California regulator weakens AI rules, giving Big Tech more leeway to track you
CALMatters, KHARI JOHNSON: "California’s first-in-the-nation privacy agency is retreating from an attempt to regulate artificial intelligence and other forms of computer automation.
The California Privacy Protection Agency was under pressure to back away from draft rules. Business groups, lawmakers, and Gov. Gavin Newsom said they would be costly to businesses, potentially stifle innovation, and usurp the authority of the legislature, where proposed AI regulations have proliferated. In a unanimous vote last week, the agency’s board watered down the rules, which impose safeguards on AI-like systems."
Californians say Newsom is more focused on boosting presidential prospects than fixing state
LAT, TARYN LUNA: "By more than 2 to 1, California registered voters believe that Gov. Gavin Newsom is more focused on boosting his presidential prospects than on fixing the problems in his own state, according to a new poll.
A survey by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times, found that 54% of voters said Newsom is devoting more attention to things that could benefit himself as a future White House contender compared with 26% who said he’s paying more attention to governing the state and helping to solve its problems."
CA Democrats come back with amended sex solicitation bill. What would it do?
Sac Bee, KATE WOLFFE: "Less than a week after weathering blowback from Republicans for “siding with predators” on a bill that would strengthen penalties for people who solicit sex from 16 and 17-year-old minors, California Democratic lawmakers have returned with an amended bill that closely resembles the author’s original intent.
Assembly Bill 379, authored by Assemblymember Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento, originally included a measure that would have made felony charges possible for any adult who solicits, or exchanges goods or services for, sex with people 16 or 17 years old. Soliciting sex with anyone younger than 16 is already a felony, and a number of other laws prohibit buying and having sex with minors."
Better know a CA gubernatorial candidate: Toni Atkins
Capitol Weekly, BRIAN JOSEPH: "As a former Assembly Speaker and Senate pro Tem, Toni Atkins brings considerable experience with state-level politics to a wide-open Democratic primary for governor.
The daughter of a coal miner and a seamstress, Atkins grew up without running water in the rural Appalachia region of southwest Virginia where she and her three siblings shared an outhouse. Later, when she and her family moved to Roanoke, she was teased for having a hillbilly accent."
Amid Trump trade war, L.A. urged to hold off on wage hikes for tourism workers
LAT, DAVID ZAHNISER/SUHAUNA HUSSAIN: "Five months ago, the Los Angeles City Council endorsed a plan to boost wages for airport and hotel workers to $30 per hour by 2028 — just in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the city — while also requiring new healthcare payments.
For some in L.A.’s tourism industry, that moment feels like another era."
Goal of welfare checks: Protect children or launch deportations?
LAT, ANDREA CASTILLO/MELISSA GOMEZ: "When immigration agents recently began conducting welfare checks on youths who had arrived at the border unaccompanied by their parents, advocates grew alarmed, fearing the tactic was a cover to target the minors, their adult sponsors and possibly others for deportations.
Stories of these unannounced visits popped up around the country — agents who attempted to gain access to two elementary schools in Los Angeles; agents who showed up “five deep and armed” at the home of an immigration lawyer’s 19-year-old client in Virginia; agents who interviewed a terrified 16-year-old Honduran girl at her uncle’s house in Washington state."
Kaiser in the hot seat as California lawmakers blast company for skipping mental health hearing
CALMatters, JOCELYN WIENER: "Mia Bonta held the two-page letter in front of her. From her perch at the helm of the Assembly health committee Tuesday afternoon, she read an excerpt from the note, which a Kaiser Permanente leader had sent that day declining her invitation to participate in an informational hearing about the health care giant’s behavioral health services.
“I have to say, I’m supremely disappointed,” said Bonta, a Democratic state assemblymember from Oakland."
Many Californians can’t get mental health help. Is it too hard to become a therapist?
CALMatters, ADAM ECHELMAN: "In her home in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Eboni Moen, 42, struggled to find help. Some days she would rock back and forth in her shower, crying uncontrollably and thinking back to her son’s murder. She needed a therapist, she said, someone who could help her process what happened and find appropriate medication.
But in rural Amador County, where she lives, mental health providers are few and far between, and it took Moen about two and a half years to find help."
We must not ignore California’s medically fragile population (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, DEAN CHALIOS: "Anyone who walks around the State Capitol this time of year knows that there is hardly a shortage of issues to tackle as policy makers and organizations alike advocate for much needed changes to benefit the lives of Californians. As the President & CEO of a nonprofit organization that has worked to advance healthcare at home since 1966, I understand the intricacies and delicate process of prioritizing statewide issues and balancing funding. This is why it is difficult for me to understand how some critical care services, like private duty nursing that actually saves the state money, have continued to fall through the cracks.
Despite the recent investments made in Medi-Cal services, there have been no additional investments made in private duty nursing for the last decade despite the increasing needs of California’s medically complex patient population. In fact, there are currently more than a thousand families in the state who are looking for comprehensive in-home care for their children’s complex medical needs. If we don’t act now, that number will only increase."
Wellness coaches take on youth mental health problem in rural California
EdSource, VANI SANGANERIA: "At 14, Charlotte Peery dropped out of high school.
“I was one of those silent sufferers,” Peery said. “I was battling with addiction, and once I finally decided I couldn’t go to school anymore, there wasn’t anyone around to say, ‘Well, let’s see what we can do’.”"
East Bay high school suspends coaches as it investigates racist taunts at game
The Chronicle, KO LYN CHEANG: "Pinole Valley High School has suspended two baseball coaches while it investigates anti-Asian taunts that were directed at players from Albany High School, the Chronicle has learned.
West Contra Costa Unified School District also said it is investigating a separate alleged incident involving the Pinole Valley team after a parent of an Asian American player at El Cerrito sent a letter on April 30 to the school’s athletic director alleging that their son, and another Asian-American teammate, had been subjected to homophobic slurs from Pinole players during an April 16 game."
California heat surge is coming. Here's where it will hit triple-digit temps
The Chronicle, GREG PORTER: "The first widespread heat of the season in California is set to arrive later this week as a narrow ridge of high pressure expands and a lingering upper-level low that kicked up strong winds and cooled the state down finally fizzles. These shifts will open the door to hot weather in places like the East Bay, Central Valley and California’s high deserts, where triple-digit temperatures are likely in some spots.
By Thursday, parts of the East Bay, South Bay and North Bay valleys will push into the upper 70s and low 80s. Then on Friday, high pressure will expand, the upper low will weaken and warmer air will surge inland. That’s when interior spots like Livermore and Antioch could flirt with 90 degrees, marking the first real warmup of the season."
California state parks are preparing for ‘oncoming storm’ of visitors
The Chronicle, GREGORY THOMAS: "California’s state park managers are bracing for an onslaught of summer visitors.
Visitation at many of the state’s 280 park units has gradually risen since the pandemic and summer is peak season for sightseers flocking to postcard destinations like Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay and campgrounds filling with families."
California wine country traffic jam fuels fight over endangered mice, marsh birds
CALMatters, RYAN SABALOW: "During his eight years on the Santa Rosa City Council, Chris Rogers spent hour after tedious hour in local transportation meetings discussing a proposal to reduce congestion on one of the main traffic arteries into the Napa-Sonoma Valley corridor.
That’s why Rogers, now a rookie Democratic assemblymember, said he had to chuckle when environmental groups complained that a bill making its way through the Legislature was somehow “fast-tracking” the long-stalled Highway 37 widening project in the North Bay."
Disney says it will build a new theme park in Abu Dhabi
LAT, SAMANTHA MASUNAGA: "Walt Disney Co. plans to expand its empire to the Middle East with a new theme park in Abu Dhabi, the company said Wednesday.
The park will be located on Yas Island, which is already home to several theme parks including Ferrari World, Warner Bros. World and SeaWorld. It will be Disney’s seventh theme park."
This part of S.F. is the only place where home values are rising this decade
The Chronicle, CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "High interest rates have suppressed San Francisco’s home values for nearly three years. They’re still not cheap, but mid-value homes in almost every part of the city are worth less than it was before the pandemic.
Almost, but not all. Three ZIP codes on the city’s west side — which include the Sunset District, West Portal and Miraloma — have actually seen home values grow since February 2020, data from home listing site Zillow shows. That difference reflects a pull toward family-friendly amenities and housing types during the pandemic, real estate agents said. It also reflects scarcity, as the western part of the city has also seen relatively few homes built in recent decades, meaning sellers have little incentive to lower their prices to compete with listings of new homes."
This is deadline day for the Real ID. Will travelers be met with airport delays?
LAT, HANNAH FRY: "After two decades marked by delays, Americans planning to board an airplane for a domestic flight Wednesday will need a Real ID. Well, sort of.
What appears to be a soft launch of the program aimed at enhancing security at airports nationwide began at midnight amid questions about how the new requirement — and lack of compliance by travelers in many states — will affect air travel."
Do I have a Real ID? How to check on your California driver’s license
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: "Starting Wednesday, most adults will need a Real ID-compliant card to board domestic flights and enter federal facilities like military bases and courthouses.
Congress enacted the REAL ID Act in 2005, following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to beef up security measures. The enforcement deadline was originally set for 2008, but was delayed for years. The deadline is Wednesday."
Sacramento Police spend millions on overtime each year. Should it be investigated?
Sac Bee, MATHEW MIRANDA: "Sacramento’s Police Department routinely pays more than $15 million in overtime each year — totaling more than $100 million in the last decade — yet elected officials have not committed to an audit of the spending.
While public safety overtime is not new or unique to the capital region, the amount has increased substantially since the early 2010s. The department had a nearly ten-fold increase in overtime spending from 2011 to 2023, growing from $2.6 million to $23 million, according to a recent report from the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission."
