How Congress is letting die an internet connectivity lifeline for millions
CALMatters's AARON SANKIN: "On April 30, a popular and widely used government program began the process of shutting down due to congressional inaction. With its demise, closing the digital divide becomes considerably more difficult.
The federal government first launched a broadband subsidy program during the depths of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, where internet connections became many peoples’ only window into the outside world. That effort, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), was made permanent as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It offered a $30 monthly subsidy ($75 on tribal lands) to qualifying low-income households for broadband internet or cell phone bills. The program also offers up to $100 toward a computer or tablet."
California Supreme Court will weigh removal of Taxpayer Protection Act from ballot. Here’s why
Sacramento Bee's NICOLE NIXON: "The state’s Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case this week that could determine whether Californians are allowed to weigh in on an expansive ballot measure that would put virtually all tax increases before voters.
It’s part of a rare case in which the court will consider removing a proposition from the ballot before an election. At issue is whether the sweeping ballot measure, known by its supporters as the “Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act,” is a constitutional amendment or a constitutional revision."
The Micheli Minute, May 6, 2024
Capitol Weekly STAFF: "Lobbyist and McGeorge law professor Chris Micheli offers a quick look at what’s coming up this week under the Capitol Dome."
California settles opioid complaint with same company selling the state overdose meds
CALMatters's ANA B. IBARRA: "California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday announced a $273 million multistate settlement with New Jersey-based Amneal Pharmaceutical for the drug manufacturer’s alleged failure to report suspicious opioid orders, and as a consequence contributing to the opioid epidemic.
If the name “Amneal Pharmaceuticals” rings a bell, it’s because just days earlier Gov. Gavin Newsom and state health officials announced a deal with this same company to procure naloxone, the overdose reversal medication, at a cheaper price than currently available. That agreement locks that state in as a long-term customer to the company."
UCLA’s top cop, accused of security lapse, faces calls to step aside. He defends his actions
LAT's TERESA WATANABE: "The UCLA police chief is facing growing scrutiny for what three sources told The Times was a string of serious security lapses before a mob attacked a pro-Palestinian student encampment this week.
But the chief, John Thomas, late Friday rejected those allegations and said he did “everything I could” to provide security and keep students safe during a week of strife that left UCLA reeling."
READ MORE -- UCLA creates high-level post to oversee campus safety after security lapses in mob attack -- LAT's TERESA WATANABE; Police remove tents, clear USC pro-Palestinian encampment; no arrests made -- LAT's STAFF
55 years after Reagan took on Berkeley, Newsom stays in the background amid roiling campus protests
LAT's LAUREL ROSENHALL, MACKENZIE MAYS: "In May 1969 a National Guard helicopter hung over the campus of UC Berkeley, spraying protesters with what The Times then described as “heavy clouds of tear gas.”
It was the sixth consecutive day of campus demonstrations over plans to develop the land known as “People’s Park.” An ambitious governor who would go on to become president had called in 2,300 National Guard troops and hundreds of Highway Patrolmen. They brought shotguns, rifles and bayonets."
‘Waiting for the nightmare to end’: Inside a California college’s bridge collapse simulator
The Chronicle's CONNOR LETOURNEAU: "The crew tried cranking on its cargo ship’s emergency generator, making a frantic call for help and even dropping anchor. Too late. With no power, no steering and no propulsion, the 948-foot, 95,000-ton vessel edged directly toward one of the Francis Scott Key Bridge’s main support columns.
An eerie silence enveloped California Maritime Academy’s state-of-the-art simulation room in Vallejo, where assistant professor Kevin Calnan and his students were re-creating those fateful minutes aboard the container ship Dali. Out of options, crew members could only brace for impact: a devastating crash that would cause a 47-year-old bridge to collapse, kill six road workers, disrupt the global supply chain, wreak billions of dollars in damage and forever change the Baltimore skyline."
Billions of cicadas are invading the U.S. Should Californians be worried?
BANG*Mercury News's PAUL ROGERS: "It is being called the Cicada-pocalypse and the Cicada-geddon.
Over the next few weeks, hundreds of billions, maybe even trillions of cicadas — grasshopper-like insects — will emerge from underground burrows all across the Midwest and the South where they have been living for as long as the past 17 years."
How humanity’s ear-splitting racket deafens whales and other marine animals
LAT's HAYLEY SMITH: "Imagine it’s the early 1900s and you’re a giant blue whale basking in the warm waters of the Santa Barbara Channel, just off the coast of Southern California. What do you hear? Fellow whale songs, murmuring currents, the occasional foghorn, perhaps.
Fast-forward to 2024, and the quiet environment you once called home now sounds vastly different as massive cargo ships churn overhead, slicing through the water with powerful propellers as they converge upon two of the busiest ports in the world."
Storm brings heavy snow and record rain to California. See how much fell and where
Sacramento Bee's STEPHEN HOBBS: "A storm that dropped steady rain and heavy snow across Northern California set several records for May 4, according to the National Weather Service.
Redding received 1.47 inches of rain, breaking the record set on May 4, 1951, by more than a half-inch."
California doesn’t have an ‘exit tax’ — but it can still tax some people who move away
The Chronicle's KATHLEEN PENDER: "People leaving California — to work remotely, escape its highest-in-the-nation state income tax or for other reasons — may find that some or all of their income could still be taxable in California.
As more people flee California for states with no income tax such as Texas, Nevada, Florida, Washington and Tennessee, the internet is full of information — and misinformation — about this subject."
California tourism recovers from pandemic and S.F. is almost there, new report finds
The Chronicle's LAURA WAXMANN: "In a video filmed at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and posted on X/Twitter on Sunday, Gov. Gavin Newsom touted freshly released data showing that California’s tourist economy has recovered from its pandemic swoon and reached a record high.
At $150.4 billion, travel spending across the state last year surpassed the previous record of $144.9 billion seen in 2019. The update was contained in a new report published last week by Visit California, a nonprofit tasked with marketing and developing strategies to increase tourism in the state."
One of California’s fastest-growing cities is in the Bay Area
The Chronicle's CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "One of Alameda County’s smallest cities is also among California’s fastest-growing municipalities.
Emeryville’s population reached 13,300 at the beginning of 2024, according to estimates from the California Department of Insurance, after a 5% year-over-year increase from its population of about 12,700 people at the start of 2023. That was the second-largest growth rate of any California city with at least 10,000 people last year."
$400-million boost in federal funds for security at places of worship
AP: "A $400-million increase in federal funding is available for security in places of worship, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer announced Sunday.
The boost in money comes as concerns rise over threats against Jewish and Muslim communities, fueled in part by the Israel-Hamas war."
S.F. crime is plummeting, with the exception of one affluent neighborhood
The Chronicle's DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "Reported crime has plummeted in San Francisco. In the first four months of 2024, the number of reported crimes fell by 30% compared with the same time period in 2023. The most notable declines have been in property crimes such as larceny theft.
But not every neighborhood is experiencing the trend the same way."
