New California bill would give big state funding boost to affordable housing
LA Times's LIAM DILLON: "A Bay Area legislator is unveiling new legislation to provide major state funding for cities and counties to finance low-income housing, transit and other infrastructure."
"Assembly Bill 3037 from Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) would re-create a version of a program known as redevelopment that set aside billions of dollars in property taxes each year for local economic development and affordable housing. Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers eliminated that program 2011 during the depths of the state’s budget crisis, arguing the effort was too costly and rife with abuses, such as money financing upgrades to luxury golf courses."
"Chiu said lawmakers have learned from the previous program’s failures and the new version will provide enough money to help local governments meet key state housing affordability and climate change goals while also adding greater accountability to the spending."
READ MORE related to Housing & Homelessness: As businesses cite blight, overnight RV parking bans on LA streets grow -- and the homeless scramble -- LA Times's EMILY ALPERT REYES
California considers lower taxes on pot to help new legal industry compete with black market
LA Times's PATRICK MCGREEVY: "Alarmed that California's fledgling legal marijuana industry is being undercut by the black market, a group of lawmakers proposed Thursday to reduce state taxes for three years on growing and selling cannabis to allow licensed sellers to get on their feet."
"With many California license holders claiming they can't compete because of high state and local taxes, the new legislation would cut the state excise tax from 15% to 11% and suspend a cultivation tax that charges $148 per pound."
"Criminals do not pay business taxes, ensure consumers are 21 and over, obtain licenses or follow product safety regulations," said Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale), one of five legislators pushing the bill. "We need to give legal businesses some temporary tax relief so they do not continue to be undercut by the black market."
Abortion, free speech collide in Supreme Court dispute
AP's MARK SHERMAN: "Informed Choices is what its president describes as a "life-affirming" pregnancy center on the edge of downtown Gilroy in northern California."
"Even as it advertises "free pregnancy services" and promises in signs on its door and inside to discuss all options with pregnant women, Informed Choices exists to steer women away from abortion."
"The state of California, prompted by abortion rights groups, worried that vulnerable, uninsured women were going to Informed Choices and other anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers expecting they would get comprehensive care. That prompted passage of a new law requiring crisis pregnancy centers that are licensed by the state to let their clients know that abortions and other medical services are available elsewhere, for little or no cost. It also requires unlicensed facilities to post signs disclosing they are unlicensed."
Mark Leno -- his final quest is a run for the city's top job
The Chronicle's HEATHER KNIGHT: "Mostly, Mark Leno focuses on one date: June 5. That’s when San Franciscans will choose their next mayor, either rocketing Leno to the city’s top job or sending him into political retirement."
"But when he’s at Golden Gate Park’s AIDS Memorial Grove, Leno recalls the most significant dates of his past. Like May 20, 1980. The day a handsome 24-year-old named Douglas Jackson walked into Leno’s sign shop to order items for the opening of Muni’s Castro Street Station. Jackson was helping to organize a huge underground dance party in the subway called Metro Madness, and he needed banners and signs."
"It was, as Leno tells it with the lingering grin of a crush, love at first sight."
He caught a rare, crippling virus at a state park. His dad fears a cover-up
Sacramento Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON: "Citrus Heights resident Curtis Fry wants answers. After eight months of waiting, he doesn’t understand why Cal/OSHA can’t provide them."
"Fry’s 22-year-old son, Spencer Fry, contracted the deadly hantavirus in July 2017 while working at Bodie State Historic Park and living in state-provided housing. An avid runner and hiker, Spencer suffered permanent hearing loss in his left ear and partial leg paralysis as a result."
"Fry said he wants state investigators to report how he was exposed and hold State Parks accountable, but he fears investigators will water down criticism because Spencer submitted a form saying he intended to sue. If Spencer hadn't submitted the form by the state deadline, Fry said, he would have lost his right to litigate."
READ MORE related to Energy & Environment: Why your water provider is fighting California's ban on watering sidewalks -- Sacramento Bee's DALE KASLER/RYAN SABALOW; Yosemite's March run: lodging, snow treks wide open -- The Chronicle's TOM STIENSTRA
Against state law, former SF police union head uses rap sheet as meeting prop
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "Gary Delagnes, the brash former president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, is known for dramatic flourishes. But some say he may have gone too far by showing off a confidential criminal rap sheet at a recent community meeting."
"It’s against state law for Delagnes, a retired police inspector who now works as the union’s consultant, to have access to rap sheets, let alone print them out for public view. Yet he and Police Officers Association President Martin Halloran used the private criminal record as a prop during a Jan. 24 public safety forum at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center."
"On Thursday, the Police Department said it had opened an investigation, two days after The Chronicle began asking questions about whether Delagnes had a right to display the record."
Wells Fargo customers could have more time to file claims in $142M fake accounts settlement
LA Times's JAMES RUFUS KOREN: "Wells Fargo & Co. failed to notify some customers about its $142-million class-action settlement over its unauthorized accounts scandal — an error that could give customers more time to participate in the deal but contribute to months of delay in receiving payments."
"The bank last month told attorneys representing customers that it did not send required letters or emails to all current and former customers who should have been notified, according to a court filing last week."
"As a result, the two sides asked a federal judge overseeing the settlement to give the bank until mid-April to send the notices and give customers until July 7 to sign up for the settlement. The original deadline to file claims was Feb. 3."
Oakland initiative shows early success in breaking down barriers to college
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "Abby Friedman was thrilled when she got a text this week from one of the students she counsels at the college resource center at Coliseum College Preparatory Academy in Oakland — the teen had been accepted at Wesleyan University."
"Friedman texted back to ask whether the school said anything about financial aid. The girl said she wasn’t sure, that it was confusing, and she forwarded a photo of the acceptance letter."
"There were a lot of numbers on the page, but they translated to a full ride for the student, no loans, just free tuition, room and board. Friedman let out a whoop and sent the good news to the student."
READ MORE related to Education: Travel ban in California hurting college sports, lawmaker says -- Sacramento Bee's BILLY KOBIN
Despite wounds from fire, Sonoma County facing millions in mental health cuts
The Chronicle's LIZZIE JOHNSON: "They help some of the most vulnerable people in Sonoma County, those grappling with severe mental illnesses who can’t afford to pay for help."
"Now, their funding is in jeopardy at a terrible time. Sonoma County officials are considering millions of dollars in emergency budget cuts to more than 40 nonprofit groups that provide counseling, suicide prevention, supportive housing and addiction intervention — even as the region faces a mental health crisis after October’s Wine Country firestorm."
"The Board of Supervisors, desperate to address a mounting deficit caused by mismanagement, is set to vote March 27 on the potential cuts, though a precise figure for the savings has not been finalized. The changes would be effective immediately."
READ MORE related to Health & Health Care: Henry Waxman explains why it took the FDA so long to regulate the nicotine in cigarettes -- LA Times's DEBORAH NETBURN
'A bullet in your brain': Online threats, an arrest and the fear hanging over 3 schools
Sacramento Bee's DARRELL SMITH: "Trevor Joseph Marshall sent a video and a text message to his former friend explaining exactly how their lives would end. Marshall was going to kill himself and he was going to take his friend with him."
"I’m going to put a bullet in your brain,” he reportedly told the teen – a student at Roseville’s Adelante High School – on a Snapchat video. In his hand was an assault-style rifle."
"Shortly after, Marshall posted another Snapchat message to his friends, telling them he wanted "death by cop."
'Hot Cop of the Castro' guilty on 2 counts of hit and run
The Chronicle's EVAN SERNOFFSKY: "A San Francisco police officer who gained online fame as “the Hot Cop of the Castro,” only to fall from grace after slamming his car into two people in North Beach, was found guilty Thursday of two felony counts of hit and run."
"After a day of deliberation, a jury found Christopher Kohrs, 40, guilty of hit and run causing injury and hit and run causing serious permanent injury. He was remanded into jail custody by Superior Court Judge Carol Yaggy."
"It does not matter who you are or who you work for, everyone will be held accountable for their actions,” said Max Szabo, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office."
READ MORE related to Public Safety: Marin County sheriff's deputy killed in single-car accident -- The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI/SOPHIE HAIGNEY
Was Sacramento's billionaire soccer investor in town? New hope as Cincinnati land deal falters
Sacramento Bee's RYAN LILLIS: "Was Sacramento's soccer savior sitting courtside at a Kings game Wednesday night?"
"Ron Burkle, the billionaire grocery magnate who was involved in two attempts to purchase the Kings, was spotted sitting in the front row at Wednesday's game at Golden 1 Center with Republic FC Chairman Kevin Nagle, team COO Ben Gumpert and former Mayor Kevin Johnson."
"The sighting immediately sparked speculation that Burkle is among the small group of potential deep-pocketed investors Republic FC is in conversations with as it tries to solidify its bid for a Major League Soccer expansion spot. Republic FC officials declined comment and a spokesman for Burkle could not immediately be reached."
Karin Caves, longtime Sacramento political consultant, dies
Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON: "Karin Caves, a fixture in Sacramento politics who advised powerful California lawmakers and governors since the late 1980s, died early Thursday. She was 63."
"The news of her death surprised her friends in the Capitol and beyond. She began her latest assignment as the communications director for the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration in October."
"She was diagnosed with the illness that took her life only a month ago, her friends said."
"She's volunteered and worked for political campaigns since the early 1980s, including Gary Hart’s 1984 presidential campaign. She built her career in politics while raising sons Morgan and Jeffrey."
Fallen bridge: 'Stress test' preceded collapse that killed 6
AP's ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON: "An innovative pedestrian bridge being built at Florida International University had been put to a "stress test" and its cables were being tightened when it collapsed over traffic, killing six people and sending 10 to a hospital, authorities said."
"As state and federal investigators worked to determine how and why the five-day-old span failed on Thursday, one factor may have been the stress test that Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said crews were conducting on the span."
"Two workers were on the 950-ton bridge when it pancaked on top of vehicles waiting at a stoplight."
Democrat's dilemma: An energized left or moderation
AP's BILL BARROW: "Pennsylvania's Conor Lamb and Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, the new miracle men of the Democratic Party, offer a clear model for how to run in Republican territory: Focus on economics, not guns, immigration or President Donald Trump."
"But that won't be easy when much of the party is whipped into a fervor over those topics."
"As the party barrels into primary season, its biggest success stories star Democratic moderates who've run strong in Trump country. But much of the energy in the party is on the left, where an active base is calling for everything from single-payer health care and a $15-an-hour minimum wage to bans on certain weapons and ammunition. Finding the balance between the base's demands and winning general elections is Democrats' new dilemma as they look to toward to the November midterms."
Flake eyes 2020 primary challenge to stop Trump
AP's STEVE PEOPLES: "Jeff Flake has a direct message for the Republicans of New Hampshire: Someone needs to stop Donald Trump. And Flake, a Republican senator from Arizona, may stand up against the Republican president in 2020 — either as a Republican or an independent — if no one else does."
"It's not in my plan to run for president, but I am not ruling it out. Somebody needs to stand up for traditional Republicanism," Flake told The Associated Press in an interview. "Somebody needs to raise that, for nothing else than to give people hope that that decent party will be back. We'll get through this."
"Flake's comments came on the eve of his first solo political appearance in New Hampshire, the state expected to host the nation's first presidential primary election in less than two years. The 55-year-old Republican will deliver a speech Friday morning entitled "Country Over Party," as part of the esteemed "Politics and Eggs" speaker series at Saint Anselm College."
READ MORE related to POTUS45/KremlinGate: Cyberattacks put Russian fingers on the switch at power plants, US says -- NYT's NICOLE PERLROTH/DAVID E SANGER; Trump decides to remove national security adviser, and others may follow -- WaPo's ASHLEY PARKER/JOSH DAWSEY/PHILIP RUCKER/CAROL D LEONNIG; Attorney for porn star says she faced physical threats -- AP; As US indicts foreign hackers, American cyber spies fear arrests in tit-for-tat action -- McClatchy DC's TIM JOHNSON; Mueller subpoenas Trump Organization, demanding documents about Russia -- NYT's MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT/MAGGIE HABERMAN; House Democrats say they have proof State Dept. staff was pushed out over disloyalty to Trump -- WaPo's KAROUN DEMIRJIAN/CAROL MORELLO
