PG&E Says S.E.C. Is Investigating Its Wildfire Disclosures
From the NYT's IVAN PENN: "The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into Pacific Gas and Electric’s accounting for its losses related to three years of wildfires in Northern California, the utility reported to shareholders Thursday."
"PG&E told investors that it learned in March that investigators from the S.E.C.’s San Francisco regional office had begun the review of public disclosures and accounting by the utility and its parent corporation for the 2015 Butte Fire as well as wildfires in 2017 and 2018. The fires killed scores of people, and the Camp Fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise last year, was the most destructive wildfire in California history."
"The review is the latest in a series of federal and state investigations into PG&E’s finances, operations and safety culture."
Newsom officially kills twin Delta tunnels, eyes downsized CA water project
Sacramento Bee's DALE KASLER/RYAN SABALOW: "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration officially pulled the plug Thursday on the twin Delta tunnels, fullfilling Newsom’s pledge to downsize the project to a single pipe as he attempts to chart a new course for California’s troubled water-delivery system."
"The Department of Water Resources halted the planning on the twin tunnels by withdrawing its application to a sister agency, the State Water Resources Control Board, for permission to build the massive project from a starting point on the Sacramento River near Courtland. The state also scrapped documents declaring that the twin tunnels plan — designed to smooth water deliveries to the southern half of the state — complied with California’s environmental laws."
"In the short run, the decision means more delays for a project that’s been on the drawing board for more than a decade. Karla Nemeth, director of the Department of Water Resources, said it could take up to three years to rework the environmental documents and other permits needed to build a single tunnel beneath the Delta. But by downsizing and simplifying the project, she said the state hopes it can speed up the “overall delivery schedule” for the project."
California’s 2018 midterm election: A dive into the numbers
From Capitol Weekly's SCOTT SORIANO: "Voter participation dramatically increased in California in the 2018 midterm elections, part of a nationwide trend."
"About 51.9% of California’s 25.1 million eligible voters hit the polls in the 2018 general election, up from 36.6% in 2014, the previous midterm election, according to the U.S. Census Bureau."
"Just as impressive, California’s 2018 midterm mark was only 6 percentage points below that of the 2016 presidential election. Typically, midterm voter participation is at least 30% lower than in a presidential election."
Toxic water in California prisons: Sickening inmates and costing taxpayers millions
Sacramento Bee's RYAN SABALOW/DALE KASLER/WES VENTEICHER: "An inmate’s death in Stockton from Legionnaires’ disease marks the third time in four years the rare form of pneumonia has struck California’s state prisons – and has laid bare a history of contamination and other problems plaguing water supplies in the corrections system."
"Incidents of tainted water have spawned inmate lawsuits, expensive repairs, hefty bills for bottled water and fines, putting a multimillion-dollar burden on the taxpayer-funded corrections system, according to documents and court records reviewed by McClatchy."
"Now the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which oversees a network of 76 prisons, youth lockups and inmate firefighter camps, is dealing with a death. The fatality in early March at the California Health Care Facility, a prison hospital in Stockton, follows a Legionnaires’ case earlier this year at a prison hospital in Vacaville – which went unpublicized until now – and a major outbreak that sickened 16 inmates and employees at San Quentin in 2015."
Families who paid largest sums in admissions scheme say they were duped
From the LA Times' MATTHEW ORMSETH and JOEL RUBIN: "Yusi Zhao’s mother says she thought she was helping needy students at Stanford — not buying her daughter’s admission — when she paid $6.5 million into a foundation controlled by college admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer."
"One day after the Times identified the Zhaos, of Beijing, as the source of the huge payment that dwarfed the amount Singer typically charged parents for his now-admitted admissions scheme, Zhao’s mother released a statement through an attorney in which she claims the family were unsuspecting victims, duped by a con man who convinced them they were making a generous donation through a legitimate charity."
"“Mrs. Zhao has come to realize she has been misled, her generosity has been taken advantage of, and her daughter has fallen victim to the scam,” read a statement released Thursday by Vincent W. C. Law, a Hong Kong attorney who said he represents the mother."
Can the state keep bailing out areas ravaged by disaster?
Sacramento Bee's TONY BIZJAK: "As embers were dying from the cataclysmic 2018 wildfire season, Gov. Gavin Newsom and California legislators rushed in with tens of millions of dollars in bailout funds for Butte and other counties to keep fire-ravaged areas afloat until they can rebuild their tax base."
"It was the humanitarian thing to do, officials said. Now, more Butte County leaders have shown up at the Capitol asking for cash, and describing post-fire woes that are both dramatic and worrisome."
"The Paradise water district is asking for $22 million to avoid bankruptcy while it cleans cancer-causing benzene the fire deposited in its pipes, a shocking problem detailed last month in The Sacramento Bee. The Paradise school district is asking for financial help to bus students up the hill to schools in town this fall, though few people will be living there for some time."
New law barring 14- and 15-year-olds from adult court stands, California appeals court rules
Sacramento Bee's DARRELL SMITH: "A California appeals court has upheld easing the life sentence of a Solano County man sentenced to life in prison at age 15 on attempted murder, sexual assault and torture charges, in the state’s first ruling to uphold thecontroversial law barring 14- and 15-year-olds from being tried as adults."
"Tuesday’s unanimous 13-page ruling by the San Francisco-based 1st District Court of Appeal allowing Senate Bill 1391 to stand sets up a legal battle bound for the state’s high court, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday."
"The Solano County District Attorney’s Office quickly announced its plans to appeal the San Francisco court’s ruling to the state Supreme Court."
Prescription drugs cost 14% more in SF than national average
The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO: "When Christina Hale ducked into a CVS on San Francisco’s Market Street on Thursday to pick up a prescription she’d accidentally left at home in Indianapolis, the price tag came as a surprise."
"Hale, who was in town on business, usually pays $10 for a monthlong supply of the medication. But at the San Francisco pharmacy, she was charged $11.99 for just a five-day supply."
"Hale isn’t sure why her medication cost as much as it did in San Francisco — she surmised it could’ve been because her insurance had already helped cover the previous supply — but said the lack of transparency was troubling."
Steep toll for crooked Lombard Street moves forward, passing state Assembly
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "Congestion relief — at a cost of up to $10 — may be coming to drivers on the crooked section of Lombard Street, now that a bill to test out a toll system has cleared its first hurdle."
"AB 1605 by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, passed the Assembly on Thursday by a vote of 51-18. It would enable San Francisco to set up a reservation and pricing system on the 500-foot brick path, known for its corkscrew twists, Instagram-worthy views and maddening traffic jams."
"The Russian Hill street attracts 2 million tourists a year who come to take selfies or admire the brick switchbacks. City officials have long contemplated plans to impose reservations and fares of up to $10 to drive down the road, an idea that requires state approval. It’s currently illegal for California cities to tack fees onto busy roads, and politicians who have tried to change those laws in the past have failed."
Activist files lawsuit after being hit by sheriff's SUV during Clark protest
Sacramento Bee's MOLLY SULLIVAN: "The Sacramento activist who was hit by a Sacramento County Sheriff Department patrol vehicle during a Stephon Clark protest last year filed a lawsuit Thursday, alleging the officer used “excessive and unreasonable force,” according to court documents."
"Wanda Cleveland, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, is seeking more than $25,000 in damages for injuries she said she suffered after the incident, the lawsuit says."
"According to the lawsuit, Cleveland was marching in a demonstration in the area of Florin Road and Fawn Way following the police shooting death of Stephon Clark on March 31, 2018. While she was crossing in front of the patrol vehicle, she was struck by the passenger side and the deputy drove off, the lawsuit says."
A homeless couple moved into a $4 million Piedmont home. Then came the calls to police
The Chronicle's OTIS R TAYLOR JR: "Greg Dunston and Marie Mckinzie lived on Oakland’s streets for almost 10 years, pushing their carts around with all their belongings and sleeping in the doorway of an Alameda County building."
"But for the past three months, the couple have lived among the wealthy — on a nearly $4 million property in one of the Bay Area’s most exclusive neighborhoods in Piedmont. The homeowner, Terrence McGrath, did something few in his position would dare do: He opened his doors to homeless people in need."
"Poor, black homeless people — in a mostly white, rich neighborhood."
SF opens its trove of historical property photos to the public
The Chronicle Datebook's SAM WHITING: "Glen Park historian Evelyn Rose has always known that her home was moved from the Sunnyside district in 1960 to make way for Interstate 280. But she doesn’t know from exactly where, or what it looked like after it was dragged up the steep block of Mizpah Street to a hillside lot."
"On Wednesday, May 1, Rose was finally able to access evidence to help clue her in when the San Francisco Assessor’s Office released 94,000 historic property photographs. Rose was among the first to type her address into a newly established database. Rose cam back the next day to the San Francisco History Center at the Main Library, put on a pair of white gloves, and hold in her hand an original print image of her home."
"With luck it would have the date on the back, or stamped into the border. With extra luck she will also be able sleuth out a picture from its original location."
Should Trump be impeached? Here's what Bay Area members of Congress say
The Chronicle's TAL KOPAN: "With the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, the question is before lawmakers: What will they do next?"
"Democrats are split over whether to move to impeachment proceedings against President Trump in the House, the only chamber of Congress they control. With Republicans opposed to impeachment and in control of the Senate, such an effort would largely be for the purpose of uncovering information that could be damaging to Trump, either politically or in the congressional proceedings."
"Here’s where members of the Bay Area delegation — many of whom sit on committees where articles of impeachment would be considered or where investigations would be conducted — stand on whether to try to remove Trump from office."
