‘Forever chemicals’: Water supplies throughout California will exceed new national limits
CALMatters's RACHEL BECKER, JOHN OISBORN D'AGOSTINO: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today unveiled the first nationwide limits on dangerous “forever chemicals” in drinking water, setting standards that will have sweeping, costly effects throughout California.
Several thousand water systems around the country are expected to exceed the new limits for the chemicals, which have been linked to an array of diseases — including cancer and heart disease — and have contaminated people and animals worldwide, including newborns."
Sacramento Area Sewer District enters $140M contract to build biogas energy plant near Elk Grove
Sacramento Bee's MARCUS D. SMITH: "A renewable energy operator will soon begin development and construction on a nearly $140 million facility near Elk Grove that is expected to be complete in 2026.
Ameresco, Inc., which describes itself as a cleantech integrator specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy, announced this week in a news release that it would contract with the Sacramento Area Sewer District to build a renewable energy facility that uses biogas, or methane, to generate electricity and heat."
Aaron Peskin has long been S.F. Chinatown’s supervisor. Do residents support his mayoral bid?
The Chronicle's KO LYN CHEANG: "Aaron Peskin walked around Chinatown during a recent afternoon pointing out all the ways he’s influenced the historic neighborhood during his 17-year political career.
“I helped get the funding for that,” he said, pointing at a dragon mosaic mural on Wentworth Alley."
California Assembly Democrats unveil plan to curb retail theft
LAT's ANABEL SOSA: "Two approaches are gaining traction as California confronts the issue of retail theft, which was propelled to the top of the state’s political agenda this year by viral videos of smash-and-grab robberies and the proliferation of drugstores locking up basic goods.
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) on Tuesday threw his weight behind a package of bills that aim to thwart theft by, among other proposals, allowing restraining orders to keep people who steal away from certain stores and letting prosecutors aggregate the value of thefts across multiple incidents in determining criminal charges."
Special Episode: A Conference on Crime, Panel 3 – The Legacy and Future of Prop. 47 (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly's STAFF: "This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Crime, which was held in Sacramento on Thursday, March 21, 2024
This is PANEL 3 – THE LEGACY AND FUTURE OF PROP. 47
Panelists: Asm. Kevin McCarty; Lenore Anderson, Alliance for Safety and Justice; Marc Beaart, Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office; Sheriff Jim Cooper
Moderated by Emily Hoeven, San Francisco Chronicle"
Latino representation too important to be forsaken for company profits
Capitol Weekly's DOLORES HUERTA: "It was a letter I never thought I would have to write. But given deceptive tactics by a group called Groundswell, funded by discredited water company Cadiz, to wrongly use my name and image in their lobbying strategy, my duty to speak out was clear.
In January, I sent a letter to California lawmakers pushing back on both these entities for misusing my likeness to enable their mission to prey on desert groundwater. I denounced Groundswell as a “corporate front group” and its sponsor Cadiz as “environmentally harmful” and promoting policies that are “destructive.”"
Bay Area warmup could bring first 80-degree day of the year to these cities
The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "The Northern California warming trend will continue Wednesday, as many inland cities approach or exceed 80 degrees.
A high-pressure system will reach its peak strength over the California coast, meaning Wednesday will be the warmest day of the week in San Francisco. Highs in downtown San Francisco should reach the lower 70s, while the coast will be in the mid- to upper 60s. Oakland’s forecast high is 75 degrees, while San Jose, Fremont, Dublin, Walnut Creek, Concord and Fairfield have a good chance of reaching 80."
Polling shows Las Vegas voters oppose funding A’s new ballpark, but team lobbyists are fighting to keep the issue off the ballot
BANG*Mercury News's JASON MASTRODONATO: "If Nevada voters get a say, it’s not looking good for Oakland A’s owner John Fisher.
An Emerson College poll conducted last week revealed that 52% of Las Vegas voters oppose public money going towards the A’s ballpark, while only 32% support and 17% remain undecided."
Upscale Westside L.A. neighborhoods hit hard by State Farm home insurance cancellations
LAT's RUBEN VIVES: "Thousands of Californians who won’t see their home insurance renewed by State Farm this summer are homeowners in Los Angeles County, with some upscale Westside neighborhoods hit hard, according to the insurer’s recent filings with the Department of Insurance.
A majority of the insurer’s customers in neighborhoods in West Los Angeles as well as in or near the Santa Monica Mountains including Bel-Air, Pacific Palisades and Woodland Hills are going to lose their coverage."
California COVID hospitalizations and deaths hit record lows
The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI: "California is witnessing a dramatic decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. Following a relatively subdued winter surge, the latest statistics released by the state provide a glimmer of hope as the pandemic enters its fifth year.
The most recent California Department of Public Health data, published Friday, reveals that hospitalizations due to COVID-19 reached approximately 7 patients per 100,000 residents in early January, only to plummet to a historic low of 1.5 per 100,000 by March 30."
California clinics brace for fallout from Arizona abortion ban
CALMatters's DEBORAH BRENNAN: "Planned Parenthood clinics in California are bracing for an uptick in patients crossing the state line for abortions, after the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a nearly total prohibition on the procedure.
On Tuesday the court effectively banned abortion by reinstating an 1864 law that forbids the procedure except to save a mother’s life, without exemptions for rape or incest."
Why one Sacramento high school has HHS chief confident in the future of health care workforce
Sacramento Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON: "At Rio Americano High School, dozens of students like sophomores Liliana Lettini and Derek Gale are training to get certified as medical students upon graduation.
It’s programs like these that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said are preparing young people for jobs in health care."
Unions allege LAUSD is misusing arts education funds
EdSource's MALLIKA SESHADRI: "High school junior Maya Shtangrud may have given up on her childhood dream of learning to play the violin — but now, serving as an arts justice fellow at the ACLU of Southern California, she remains steadfast in her advocacy for arts education.
Like many, she hoped Proposition 28 — a ballot measure passed by roughly 65% of voters in November 2022 to allocate about $1 billion toward arts education each year — would lead to greater opportunities for her fellow students."
The U.S. might ban TikTok. Record labels are cutting ties. What’s music’s Plan B?
LAT's AUGUST BROWN: "IIn November 2022, Isimeme Udu uploaded the song that changed her life. The singer, who performs as Hemlocke Springs, was stressing about her medical studies at Dartmouth when she dropped her synth-pop track “Girlfriend” onto TikTok. Its lo-fi élan immediately found an audience.
Within hours, Grimes commented with high praise, and fans clamored for the new “awkward Black girl anthem,” as many described it. Millions of plays later, Udu finished her degree and became a touring sensation — she opened for Muna at the Greek Theatre and, this summer, will open Doja Cat’s European arena tour."
How a small rural California road became the latest wine battleground in Napa Valley
The Chronicle's JESS LANDER: "A few miles north of downtown St. Helena, the narrow Lodi Lane connects Napa Valley’s main thoroughfares, Highway 29 and Silverado Trail. Just three-quarters of a mile long, the oak-and-vineyard-dotted road features a rusting, one-lane truss bridge over the Napa River that’s prone to flooding. (A bright-yellow traffic sign reads, “If flooded, turn around, don’t drown.”) It’s not uncommon to find a tractor plodding down the patchwork pavement.
Now, some Lodi Lane residents fear a pair of development proposals will jeopardize their coveted pastoral lifestyle. So they’re taking on two of the most powerful entities in California wine: the publicly traded Duckhorn Portfolio and Jackson Family Wines, which owns more than 25 wine brands in the state."
Environmentalists call this project ‘the worst ridgeline development in Northern California’ — and just got it delayed
BANG*Mercury News's JUDITH PRIEVE: "Fearing the development of a major ridgeline just outside Pittsburg, environmentalists are hoping to convince local officials and the developer to create an open-space buffer between them.
Twice approved by the Pittsburg City Council, the Discovery Builders’ Faria project proposes to build some 1,500 homes in the hills southwest of Pittsburg overlooking Thurgood Marshall Regional Park in Concord, where the former Naval Weapons Station was once located."
California fails to track its homelessness spending or results, a new audit says
CALMatters's MARISA KENDALL: "Exactly how much is California spending to combat homelessness — and is it working?
It turns out, no one knows. That’s the result of a much-anticipated statewide audit released Tuesday, which calls into question the state’s ability to track and analyze its spending on homelessness services."
Meth, death and abuse: Inside the private security forces patrolling California’s homeless
CALMatters's LAUREN HEPLER: "Wendy Powitzky thought she’d finally found a way off the street in Orange County.
The former hairdresser had spent years sleeping in her car and parks around Anaheim, near the suburban salons where she used to work. One day a social worker told Powitzky about an old piano shop recently converted into a shelter.
San Jose: Excessive force trial for racist text cop on hold pending 9th Circuit appeal
BANG*Mercury News's ROBERT SALONGA: "An excessive force lawsuit for an ex-San Jose cop — who infamously resigned in the face of a racist texting scandal — is on hold after he appealed a federal judge’s decision to greenlight the case for a trial that was scheduled to begin next week.
Mark McNamara petitioned the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to challenge Judge Nathanael Cousins’ refusal to grant qualified immunity to the former San Jose Police Department officer. That defense, if allowed, would have protected McNamara from civil litigation in his on-duty shooting of plaintiff K’aun Green in 2022."
County approves $229M six-story parking garage at Sacramento airport. When will it be built?
Sacramento Bee's ROSALIO AHUMADA: "Sacramento International Airport’s expansive renovation plan hit another milestone Tuesday with the approval of a nearly $230 million contract for the construction of a new parking garage that could add up to 4,500 new spaces.
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to approve the $229 million contract to be awarded to Sacramento-based Otto Construction."
