Federal agents to probe Stephon Clark shooting after California A.G. declines to bring charges
LA Times's ANITA CHABRIA: "Federal authorities announced Tuesday they will conduct a civil rights review of the police shooting of an unarmed black man in California’s capital last March, a killing that triggered a year of racial upheaval in Sacramento and has become the focus of legislation to curb the use of deadly force."
"The announcement came hours after California’s top prosecutor declined to file charges against the two Sacramento police officers, Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet, who fired on Stephon Clark 20 times after mistaking his cellphone for a gun. Clark was struck at least seven times and died at the scene, later determined to be his grandmother’s backyard."
“Pain, anger, frustration, disappointment, a wound has been reopened,” said Jamilia Land, a friend of the Clark family, on their reaction to the news."
READ MORE related to Stephon Clark Shooting: OP-ED: On Monday night police launched an attack on our 1st Amendment. Here's how you can respond -- Sacramento Bee's EDITORIAL BOARD; Dramatic photos from the Stephon Clark protests in East Sacramento -- Sacramento Bee's STAFF; Steinberg, City Council want independent investigation of Clark protest arrests -- Sacramento Bee's TONY BIZJAK/RYAN SABALOW/MICHAEL MCGOUGH/THERESA CLIFT; No charges to be filed against police by California AG -- Sacramento Bee's SAM STANTON/DARRELL SMITH/SOPHIA BOLLAG; Clergy arrested at Clark protest speaks -- Sacramento Bee's HECTOR AMEZCUA/AKIRA OLIVIA KUMAMOTO; Police Chief Hahn speaks about arrests at Clark protest -- Sacramento Bee's THERESA CLIFT/TONY BIZJAK/AKIRA OLIVIA KUMAMOTO; Tensions boil over at City Council meeting over police treatment of Clark protesters -- Sacramento Bee's THERESA CLIFT/TONY BIZAK/RYAN SABALOW/VINCENT MOLESKI/JAMES PATRICK; Watch Sacramento City Council meeting erupt with angry Clark protesters -- Sacramento Bee's THERESA CLIFT
Evacuations in California take place as storm approaches
AP: "A storm soaking California on Wednesday could trigger mudslides in wildfire burn areas where thousands of residents are under evacuation orders, authorities warned."
"Up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain is expected along the Central Coast, and amounts could be higher in areas where thunderstorms develop, the National Weather Service said."
"The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office ordered 3,000 residents to evacuate hillside neighborhoods scarred by fires — including parts of Montecito hit by a disastrous debris flow just over a year ago. Officials didn't say how many people heeded the order."
READ MORE related to Energy & Environment: Storm could drop 3 inches of rain on some parts of Bay Area -- The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI; Nearly 1500 pulses of lightning recorded off SoCal coast in 5 minutes -- LA Times's ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN
'Everything's going well' for Newsom, but Governator Schwarzenegger wants Republicans back in power
Sacramento Bee's BRYAN ANDERSON: "Arnold Schwarzenegger is on a mission to push his party away from the president."
"The two-term former California governor said Republicans in the state need to be more moderate and distance themselves from the national brand."
"If you take your guidelines just from the party, it is deadly,” Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said. “It’s the party’s business to create an atmosphere of fighting with the party. That’s what they do."
SF Ethics Commissioner Quentin Kopp resigns, says politicians unafraid of agency
The Chronicle's TRISHA THADANI: "Quentin Kopp resigned from the San Francisco Ethics Commission on Tuesday because of what he called “unsatisfactory” investigative practices and a lackadaisical nature in calling out corruption in city governance."
"It is not very effective,” Kopp, 90, said of the commission, on which he has served since 2017. “I don’t think anyone is afraid of the Ethics Commission who is in competitive political life in San Francisco. The lobbyists have acclimated themselves to it over a period of 25 years. And so have the candidates."
"The commission was established by a 1993 ballot measure to enforce the city’s ethics laws and rules, which cover campaign spending and contributions, conflicts of interest and policy issues. The agency has long been criticized for lax policing of ethics rules, campaign regulations and for a growing backlog of cases."
OP-ED: California's early primary no pot of gold for Kamala Harris
Political Strategist GARRY SOUTH in the Sacramento Bee: "Ever since Sen. Kamala Harris announced her presidential campaign, there’s been a gush of speculation about the importance of her home state in the nomination process – especially since the California primary has been moved up to March."
"I’m neither for nor against Harris in the primary, and I will enthusiastically support her if she is the Democratic candidate. But much of the hype about the supposed primacy of the California primary for her candidacy ignores the recent history of the state’s role in the Democratic nominating process."
"The last time a California candidate ran in the state’s Democratic presidential primary was 1992, when former two-term Gov. Jerry Brown challenged Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. Unlike several other major candidates who dropped out before the June 2 primary, Brown hung on, carried six states and even spoke at the national convention."
SF judge orders Trump admin restart young migrant refugee program
The Chronicle's TATIANA SANCHEZ: "Nearly 3,000 Central Americans may reunite with their families in the United States after a San Francisco judge ordered the Trump administration to revive a program for young migrants it had quietly ended more than two years ago."
"U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler on Friday ordered the administration to continue the Central American Minors program, allowing immigrants living in the U.S. legally to apply for refugee status or humanitarian parole on behalf of their children aged 21 or under, spouses and grandchildren living in El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras."
"The CAM program, created in 2014 following the mass migration of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children fleeing violence in Central America, aimed to provide a safer route across the border. But the Trump administration ended the program in January 2017, leaving an estimated 2,700 young people in limbo."
California wildfires: Report names priority projects for thinning vegetation
The Chronicle's MATTHIAS GAFNI: "Gov. Gavin Newsom should immediately allow the thinning of vegetation on almost 94,000 acres of state land in a bid to keep more than 200 communities safe, California fire officials said Tuesday as they released a list of the state’s 35 most critical fuel-reduction projects."
"The priority projects include areas near Orinda, Aptos, Woodside and Los Gatos. To narrow the list, state experts not only assessed fire risk but such factors as whether residents of areas were older or more disabled on average, and whether their communities featured good escape routes in case of emergency."
"Protection, known as Cal Fire, recommended a variety of other steps California should take to reduce risk after two catastrophic years of damage, in which wildfires killed nearly 150 people, destroyed thousands of homes and raised fundamental questions about the safety of hundreds of towns amid a warming climate."
READ MORE related to Wildfires: CA insurer gives $2M for Paradise health services after fire -- The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO
What to do about student debt? These ideas are brewing in the California Legislature
Sacramento Bee's HANNAH WILEY:"The average California college graduate has more than $20,000 in loan debt."
"That’s on the low end of the national numbers."
"About $1.5 trillion of student loan debt now hangs over the heads of millennials in the United States. And studies show they are, not surprisingly, drowning in attempts to make their monthly payments without going broke in the process. Websites and blogs advise students on tips, tricks and penny-pinching strategies to save a few dollars for shoveling into the always-burning student loan furnace. Young professionals work multiple jobs in a hodge podge attempt to rake in extra cash and are forgoing buying homes and cars, and getting married at a later age due to student loans and how they impact family finances."
READ MORE related to Education: Student at OC Catholic school in makeshift swastika photos 'now a former student' -- LA Times's ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN; Jackie Goldberg has strong lead in early returns to fill key LA school board seat -- LA Times's HOWARD BLUME
San Jose man impersonating DEA agent pulls over a real federale, gets arrested, police say
The Chronicle's LAUREN HERNANDEZ: "A San Jose man is facing federal charges after he impersonated a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in at least two incidents where he pulled over motorists in the Bay Area, authorities said Tuesday."
"One of the motorists he pulled over happened to be a real off-duty federal agent, authorities said."
"Alex Taylor, 49, was arrested Saturday after an investigation into reports that a man driving a Volkswagen Jetta with red and blue lights affixed on the vehicle was making unauthorized traffic stops, according to the DEA."
Second man cured of HIV sparks hope that millions more could eventually benefit
The Chronicle's ERIN ALLDAY: "The apparent cure of a second person with the HIV virus after undergoing a bone marrow transplant has rekindled confidence that scientists will be able to harness that therapy and help potentially millions of others in the not-too-distant future."
"The case of the patient in London was reported Tuesday in the journal Nature and at an infectious disease conference in Seattle. The man has been free of HIV for 18 months, without drugs to fight the infection, after his immune system was replaced with donor cells that are resistant to the virus. His doctors are reluctant to call him fully cured yet, but other experts in HIV said a cure seems likely."
"The man got the bone marrow transplant as a treatment for a type of blood cancer, not HIV, but his doctors knew from a previous case that the transplant could eradicate the virus as well as the cancer. That was how Timothy Brown, the Berlin patient who was treated in Germany and now lives in Palm Springs, was cured of HIV 12 years ago."
READ MORE related to Health: For persistent depression, FDA approves a novel treatment based on ketamine -- LA Times's CAROLYN Y JOHNSON/LAURIE MCGINLEY; When measles struck, investigators wanted answers. Instead, some parents lied -- LA Times's SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA
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