L.A. mayor demands more testing after lead is found in Watts drinking water
LAT's TONY BRISCOE: "On the heels of an environmental study that found lead-tainted water in public housing developments in Watts, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has called on the city’s housing authority and largest water utility to conduct further testing for the potent neurotoxin.
The discovery of lead-contaminated tap water in Watts, home to three of Los Angeles’ 13 major public housing complexes, has jolted city leadership and raised serious questions about the age of the plumbing that serves low-income residents. Although California banned the installation of lead pipes in 1985, the average home in Watts is nearly 77 years old, which makes the South L.A. neighborhood more likely to contain corroded lead plumbing."
Capitol Briefs: Bills, bills, bills
Capitol Weekly's STAFF: "Bill backing additional support for refugees heads to Senate for vote: SB 85 is headed to the Senate for a vote after a unanimous passing in the Assembly. SB 85 extends refuge case management, a mediation program proven to help refugees integrate into cities, from the federally appointed 90 days to 180 days. The additional 90 days of case management will be covered by expanding Refugee Social Services.
New Senate bill protecting freelancers passes in Assembly: The Assembly voted 70-0 in favor of SB 988, a bill that would protect freelancers by requiring hiring entities to have contracts for freelancers who work for more than $250 over a four-month period. The bill also requires clients to be paid within 30 days, payment agreement protections, anti-retaliation protections and double damages to freelancers who are victims of non-payment. It heads to Senate for a concurrence vote."
Will Newsom call a second special session on gas prices?
CALMatters's LYNN LA: "With Saturday’s deadline looming to pass the last flurry of bills before adjourning, legislators can see the finish line. But they might have more work ahead: Gov. Gavin Newsom is considering calling a special session to push legislation on gas prices and oil regulations.
The idea, which Newsom discussed with legislative leaders in private meetings this week, is receiving resistance from some Democrats. And the possibility of holding a fall session could be a negotiating tactic:"
From inmate release to immigrant home-buying aid, California bills spur end-of-session fireworks
CALMatters's SAMEEA KAMAL: "It’s not that California lawmakers shouldn’t aim high, but in an election year, they might avoid taking on bills that could upset voters — their own, or voters of their colleagues.
But that’s not always the case."
Tim Walz is a car guy — and works on his own 1979 Scout SUV. Will it help him with voters?
LAT's DANIEL MILLER: "In 2007, when Tim Walz was a freshman congressman, he told a reporter that his dream car was a 1973 Chevrolet Camaro, noting, “I’m kind of a muscle-car guy.” What he was actually driving was a more staid choice: a Dodge minivan.
But a year after that interview with the Hill, the self-professed car guy bought a vehicle that is now making headlines and has come to define the vice presidential candidate’s I’m-from-a-small-town, Minnesota-dad vibe: a 1979 International Harvester Scout II."
‘Jesus doesn’t pick kings’: California Christian leaders sound alarm over Trump voting comments
The Chronicle's MOLLY BURKE: "Christian leaders in California called former President Donald Trump’s claim invoking Jesus Christ in his electoral aspirations “ridiculous” and “appalling.”
Trump, in an interview Monday with Phil McGraw, popularly known as Dr. Phil, said that “if Jesus Christ came down and was the vote counter” he would win California in the upcoming presidential election."
Allstate to raise California home insurance rates by 34% on average. Map details hikes up to 650%
The Chronicle's MEGAN FAN MUNCE: "Allstate has been approved for the largest rate increase in California of any major insurer in the past three years.
This month, the Department of Insurance approved Allstate’s request to hike its home insurance rates by an average of 34.1% for its roughly 350,000 California customers. Within that average, some homeowners could see their rates decrease as much as 57%, while at least one will see rates increase by nearly 650%. Allstate customers will see the increase appear on their bills at their first renewal date following Nov. 7, according to the company’s filings with the state."
California lawmakers approve bill to extend home mortgage aid to undocumented immigrants
LAT's KAREN GARCIA: "The California Assembly gave final appoval Wednesday to a bill that could help undocumented immigrants in California buy homes, despite opposition from Republicans who said it would encourage more Mexican immigrants to cross the border illegally.
Elon Musk went as far as posting on his social platform X that “half of Earth should move to California, given all the incentives to do so.”"
California’s big AI regulation bill will likely head to Gavin Newsom
CALMatters's KHARI JOHNSON: "California lawmakers took a key vote today to pass a controversial bill that requires companies that make or modify powerful forms of artificial intelligence to test for their ability to enable critical harm to society.
Following a 32-1 vote in the Senate in May, the Assembly voted 41-9 to pass the bill late Wednesday afternoon. The Senate must take one more vote for the bill to make it to Gov. Gavin Newsom, concurring with any amendments in the Assembly."
While an Orange County supervisor was under scrutiny, his daughter interned with county prosecutors
LAT's SALVADOR HERNANDEZ: " Within weeks of it being revealed that Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do had directed millions of dollars in contracts to a nonprofit without disclosing a link to his daughter — a scandal that sparked a lawsuit and a possible federal probe — his daughter began working as an intern for the county’s top prosecutor.
Rhiannon Do worked at the Orange County district attorney’s office for four months earlier this year, a spokesperson for the D.A.’s office confirmed to The Times. County officials said Do was not paid."
Column: A new era at California Endowment as longtime leader Robert K. Ross retires
LAT's GUSTAVO ARELLANO: "The fourth-floor office of California Endowment CEO Robert K. Ross offers an Instagram-worthy view of Union Station, Olvera Street, City Hall and Chinatown. But I found a far more interesting landscape Friday inside his corner suite.
Moving boxes. Paintings and photos bundled up in bubble wrap. Handwritten notes on file cabinets with instructions to staffers on what to keep and what to toss. Awards — dozens of them."
‘White supremacy, patriarchy and colonialism:’ Behind S.F.’s $3 million plan to cull its monuments
The Chronicle's SAM WHITING: "San Francisco is about to embark on evaluating its nearly 100 statues and monuments to figure out which ones no longer represent the city’s values and should be removed from view, relocated or re-interpreted with explanatory plaques.
The debate over the city’s monuments began in 2018 with the removal of the “Early Days” sculpture from the Pioneer Monument in the Civic Center because it represented a Native American seated before a Spanish Catholic missionary. The effort gathered steam amid the racial-justice movement in 2020 that followed the murder of George Floyd. That year, crowds toppled statues throughout the country that glorified Confederate Civil War leaders, which critics said paid homage to the country’s racist past."
California passes school cellphone restrictions. But some students find workarounds
LAT's VERONICA ROSEBOROUGH: "At Dymally High School in South Los Angeles, test scores are slightly up, fights are down and teachers can better focus on instruction — and Principal Darvina Bradley credits her campus cellphone ban.
“What was the biggest shock and surprise for me was we actually had to begin putting out games and things to entertain them at lunch, because they really became kids again,” Bradley said. “We heard conversations occurring again, lunchtime was no longer quiet — it became a real schoolyard with real activity.”"
Coastal eddy off Bay Area shoreline to keep fog swirling
The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "A vortex of fog and clouds, known as an eddy, developed just off the Bay Area coastline Wednesday and the pattern may repeat itself Thursday.
Weather satellites captured the coastal eddy just west of Sonoma and Marin counties. The vortex of fog developed throughout the morning as south winds along the beaches of San Mateo and Marin counties clashed with northerly winds slightly farther offshore. As the day progressed, the vortex moved northward and a widespread blanket of fog redeveloped in its wake, moving into San Francisco and other coastal cities."
A California lake turned pink this week — in the name of science
LAT's JACK FLEMMING: "Stockton’s McLeod Lake is looking pretty in pink this week.
The splash of color is part of a study being conducted by the California Department of Water Resources, which is dumping pinkish dye into the water to figure out why the lake has become a hot spot for harmful algae."
1 in 6 CHP jobs are vacant — despite historic raises and Newsom’s hiring campaign
CALMatters's NIGEL DUARA: "About one in six California Highway Patrol positions are vacant, a rate much higher than in 2019, despite massive raises in the last two years.
The jobs are unfilled at a sensitive time for Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose administration earlier this month agreed to a new contract with the union that represents CHP officers. The deal is expected to cost $489 million over the next three years through a combination of raises and enhanced pay incentives."
S.F. crime is down. But public safety worries still define the mayor’s race
The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS: "Andy “Chino” Yang doesn't care that statistics show crime is down in San Francisco: His Chinese restaurant near Alamo Square was recently broken into for the ninth time in four years.
Yang is so despondent about property crime in the city that he doesn’t want to vote for any mayoral candidate in November. The restaurateur made headlines in December when he released a self-described "diss track" blasting Mayor London Breed over crime in the city, decrying how his restaurant, Kung Food, had been repeatedly burglarized."
