California isn’t on track to meet its climate change mandates — and a new analysis says it’s not even close
CALMatters's ALEJANDRO LAZO: "California will fail to meet its ambitious mandates for combating climate change unless the state almost triples its rate of reducing greenhouse gases through 2030, according to a new analysis released today.
After dropping during the pandemic, California’s emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other climate-warming gases increased 3.4% in 2021, when the economy re"
Biden promised California’s gig worker law would go national. Why he can’t get it done
LA Times's NOAH BIERMAN: "San Francisco’s city attorney last month reached the kind of settlement many gig workers have been seeking for years: An app-based hospitality company called Qwick agreed to reclassify thousands of bartenders, servers and dishwashers as employees, giving them back wages and, for the first time, sick pay and other legal benefits.
But advocates’ dream that such settlements would spur new deals for gig workers across the country appears to be on hold. The San Francisco settlement, the first of its kind, applies only to Qwick’s workers in California, which has one of the most aggressive gig worker protections in the country."
Newsom’s stealthy divide and conquer Delta tunnel campaign
Capitol Weekly's BARBARA BARRIGAN-PARRILLA:"Gavin Newsom’s stealthy divide and conquer tactics are pushing marginalized communities against each other in a war over water. Newsom, his administration and State Water Contractors are appropriating environmental justice language to sway public opinion in Southern California about the Delta Conveyance Project – also referred to as the Delta tunnel. They argue that the Delta tunnel is essential for Southern California’s disadvantaged communities, yet misrepresent the harm the project continues to have on the tribal communities along California’s major rivers and on communities in the Delta watershed.
Pitting disadvantaged communities from different regions of the state against each other is a cynical strategy, and is all the more egregious when considering it’s done in the interest of serving only one sector of California’s economy that these players have deemed all-important – special interests in Southern California and portions of Silicon Valley. In this “Hunger Games” narrative for California water management, the areas with water resources will be sacrificed for the benefit of those with privilege, wealth, and power."
How cryptocurrency executives helped decide the California Senate primary
LA Times's LAURA J. NELSON: "In the days before the California Senate primary, political ads calling Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) a fake, an actor and a hypocrite inundated social media platforms and television programs.
The $10-million bill for the advertisements, which were designed to bump Porter out of the race for a rare open Senate seat, was footed by a super PAC called Fairshake that is funded by cryptocurrency companies and their executives."
Evan Low surpasses Joe Simitian in race to replace Rep. Anna Eshoo; leads by 59 votes
BANG*Mercury News's GRACE HASE: "Assemblymember Evan Low on Wednesday jumped ahead of Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian in the race to replace U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo as the two battle it out for the second spot in the November general election.
Though Low had fewer votes than Simitian on Election Day, he has picked up steam over the last week as more mail-in ballots have come in — particularly in Santa Clara County. Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo locked in his spot earlier this week in the runoff for the Congressional District 16 seat, which represents the area from Pacifica in the north to Los Gatos in the south. "
Santa Ana winds will whip across California, with power outages and downed trees likely
LA Times's GRACE TOOHEY: "As a strong, cold weather system moves south across the Great Basin, much of California will be lashed by gusty, dangerous winds that are likely to down trees and knock out power.
The National Weather Service issued wind advisories — including high wind warnings — from late Wednesday through Friday stretching from the northern Sierra to the Orange County coast, including the Sacramento Valley, the Mojave Desert, the mountains in Los Angeles County and much of the Central Coast. Peak winds are expected to reach 30 mph to 65 mph Thursday, with some gusts hitting 100 mph, forecasters predicts."
San Francisco dumps large amounts of sewage into creek during storms, environmental group says
The Chronicle's TARA DUGGAN: "When heavy rain overwhelms wastewater treatment plants in San Francisco, causing stormwater to overflow onto streets and into the bay, sewage is an unfortunate part of the mix.
After heavy rain, the largest recipient of the potent brew of stormwater and sewage in the city is Mission Creek – a channel to the bay that is home to houseboats, walking trails and a kayak launch. At Mission Creek, Islais Creek, another channel at India Basin, and a few locations in between, the city discharges 1.2 billion gallons of “combined sewer discharges” in a typical year, according to the environmental group S.F. Baykeeper, which has notified the city it intends to sue over how such discharges impact the environment."
Amid faculty objections, UC considers limiting what faculty can say on university websites
EdSource's MICHAEL BURKE: "In a move faculty say infringes on their academic freedom, the University of California will soon consider a policy restricting them from using university websites to make opinionated statements. Such statements have come under scrutiny since last fall, when some faculty publicly criticized Israel over its war in Gaza.
The proposed policy, which goes to the system’s board of regents for a vote next week, would prevent faculty and staff from sharing their “personal or collective opinions” via the “main landing page” or homepages of department websites, according to a new draft of the policy. Faculty would be free to share opinions elsewhere on the university’s websites, so long as there is a disclaimer that their viewpoint doesn’t represent the university or their department."
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is assembling an investor group to buy TikTok"
LA Times's JEBBY JARVIE: "As Congress weighs a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app TikTok, former Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said Thursday he is assembling an investor group that will try to purchase the China-based company.
“This should be owned by U.S. businesses,” Mnuchin told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday morning. “There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China.”
Multimillion-dollar battle rages in Santa Cruz area over fence that blocks beach path
The Chronicle, MEGAN FAN MUNCE: "Annie Vaudagna loves to spend sunny days in Aptos sitting on her beachfront patio or leaving her door open to hear the crash of waves.
But it’s an experience she has enjoyed far less since Santa Cruz County began arguing that her patio, along with those of her neighbors, is actually part of a public walkway."
S.F. hit with another lawsuit over drug crisis, alleging Tenderloin is a 'containment zone'
The Chronicle's MAGGIE ANGST: "Once again, San Francisco is being sued — and may be forced to take action — over the conditions in its most beleaguered neighborhood.
A group of Tenderloin residents and businesses plan to file a federal lawsuit Thursday accusing the city of tolerating open-air drug markets and crowded encampments, a reflection of longstanding frustrations over street conditions in the area."
Haunted by legacy of police misconduct, Oakland grapples for answers to street crime surge
LA Times's JAMES RAINEY: Along gracious, leafy College Avenue, you can luxuriate with a traditional Thai massage, slip into an artisanal cocktail at an Italian spot or claim a grain-free treat for your canine companion at a charming Mediterranean cafe.
Privileged Rockridge hardly seems the sort of neighborhood that would generate grist for the crime blotter. But that changed last year, when one of Oakland’s more upscale enclaves suffered a string of retail break-ins and armed robberies and, most spectacularly, a series of full-frontal assaults on a neighborhood liquor store."
Homicides in the biggest Bay Area cities declined for the first time in four years in 2023
The Chronicle's DAVID HERNANDEZ and SUSIE NEILSON: "After seeing homicides rise for four straight years amid the upheaval of the pandemic, the Bay Area’s biggest cities together recorded a 4% decrease in 2023, a welcome reversal that police officials and community leaders hope will continue.
Killings across the region’s 15 most populous cities dropped from a total of 305 in 2022 to 292 last year, according to a Chronicle analysis of police data."
