‘Humbling, and a bit worrying’: Scientists fail to fully explain record global heat
LAT's HAYLEY SMITH: "Deadly heat in the Southwest. Hot-tub temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean. Sweltering conditions in Europe, Asia and South America.
That 2023 was Earth’s hottest year on record was in some ways no surprise. For decades, scientists have been sounding the alarm about rapidly rising temperatures driven by humanity’s relentless burning of fossil fuels."
Legislators debate retail theft, fentanyl, Prop. 47 at Capitol Weekly crime conference
Capitol Weekly's BRIAN JOSEPH: "Assemblyman Kevin McCarty said “well over half of the legislature” wants to address retail theft in California and they know it can’t be comprehensively addressed without a ballot measure during a recent Capitol Weekly conference on crime.
“Two things can be true,” said the Sacramento Democrat said during “The Legacy and Future of Prop. 47” panel at Capitol Weekly’s March 21 “A Conference on Crime” at the California Endowment’s Adelante Meeting Room in downtown Sacramento. “We can be proud of some of the work we did … to reduce overcrowding in our state prisons, overly warehousing people for low-level crimes that probably don’t need to be incarcerated for so long."
Exclusive: Head of embattled S.F. nonprofit had a history of mismanaging city funds
The Chronicle's MAGGIE ANGST: "The head of an embattled organization that operates homeless shelters in San Francisco previously led another nonprofit that faced similar financial troubles, raising questions about whether city officials are properly vetting nonprofit service providers.
Patricia Doyle, executive director of the Providence Foundation of San Francisco, was flagged by city officials more than a decade ago after they found the previous nonprofit she ran overspent its contract budgets and billed the city for credit card purchases without supporting documentation. That nonprofit, the Inter-City Family Support and Resource Network, was denied a city contract renewal due to “a substantial degree of fiscal mismanagement,” according to records obtained by the Chronicle."
Biden, at risk with young voters, is racing to shift marijuana policy
LAT's NOAH BIERMAN: "Vice President Kamala Harris looked up from prepared remarks in the White House’s ornate Roosevelt Room this month to make sure the reporters in the room could hear her clearly: “Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.”
Harris’ “marijuana reform roundtable” was a striking reminder of how the politics have shifted for a onetime prosecutor raised in the “Just Say No” era of zero-tolerance drug enforcement. As President Biden seeks badly needed support from young people, his administration is banking on cannabis policy as a potential draw."
Rain, snow return to California. Here’s how long the weather systems could linger
LAT's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "It may be late March, but winter isn’t letting go in California.
At least a chance of rain is in the forecast for each of the next five days thanks to a series of wet weather systems approaching the state. First, a cold front will move across Northern California on Wednesday, reaching the Bay Area in the late afternoon and evening. Isolated showers are expected Thursday before a strong low-pressure system moves close to Central California on Friday."
California farmers could save a lot of water — but their profits would suffer
CALMatters's RACHEL BECKER: "California farmers could save massive amounts of water if they planted less thirsty — but also less lucrative — crops instead of almonds, alfalfa and other water-guzzling crops, according to new research by scientists who used remote sensing and artificial intelligence.
Such a seismic shift in the nation’s most productive agricultural state could cut consumption by roughly 93%, researchers with UC Santa Barbara and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported Monday."
LAO: California Gov. Gavin Newsom could cut vacant state worker jobs to solve budget deficit
Sacramento Bee's MAYA MILLER: "State departments could lose some funding for personnel and operations this fiscal year as California leaders try to whittle down spending and deliver a balanced state budget.
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates in a new report that salaries and benefits for California’s roughly 250,000 state employees cost the state roughly $40 billion a year."
Will California restock its emergency reserve of abortion pills after today’s Supreme Court hearing?
CALMatters's KRISTEN HWANG: "California’s emergency stockpile of abortion pills is totally depleted. But after today’s U.S. Supreme Court hearing over whether to restrict medication abortion, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office says he’s still deciding whether a resupply is necessary.
Last year Newsom announced the state had purchased 250,000 abortion pills after a ruling by a federal judge out of Texas temporarily halted the availability of some medications used for abortions. The state has since distributed its entire stockpile to abortion providers, but conversations about buying more “remain ongoing,” Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for the Newsom administration, said."
FAFSA delays make it difficult for students to finalize college decisions
EdSource's ASHLEY BOLTER, DELILAH BRUMER, KELCIE LEE and ABBIE PHILLIPS: "Waiting for college financial aid offers has been worrying for Kamila Juarez, a high school senior at Grace Davis High School in Modesto. The prolonged timeline of this process, caused by a delayed release of this year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, has added to the uncertainty.
“It’s kind of stressful, just because I know that when I do know how much I get, it’s going to be pretty fast,” Juarez said. “So knowing that I have all this waiting time, I can’t really do much about it besides apply for scholarships and wait to hear back from those scholarships. It’s pretty suspenseful.”"
UC Berkeley parents hired private security, fearing for their kids
LAT's SALVADOR HERNANDEZ, NATHAN SOLIS: "For 17 days, a private security force patrolled UC Berkeley on foot and on bicycles but did not step onto the campus or coordinate with campus police.
The SafeBears ambassadors made their rounds throughout the night and into the early morning, wearing bright yellow uniforms but carrying no weapons. But the highly rated university did not deploy the extra security detail. They were paid for by parents concerned for their children’s safety while attending the college during a spike in crime."
The standoff at Gate 36: Texas sends in the troops to block migrants from seeking asylum
LAT's PATRICK J. MCDONNELL: "There was a time when migrants arriving here would cross the Rio Grande, make their way to a gate in the border fence and turn themselves into federal agents to claim asylum.
That was before Texas Gov. Greg Abbott turned Gate 36 into a militarized zone, fortified by rifle-toting soldiers, a fleet of Humvees and a forest of razor wire glistening in the desert sun."
Intel is the largest company in Israel. Some staff want it to call for a Gaza ceasefire
The Chronicle's CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO: "A group of employees at chipmaking giant Intel, Israel’s largest private employer, are imploring the company to speak out about the humanitarian emergency in Gaza, as famine takes hold and Israel continues to bombard the territory, killing and displacing tens of thousands of people.
Other large tech companies have faced criticism over their ties to Israel in recent months. But Santa Clara-based Intel — which has had a significant presence in Israel for decades — said in December that it was planning to invest billions of dollars more in the country, just months after the deadly attack by Hamas and the launch of Israel’s retaliation in Gaza."
Sacramento mayor remains optimistic about new soccer stadium despite ‘crazy ups and downs’
Sacramento Bee's CHRIS BIDERMAN: "Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is expecting news regarding a new soccer stadium in the city’s downtown Railyards district before the conclusion of his term at the end of the year.
“Through all the crazy ups and downs we have never given up. And the next nine months matter,” Steinberg said Tuesday in his annual State of Downtown address. “I hope, I believe, I’m confident that before the end of the year we will have a major investor to build a beautiful professional soccer stadium in the railyards, expandable for MLS or any other league that sees Sacramento the way we all do.”
The LAPD trains foreign police. Does that enable human rights violations?
LAT's LIBOR JANY: "On graduation day at the LAPD’s academy last summer, they marched with the other recruits, lined up for inspection, and even walked onstage to pose for pictures with then-Chief Michel Moore, like the rest of the class.
And yet, something was off."
Oakland’s downtown is struggling — and experts worry the outlook could be worse than in S.F.
The Chronicle's LAURA WAXMANN: "When Starwood Capital Group spent nearly $500 million on a trio of prominent office towers blocks from Lake Merritt in 2019, the Miami-based private equity firm was one of many institutional investors who saw long-term potential in downtown Oakland. Years of economic growth had paved the way for new construction, a burgeoning office market and an influx of new businesses and residents fleeing the high costs and oversaturation of other Bay Area cities — notably, San Francisco.
But just five years later, the mega deal has imploded."
A controversial AIDS charity seeks to acquire a Skid Row housing portfolio. State officials want to stop it
LAT's LIAM DILLON: "The world’s largest AIDS charity has emerged as the leading bidder to take over a portfolio of homeless housing developments in Skid Row, a move that’s drawn the opposition of state housing officials who’ve called attention to the charity’s troubled tenure as a landlord.
The Hollywood-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation is looking to acquire properties, mostly old single-room occupancy hotels, owned by the Skid Row Housing Trust. The trust collapsed financially a year ago and is in receivership."
