military campaign until the case is decided."
