Brown signs no-money bail bill
Capitol Weekly's JOHN HOWARD: "Gov. Brown on Tuesday signed landmark legislation to eliminate money bail for many California defendants, replacing it instead with a system based on a person’s flight risk and other factors."
"Today, California reforms its bail system so that rich and poor alike are treated fairly,” Brown said."
"The governor’s action culminated years of negotiations over California’s money-based bail system, which keeps low-income defendants locked up awaiting trials or hearings, while affluent defendants can purchase their freedom, at least temporarily."
READ MORE related to Prisons & Public Safety: Gov. Brown signs bill eliminating California's cash-bail system -- The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO
How will no cash bail work in California? Here are answers to common questions
Sacramento Bee's TONY BIZJAK/MOLLY SULLIVAN/ALEXEI KOSEFF: "In a dramatic move, California has overturned its historic cash-based bail system and ordered local courts to create a “risk-based” system to decide who gets out of jail — or not — before trial."
"Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 10 on Tuesday and called it a major step toward fairness. “Today, California reforms its bail system so that rich and poor alike are treated fairly,” Brown said in a statement."
"The bill’s author, Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, described the basic philosophy: “The essence of this measure is we’re going to look at people as people."
PG&E could get bankruptcy 'stress test' in wildfire legislation
The Chronicle's DAVID R BAKER: "Facing wildfire lawsuits that could cost it $17 billion, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. may soon be given a bankruptcy stress test by California regulators to determine just how big a financial blow the utility can survive."
"The test is a piece of draft legislation approved by a conference committee Tuesday night in Sacramento that would let utility companies pass on to their customers costs arising from wildfires sparked by power lines, provided the companies acted reasonably in maintaining their equipment. If they didn’t act reasonably, the companies and their shareholders would have to swallow the costs."
"But the draft, which was publicly released Tuesday afternoon with just four days left in the legislative session, contains a big exception."
Plan to power California with all renewable energy clears major hurdle
Sacramento Bee's TARYN LUNA: "The California Legislature is poised to send a bill to the governor that would require all retail electricity to be generated from solar, wind and other renewable energy sources by 2045."
"Despite objections from utilities and oil companies, the Assembly voted 43-32 to eliminate fossil fuels in the state’s energy sector on Tuesday. Senate Bill 100, introduced by Sen. Kevin de León, must return to the Senate, and is all but guaranteed to reach the Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk before the legislative session ends this week."
"When it comes to fighting climate change and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, California won’t back down, ” de León said. “We have taken another great stride toward a 100% clean energy future."
READ MORE related to Energy & Environment: The hot new venue for summer weddings -- your local sewage plant -- Water Deeply's MATT WEISER
ICE arrests in courtrooms escalate feud between California and Trump administration over immigration policy
LA Times's BRITTNY MEJIA/JAZMINE ULLOA: "Yovanny Ontiveros-Cebreros arrived at the Sacramento courthouse expecting to plead not guilty to felony drug charges and be allowed to go home. His attorney had said that was standard procedure."
"Instead, an immigration agent approached the 38-year-old after his arraignment and put him in handcuffs, saying he was wanted for unlawful reentry into the United States."
GOP candidate for state attorney general faces numerous charges of judicial misconduct
The Chronicle's MATIER & ROSS: "Republican candidate Steven Bailey is facing nearly a dozen charges of judicial misconduct for allegedly having misused his post as an El Dorado County Superior Court judge prior to stepping down last August to run for state attorney general."
"Allegations of wrongdoing range from Bailey launching his campaign for AG while still on the bench to placing DUI defendants in a private, alcohol monitoring program where his son works."
"Bailey is due to appear before the state Commission on Judicial Performance next week to answer to the charges, which could result in a formal censure — though it wouldn’t impact his serving as attorney general."
Political ad attacks Gavin Newsom as a 'child of privilege'
LA Times's PHIL WILLON: "An independent political committee backing Republican John Cox for California governor released a new campaign ad bashing Democratic candidate Gavin Newsom as a “child of privilege” with a far-left political agenda."
"The independent expenditure committee, Restore Our Values, paid $250,000 to air the aid on Fox News, CNN and other outlets for the next week, said Jennifer Jacobs, spokesperson for the organization."
"The one-minute ad attempts to contrast Cox and Newsom, casting Cox as a self-made man and Newsom as product of the well-connected, well-heeled San Francisco political class."
'I am not ashamed': Calif. candidate rips 'cowards' who posted photos of her in underwear
WaPo's TAYLOR TELFORD: "As soon as Rachel Hundley saw the link, her heart sank."
"The now-disabled website, called “Rachel Hundley Exposed,” attacked Hundley for her stance on divisive issues while mayor of Sonoma. It contained photographs mined from Hundley’s social media accounts, including some showing her in a bra and underwear and working at Burning Man, the famed art and music festival. The site, supposedly by an organization called “Sonoma Citizens for Peace and Cooperation,” called Hundley a “cruel and demented person,” who was “a cancer” that needed to be cut from the community."
California legislators OK bill to expand gun-confiscation law
The Chronicle's MELODY GUTIERREZ: "California lawmakers approved a bill Tuesday that would allow co-workers and school personnel to petition a court to temporarily remove guns from someone they believe poses a danger."
"AB2888 by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, would expand the list of people who can ask a court for a gun violence restraining order, a little-known process under which a judge can bar a person from possessing a gun for as long as a year."
"The law can now be used only by immediate family members, roommates and law enforcement. Under Ting’s bill, teachers, principals, co-workers and employers could also ask for a gun restraining order for people they fear are a threat to themselves or others."
Why all California school buses don't have seat belts -- and when they will
Sacramento Bee's CAITLIN CHEN: "For years, California school buses didn’t have seat belts. Many still don’t."
"But Gov. Jerry Brown this week signed AB 1798, a bill that would require all school buses in California have seat belts with shoulder and lap belts — by July 2035."
"Districts must either retrofit their old buses with seat belts before 2035 or purchase new buses with seat belts."
SF demonstrates how safe injection sites for drug users would work
The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA: "Stepping into the mock safe injection site set up inside Glide Memorial Church, with its friendly receptionist, stainless-steel medical tables and modestly furnished recovery area, it can be easy to forget that it’s just a model."
"If it were real, it would be populated by injection drug users who’ve come to take advantage of the clean, safe space and the counselors on hand to guide them to recovery services. That reality is the aim of San Francisco Mayor London Breed and other city officials who want to open the nation’s first supervised injection site."
"Through Friday, Glide’s Freedom Hall will be home to a prototype safe injection site, a display meant to give the public a realistic, tangible sense of what such a facility could look and feel like."
State criticizes, bars former Contra Costa County judge from future judicial service
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "The state’s judicial disciplinary agency has harshly criticized former Contra Costa County Judge Bruce Mills for misconduct in two cases — and his “shifting explanations for his conduct” — and barred him from future judicial service."
"Mills, a judge since 1995, retired from the Superior Court on May 31 while his disciplinary case was pending. The Commission on Judicial Performance, which could have ordered him removed from the bench, said Tuesday it was imposing the most severe sanction available for a retired judge, a public censure and permanent disqualification from judicial employment in California."
"Noting that Mills had been been disciplined several times in the past, the commission said it found a “strong likelihood” that he would commit further misconduct if he returned to the bench as a judge or lower-level judicial officer."
Newsom: SF won't solve homelessness with more money alone
The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom told Bay Area business leaders Tuesday that boosting the amount San Francisco spends on homeless programs by hundreds of millions of dollars would only exacerbate the problem."
"Put another $400 million in the homeless problem and I promise you this: Your problem is going to get a lot worse,” the Democratic candidate for governor said."
"Newsom later explained that he was making a pitch for a regional approach to solving problems."
Legal cannabis industry tries to shake 'stoner' stereotypes
AP's JOHN ROGERS/KRYSTA FAURIA: "Michelle Janikian, who writes about marijuana for publications like Herb, Playboy and Rolling Stone, says after she tells someone what she does for a living, she usually spends the rest of the conversation "trying to act so friendly and mainstream" so they don't think she's stoned."
"Adam Salcido relates that after he went to work a couple of years ago for a Southern California company that helps organize weed-infused events like Hempfest and Cannabis Cup, he had to reassure his family he wouldn't turn into a drug addict."
"Stoner stereotypes die hard."
READ MORE related to Cannabis: Former LA mayor Villaraigosa joins board of local cannabis firm MedMen -- LA Times's JAMES RUFUS KOREN
Silicon Valley wanted to be a player. Now it's paying the price
THe Chronicle's OWEN THOMAS: “Be careful what you wish for, ’cause you just might get it,” sangthose prophetic sirens, the Pussycat Dolls. The year was 2008, and internet election interference looked like teens posting memes of Shepard Fairey’s Barack Obama “Hope” poster on 4chan."
"Even then, when it was a pipsqueak social network of less than 100 million people, Facebook had grand ambitions of being a force in politics, teaming up with ABC to cover the 2008 election."
"That same year, spurred in part by a group that formed on Facebook, Colombians began marching against the FARC rebels, a development that ultimately led to a peace process and disarmament. Mark Zuckerberg more or less took credit for the South American country’s political transformation."
News media hesitate to use 'lie' for Trump's misstatements
AP's DAVID BAUDER: "President Donald Trump has been accused of dishonesty, spreading falsehoods, misrepresenting facts, distorting news, passing on inaccuracies and being loose with the truth. But does he lie?"
"It's a loaded word, and some Trump critics believe major news organizations are too timid to use it. The Washington Post, which has documented more than 4,000 false or misleading claims by the president, declared for the first time last week that a Trump misstatement was a "lie."
"Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen's plea deal provided "indisputable evidence that Trump and his allies have been deliberately dishonest" about hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler wrote. The Post put Kessler's assessment on its front page, and it was the newspaper's most-read story online."
