A year after Newsom called for constitutional amendment on gun safety, no other states have joined him
LAT's TARYN LUNA, LAUREL ROSENHALL: "On NBC’s “Today” show last June, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a proposal that seemed politically impossible from the start: Convincing two-thirds of state legislatures in America to officially call for a constitutional convention to adopt national gun safety laws.
Newsom didn’t see it that way."
This California congressman is all over TV and TikTok, touting Biden ... and himself
LAT's NOAH BIERMAN, BENJAMIN ORESKES: "Rep. Ro Khanna, one of President Biden’s most visible supporters, came to Michigan recently to accept a “courage in public service” award from an Arab American group that opposes American support for Israel in Gaza — and detests Biden.
The tension of the California congressman’s dual roles — as a presidential surrogate and one of many Democrats building his own base for a post-Biden era — was evident before dinner was served. James P. Allen, chairman of the Arab American Civil Rights League, was blunt as he introduced Khanna to local Democratic power brokers over cocktails."
California weather: When new round of heat warnings and advisories goes into effect
The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "After a heat wave last week brought several days of well above-normal temperatures to the Bay Area, Central Valley and Sierra Nevada, another spell of hot weather is expected this week.
An area of high pressure is expected to strengthen over Northern California on Monday, peaking Tuesday and Wednesday before slowly waning through the end of the week. Temperatures will climb under the high-pressure system. Highs are forecast to eclipse 100 degrees for three straight days in parts of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, with several days over 90 degrees in the interior Bay Area."
Fire season 2024: What’s in store for the Bay Area and beyond
BANG*Mercury News's ETHAN BARON: "Grass, meet spark. Bay Area residents, meet fire.
The explosive start to the 2024 fire season — the Corral Fire near Livermore that tore through rolling grasslands and rapidly scorched more acreage than the 1,253 previous California wildfires this year combined — heralds the types of blazes experts say residents of the Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California can expect in coming weeks: fast-moving grass fires. What comes later depends largely on the weather."
How did a sudden reduction in shipping pollution inadvertently stoke global warming?
LAT's HAYLEY SMITH: "A major shift in global shipping regulations intended to improve air quality may have temporarily — and inadvertently — set off a geoengineering reaction that is warming the planet, new research has found.
In January 2020, the International Maritime Organization substantially reduced the amount of harmful sulfur dioxide content allowed in shipping fuel. The move was part of a broad strategy to improve public health."
Trump-appointed judges revive lawsuit against L.A. schools’ COVID vaccine mandate
CALMatters's CAROLYN JONES: "Even though Los Angeles Unified dropped its COVID vaccine mandate for school staff almost a year ago, a lawsuit accusing the district of violating workers’ rights can still move forward, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday.
The 2-1 ruling by a pair of federal judges appointed by former President Donald Trump revives a case that a lower court had dismissed. It also counters recent rulings by courts — including the 9th Circuit — that tossed lawsuits challenging expired COVID-19 rules on the grounds that the policies were no longer in effect."
San Bernardino County: Growing hot spot for school-run police
EdSource's THOMAS PEELE, DANIEL J. WILLIS, MALLIKA SESHADRI, EMMA GALLEGOS: "In eastern San Bernardino County, a cluster of five school districts take a different approach than nearly all the rest of California when it comes to school policing: they not only buy books for kids, they also buy bullets for cops. They run their own police departments.
There are just 19 school-run police forces in California spread over 10 counties. They include Los Angeles and San Diego unified, the state’s two largest districts. In all, 15% of California K-12 students — more than 863,000 kids — attend districts with their own police departments."
Billionaires behind new California city drop details about their project as opposition mounts
The Chronicle's J.K. DINEEN: "A state-of-the-art sports complex that will cost “tens of millions.”
A roster of employers that includes a manufacturer making components for rockets, satellites and drones; a maker of self-driving sidewalk robots that deliver food; a grower of plants that capture more carbon than ordinary plants. A solar farm that will create 1,383 full-time jobs."
Amboy, population 0 — a Mojave Desert ghost town and Americana icon fights to survive
LAT's ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "It’s a Friday afternoon in mid-May and a Czech biker is eating an ice cream cone at the counter of a gas station along a desolate stretch of the Mojave Desert. Outside, his entourage crowds around a towering atomic-age sign for a group photo before speeding away along Route 66.
A British couple sip hot tea, though the mercury is pushing 100 degrees. A young woman in a crop top sits cross-legged in the middle of the street while a man films her, seemingly oblivious to the traffic whizzing by. On some days, small planes land on the dirt airstrip so their occupants can grab a root beer float or chili dog."
Homelessness surged in this Bay Area county, and three other takeaways from the latest data
The Chronicle's CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "The number of people experiencing homelessness rose in San Francisco over the past two years, but new data shows it surged even more in a nearby Bay Area county.
Officials tallied 2,130 unhoused people in San Mateo County during a “point-in-time,” or PIT, count in January. That reflected a roughly 18% increase from the 1,808 people counted during the 2022 survey, growth that stood in contrast to what appeared to be a much smaller uptick region-wide."
Emada Tingirides: LAPD’s litmus test for true reform
LAT's LIBOR JANY: "Even after more than a decade, civil rights attorney Connie Rice can still picture the moment: Emada Tingirides, then an unseasoned sergeant in the Los Angeles Police Department, walking into a meeting with Watts community leaders to pitch something radical.
After decades of aggressive policing that left residents of housing developments such as Nickerson Gardens and Jordan Downs deeply distrustful of the LAPD, Tingirides was proposing to flip the script: Instead of the traditional hard-charging approach to policing that values arrests over all else, the Community Safety Partnership called for officers and residents to work together in a meaningful way to come up with solutions to problems. Officers in the program would spend their days working with kids on youth football teams and in mentorship programs instead of busting them for petty crimes."
Man reportedly throws debris, shoots at police officers in San Jose
BANG*Mercury News's RYAN MACASERO: "Police arrested a suspect Sunday about 10 a.m., after neighbors on Warring Drive and Calmor Avenue made an emergency call reporting a man who barricaded himself inside an apartment and was throwing glass and other items from an apartment window.
According to a San Jose Police Department news release, the suspect allegedly fired at least one shot in the direction of officers. Special operations personnel and tactical negotiators are currently at the location."
