IRS owes 2020 tax refunds to thousands of Californians — but they have to file soon
The Chronicle's JESSICA FLORES: "Tax season just ended, but another tax deadline will soon arrive for tens of thousands of California residents: those who never filed their 2020 tax returns but who may be due a refund.
This week the Internal Revenue Service issued a “final reminder” of the May 17 deadline for U.S. taxpayers to file for more than $1 billion in unclaimed refunds from the 2020 tax year nationwide — nearly $100 million of that in California."
Will California voters decide tax limits in November? It’s up to the Supreme Court
CALMatters's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "The California Supreme Court will decide in the coming weeks whether to remove a sweeping anti-tax measure from the November ballot, blocking an effort to increase the requirements for implementing taxes, fees and other government charges in the state before voters have a chance to weigh in.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, the Legislature and others sued last fall to stop the business community-sponsored initiative, arguing that it amounts to an illegal attempt to revise the California Constitution and would impair essential government functions."
President Biden plans two-day Bay Area visit for campaign fundraisers
BANG*Mercury News's NOLLYANNE DELACRUZ: "President Joe Biden will return to the Bay Area for two campaign fundraisers this week.
Biden is expected to arrive in San Francisco on Thursday, according to a White House news release. On Friday, the president will attend two fundraisers in unspecified locations; Bloomberg News reported that former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla would be among the major Democratic donors in attendance."
Gavin Newsom has navigated ups and downs of California’s finances. Another test lies ahead
Sacramento Bee's VIK JOLLY: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom is navigating one of his biggest budget shortfalls since taking office in 2019.
Tackling the state’s finances – with an economy that is the fifth largest in the world – is a tall order and Newsom is at the threshold of a critical moment in his political journey, a sliver of time that will be closely watched to see how the governor threads the needle as he oversees this year’s budget."
Incredible before-and-after images of reservoirs are proof of California’s winter deluges
LAT's TERRY CASTLEMAN: "After another wet winter, record rainfall has turned California green and replenished the state’s reservoirs, which had been perilously low during the worst days of the drought.
Lake Oroville, the state’s second-biggest reservoir, often serves as a rainfall barometer. As of Tuesday, Oroville was at 100% capacity, according to data from the state Department of Water Resources."
Migrants play ‘the asylum lottery’ on controversial U.S. government app
LAT's PATRICK J. MCDONNELL: "Having fled his native Venezuela, Luis Guerrero was living in Colombia when he heard about a legal way to get into the United States: a smartphone app created by the U.S. government.
Five months later — after making it through a jungle trek, a kidnapping ordeal and a long wait in Mexico — he, his wife and their 11-year-old son lined up with scores of other asylum seekers to cross a bridge into Texas for immigration interviews scheduled through the app."
This California university has revised its investment policy after campus protests
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "Sacramento State has become the first public university in California to align its investment policy with demands from pro-Palestinian student demonstrators, with a revision on its website saying that as of this month, the school will refrain from investing in companies that “profit from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and activities that violate fundamental human rights.”
Campus officials did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. But student protesters who have established tent encampments on nearly 150 campuses across the country have made disinvestment from Israel a key demand for halting protests over Israel’s war in Gaza, where health officials say more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed."
Jury awards $1M to boys forced out of elite Bay Area school over ‘blackface’ they said was acne cream
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "A Santa Clara County jury has awarded $1 million and tuition reimbursement to two former students who sued an elite Catholic high school in Mountain View, saying administrators forced them out over an alleged blackface photo that actually showed teens masked in acne medication.
The jury sided with the plaintiffs on two claims against Saint Francis High School, for breach of oral contract and lack of due process, said Frank Hughes, the father of one of the students. However, Hughes said, he and the other plaintiffs lost on three other claims alleging breach of contract, defamation and a violation of free speech."
Fast-food workers make $20 an hour. California’s other low-wage earners ask: What about us?
LAT's MACKENZIE MAYS: "Stephon Harris makes $16.35 an hour at the Rancho San Miguel Market, ringing customers up for pints of fresh salsas and masa.
A few hundred feet away, at a Jack in the Box drive-through, workers are making about $4 more an hour thanks to California’s mandatory $20 minimum wage for fast-food employees that kicked in last month."
Sacramento Zoo will relocate to Elk Grove, as council votes in favor of move and expansion
Sacramento Bee's MARCUS D. SMITH: "A state-of-the-art zoo is officially coming to Elk Grove after a marathon City Council session culminated in a 4-1 vote to approve construction of the $302 million project.
The Elk Grove City Council approved the long-expected decision late Wednesday night capping nearly four years of discussion, planning and negotiations to relocate the Sacramento Zoo from Land Park, where it has been since 1927. The approval came at the end of the five-hour-long meeting; Councilman Kevin Spease voted against the go-ahead, saying the project needed more taxpayer oversight."
This deadly disease that kills deer and elk has been detected in California for the first time
Sacramento Bee's CHRIS BIDERMAN: "A deadly disease that has ravaged deer in other parts of North America was found for the first time in California this week.
According to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, chronic wasting disease was detected in two deer after samples were examined Monday, marking the first time the fatal disease has been found in deer or elk in the state."
BART has ‘no backup plan’ if Bay Area voters reject tax measure
The Chronicle's RICARDO CANO: "BART could enter a transit death spiral in less than 24 months, once the Bay Area transit agency runs out of emergency pandemic aid, and officials are pinning all their hopes for survival on voters’ approval of a 2026 tax measure.
BART officials say the tax measure is their only way forward — there is no plan B."
BART will get a decade of use out of cars meant for San Jose extension on VTA’s dime
BANG*Mercury News's GRACE HASE: "In yet another unintended consequence of the repeated delays facing San Jose’s BART extension, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is purchasing 48 rail cars for the South Bay that will run throughout the BART system and have the wear and tear of more than a decade of use before they ever travel through downtown San Jose and up to Santa Clara.
The VTA Board of Directors last week narrowly approved the $172.6 million purchase for the cars that will eventually run on the six-mile, four-station extension from the Berryessa Transit Center in north San Jose. But the transaction, which came to light now due to a soon-to-be expired deal with BART to get the cars at a discounted rate, faced pushback from many of the directors — even some who voted in favor."
