Day of Giving

California politicians face rampant threats. Some want to use campaign cash for protection

CALMatters's SAMEEA KAMAL: "Last spring, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan received a letter calling for him to be lynched because of a bill he introduced to change how ballot measures are presented to California voters.

It’s not the only time he’s been subjected to threats or harassment. Bryan said he and fellow Assemblymember Mia Bonta received hundreds of threats when they didn’t vote in a committee on a bill increasing penalties for child trafficking, until it added language that he said would protect victims."

UC’s president had a plan to deescalate protests. How did we get a night of violence at UCLA?

CALMatters's ATMIKA YER: "Before dawn today, police demolished a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA — using flash bangs, firing projectiles at protesters and arresting those who refused to leave. It was in stark contrast to the scene overnight Tuesday, when counterprotesters had torn at barricades, thrown fireworks, and beat and pepper sprayed the protesters — and no law enforcement officers intervened or made any arrests.

The reason for such a mixed response from law enforcement: haphazard adherence to UC President Michael Drake’s 2021 UC Campus Safety Plan."

READ MORE -- More than 130 arrested as police dismantle UCLA pro-Palestinian camp -- LA Times, STAFF; ‘I’ve been terrified.’ Student fea rs triggered by Israel-Palestinian conflict skyrocket -- LAT's TERESA WATANABE; Mace, green lasers, screeching soundtracks: Inside the UCLA encampment on a night of violence -- LAT's STAFF; Violent attack on UCLA protesters shuts down classes. How will Stanford and UC Berkeley react? -- The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER, ELI ROSENBERG, NANETTE  ASIMOV

‘Everyone is getting squeezed’: California electricity prices now second-highest in U.S.

The Chronicle's JULIE JOHNSON: "North Beach resident Serena Satyasai never thought much about her utility bill, but that was before February when California’s electricity prices rose to become the highest in the contiguous United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Satyasai’s Pacific Gas and Electric bill jumped by about $100 compared to the same month last year. Like many of PG&E’s 5.5 million customers, she’s having to rescript her monthly budget around these rising costs."

Crime is a ballot ‘vulnerability’ for California Democrats after Schiff, Bass break-ins

LAT's LAURA J. NELSON: "A trio of crimes involving Democratic lawmakers has put the spotlight back on public safety in the Golden State, an issue on which experts warn the party’s candidates could be vulnerable in November.

In the span of a week, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was the victim of a burglary at Getty House in Windsor Square, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) had his suitcase stolen out of his car in the Bay Area, and a plainclothes police officer protecting San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan was punched by a pedestrian during a television interview."|

Capitol Spotlight: Brian Green, California State Senate Democratic Caucus

Capitol Weekly's LISA RENNER: "A professional communicator with decades of experience, Brian Green helps the California State Senate Democratic shape the stories it wants to tell.

The principal consultant is behind the scenes preparing talking points and issue updates, recording and voicing videos, setting up press conferences and more. For the last six years, he has also hosted the podcast “Then There’s California” featuring in-depth interviews with Democratic senators."

Northern California set for a weather changeup. Here's what storm forecast looks like now

The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "The recent stretch of quiet weather across the Bay Area is expected to continue for two more days, but a big changeup is coming Saturday, in the form of cooler and wetter conditions.

Confidence is increasing that Saturday will be quite wet across Northern California and the Bay Area, at least for May standards. A cold front is likely to reach the North Coast and northern Sacramento Valley on Friday night, arriving in the Bay Area during the early to mid-morning Saturday."

Biden just expanded a spectacular Northern Californias                    ssss natio                atnal monument

The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "Up a long dirt road flanked by wildflower-drenched meadows and rolling green mountains, about 120 miles north of San Francisco, lies California’s newest national monument land.

President Joe Biden announced Thursday, after months of speculation, that 13,696 acres of federal land along the picture-perfect ridge known as Molok Luyuk would be added to the 330,000-acre Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. He cited the area’s “prolific botanical richness” and tribal significance. The monument, in the inner Coast Range, was created in 2015."

Biggest funeral company in U.S. to pay huge sum to settle California suit over cremation services

The Chronicle;'s DAVID HERNANDEZ: "The nation’s largest funeral services provider will pay $23 million in civil penalties as part of a settlement agreement in an Alameda County lawsuit that claimed the company sold cremation packages that violated consumer protection laws, state prosecutors said Wednesday.

The lawsuit alleged Service Corporation International, which operates in California as Neptune Society and Trident Society, with locations in Oakland, Walnut Creek and other parts of the Bay Area, failed to provide a full refund when customers canceled cremation services they purchased before they died."

How California’s juvenile justice system changed since shutdown of state facilities

EdSource's BETTY MARQUEZ ROSALES: "In the months since California closed the last of its juvenile facilities, some of the counties now managing the new system have funded new higher education programming for incarcerated students, while others have spent much of that time addressing basic safety concerns inside their facilities. 

As court overturns a lot-splitting law, SB 9, one early adopter asks why

LAT's JACK FLEMMING: "Sam Andreano is currently putting the finishes touches on his split-lot property in Whittier. He’s a guinea pig for state Senate Bill 9, a housing law that allows homeowners to divvy up their properties and build two or even four units on a once-single-family lot.

Andreano, 59, was one of SB 9’s earliest adopters. He bought a single-family home for $790,000 in 2021, split the property in half and sold the existing home on half of the original lot for $777,777 in 2023 — essentially coming out with an empty lot for a little over $12,000, around what it would have cost in the 1970s."