Pro-Palestinian protests, tensions spread across California college campuses
LAT: "Pro-Palestinian protesters, who are demanding divestment from Israel and an end to the country’s military actions in Gaza, set up several new tent encampments at colleges and universities across California as tensions escalated at one campus that has been under siege for days.
Police were in a standoff with Gaza war protesters Monday night at Cal Poly Humboldt, which has been closed for nearly a week as some students occupy campus buildings."
READ MORE -- Amid Israel-Hamas war, colleges draw lines on faculty free speech -- EdSource's MICHAEL BURKE
Newsom, Bonta removed from lawsuit over Escondido transgender privacy policy
EdSource's DIANA LAMBERT: "Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta have been removed as defendants in a case brought by two Escondido School District teachers over a policy that bars teachers from discussing a student’s gender transition with parents, according to the Courthouse News Service.
The plaintiffs middle school English teacher Elizabeth Mirabelli and middle school physical education teacher Lori Ann West claimed the policy violates their religious liberty and free speech. They sued the school district, various district staff and the state Board of Education last year and added Newsom and Bonta as plaintiffs in February."
How and why are Non-Disclosure Agreements used in lawmaking? (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly's STAFF: "Last month, as California prepared to roll out a new $20 minimum wage for fast food workers, attention on an exemption for restaurants that bake their own bread surprised many, including both the bill’s author, Asm. Chris Holden, and Gov. Newsom. “Paneragate” (named for the restaurant chain that some claimed would benefit from the exemption – note that both the governor and the franchisee dispute that the exemption applies) spotlighted a little-known tool in the legislative toolbox: the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) in crafting public policy.
While NDAs are commonplace in the business world, their use in policy work was a surprise to many, even some elected officials. In March, Republican Assemblyman Vince Fong introduced AB 2654, which would ban lawmakers from entering into confidentiality agreements related to proposed legislation. The bill failed to advance out of the Assembly Elections Committee last week."
READ MORE -- The Micheli Minute, April 29, 2024 -- Capitol Weekly's STAFF
Gavin Newsom will head to a Vatican climate summit next month. GOP cries foul
Capitol Weekly, VIK JOLLY: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom will head to the Vatican mid-May to speak at a papal summit on climate change, a trip scheduled a day after the deadline to submit his potentially controversial revised budget to the Legislature.
Newsom’s May 15-17 trip to the Vatican was announced Monday, and quickly denounced by Republicans."
Statewide water supply target supports California’s manufacturers
Capitol Weekly's LANCE HASTINGS: "Water use in California is typically thought of in three parts: water for the environment (50%), water for agriculture (40%), and water for communities (10%) per the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). As a result, “ag” is the sector of the economy that comes to mind first when we talk about the state’s water supply. But the rest of California’s economy also requires water.
California’s manufacturers – one of the state’s largest industry sectors, accounting for 11.8% of state GDP – need water. Manufacturers use water for many processes, including fabrication, processing, washing, diluting, cooling, and transporting goods. Water is also a key component of products themselves, such as in the production of food, paper, and chemicals, and in petroleum refinement. “On an elementary level,” explains the company Jenco, a manufacturer of water quality meters, “the process of refining and producing raw materials… demands water.”"
Can millionaires save nature? Stanford gift tells tale of Tompkins conservation fight
BANG*Mercury News's LISA M. KRIEGER: "Kris Tompkins and her late husband, Douglas Tompkins — renowned conservationist, founder of The North Face and cofounder of Esprit — overcame controversy and adversity to to save a Patagonian paradise.
Now others can learn how they did it."
CIRM success story dies quiet death
Capitol Weekly's DAVID JENSEN: "A once-heralded research venture by the state of California that targeted “don’t eat me” signals that protect cancer cells has now ended. The potential treatment’s obituary boiled down to one phrase repeated six times and buried deep in a corporate document.
That amounts to $816 million per mention, based on what was paid for the company that grew out of the state-backed research."
Kaiser Permanente data breach may have affected 13.4 million members
The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI: "Kaiser Permanente reported a data breach Monday that could affect millions of its customers.
The Bay Area health care giant said that when members and patients accessed its websites or mobile applications, data sent to third-party technology companies such as Google and X (formerly Twitter) via web cookies might have included personal information."
Gavin Newsom’s Alabama abortion ad draws accusations of falsehoods, plagiarism
Sacramento Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom is riling up people on both sides of the political spectrum with an ad his Campaign for Democracy political action committee has been running in Alabama.
The ad, which we’ve previously reported on here, is titled “Fugitive,” and features two women driving from Alabama to another state, where one woman, the driver, is seeking abortion services. A police officer stops the woman and subjects her to a pregnancy test, after which she is arrested."
California’s population grows for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic
Sacramento Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "California’s population has grown for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the state Department of Finance, California’s population grew by just over 67,000 people in 2023 for a total of 39,128,162 — the first such increase since 2020."
The longest, strangest trip: Some psychedelic drug users are stuck with unwelcome highs
LAT's CONNOR SHEETS: "A.J. took two small hits off a cannabis vape pen, a common ritual with his morning coffee. Moments after exhaling, a transfigured, kaleidoscopic version of the world emerged before his eyes.
“Some colors are seeping into the other colors,” the 30-year-old said, gesturing across his art-filled living room in Yorba Linda. “In that Persian tapestry on the wall, the flowers are flowing like the wind, back and forth, and the centerpieces of the horses and other animals, they’re stagnant still but I can feel them kind of moving, almost like a gallop.”"
Racial makeup of Lowell’s incoming class could reignite debate over diversity
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "If all 14 of the Black students admitted to San Francisco’s Lowell High School attend the academically elite public school, they would make up just over 2% of the average-size freshmen class.
That’s an increase over last year, when just 11 Black students gained admission to the nationally renowned school through the school’s merit-based process, which sorts students largely by test scores and grades and is disproportionately made up of white and Asian American students."
Cal Poly Humboldt: Police declare demonstration an ‘unlawful assembly’
The Chronicle, JORDAN PARKER and AUGUST LINTON: "ARCATA, Humboldt County — One week after pro-Palestinian protesters took over Siemens Hall at Cal Poly Humboldt, authorities on Monday evening began ordering students to immediately leave the building and area — or they might face tear-gas and rubber bullets.
The effort, which began just after 9 p.m. involved campus police and reinforcements from the California Highway Patrol. San Francisco police officers also were participating, according to the police union."
Monthly payments of $1,000 could get thousands of homeless people off the streets, researchers say
LAT's DOUG SMITH: "A monthly payment of $750 to $1,000 would allow thousands of the city’s homeless people to find informal housing, living in boarding homes, in shared apartments and with family and friends, according to a policy brief by four prominent Los Angeles academics.
Citing positive preliminary results of pilot studies in several cities, including Los Angeles, they argue the income could provide access to housing for a portion of the population who became homeless primarily as the result of an economic setback. This could ultimately save millions of dollars in public services, they argued, and leave the overstretched and far more expensive subsidized and service-enriched housing for those who have more complicated social needs."
Man arrested after Mint Butterfield, Slack co-founder’s child, is safely located in S.F.
The Chronicle's JESSICA FLORES and NORA MISHANEC: "Mint Butterfield, the teenage child of Slack co-founder and former CEO Stewart Butterfield, was safely located Saturday in San Francisco after being reported missing last week, and a man the teen was found with was arrested for “multiple criminal violations,” authorities said.
Mint, 16, was found inside a van that belongs to an adult male friend, identified as 26-year-old Christopher “Kio” Dizefalo, according to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office. He was arrested and booked into the Marin County Jail, the sheriff’s office said. Arrest records show Dizefalo was booked on suspicion of child stealing and other violations."
