Wall Street Could Make $1 Billion Off PG&E's Bankruptcy – and Ratepayers Are on the Hook
From KQED's MARISA LAGOS: "PG&E’s bankruptcy is making some people very rich."
"Since the utility filed for Chapter 11 protection in January, lawyers and consultants have made a staggering $217 million. Big banks have netted $114 million in financing fees — and that number could top $1 billion by the time the company exits bankruptcy next year."
"Others are reaping the bankruptcy windfall, too."
Newsom's rebuke puts PG&E bankruptcy at a crossroads
The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS: "PG&E Corp.’s path out of bankruptcy has become much more complicated in recent days, and it’s not clear how the constantly challenged San Francisco company might overcome the new hurdles it faces."
"Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying to force major changes as PG&E seeks to move past billions of dollars in legal claims from wildfires started by its power lines. That’s why he rejected the company’s latest plan to resolve its bankruptcy case using a $13.5 billion settlement with victims’ attorneys."
"Newsom’s decision on Friday was a setback for PG&E, which had sought the governor’s blessing. But the company said Monday evening that it amended the deal with lawyers for victims so they can still seek court approval of the settlement. It would have automatically terminated otherwise."
PG&E stock falls 14% after Newsom complicates bankruptcy plan
The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS: "PG&E Corp. stock fell 14% on Monday as Wall Street grappled with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s rejection of the company’s plan to exit bankruptcy protection with a $13.5 billion deal it struck with wildfire victims’ attorneys."
"Shares of the San Francisco company were trading at $9.67, down 14%, and sank as low as $8.84 earlier in the morning on the New York Stock Exchange."
"On Friday evening, Newsom blasted PG&E’s latest plan to resolve its bankruptcy case as “woefully short” of what the company needs to accomplish. In a letter to CEO Bill Johnson, Newsom said the plan did not comply with a new state wildfire law — a determination the company had told him to make — and demanded changes, including a completely new board of directors."
OP-ED: Don't let the Golden State go dark
LANCE HASTINGS in Capitol Weekly: "The devastation of fire season in wine country and southern California has only been compounded by never-ending public safety power shutoffs across the state."
"While the purpose of power shutoffs by utility companies, like PG&E, is to prevent their uninspected equipment from catching fire during hot, windy weather, the constant lack of power is an unacceptable solution for California homeowners and business owners and their operations."
"Legislators are not surprised that Californians are upset by the power shutoffs that impacted nearly 3 million people last month, disrupting lives, education, businesses, and public safety."
Covered California deadline extended to Jan. 1
Sacramento Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON: ""After seeing a strong surge in enrollment last week, Covered California has extended the deadline until Friday for state residents to sign up for a health insurance policy that would begin covering them on Jan. 1. The original deadline was Sunday."
"Covered California is still open for business and making sure consumers can have a health plan in place on Jan. 1,” said Peter V. Lee, Covered California executive director. “Covered California is putting consumers first, making sure they have time to find the plan that best fits their needs."
"Lee said tens of thousands signed up for coverage Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week. Many middle-class Californians, he said, are just realizing they now qualify for new state subsidies that will help them cover the cost of their insurance premiums."
SEIU Local 1000 feud escalates with big union leave cut for vice presidents
Sacramento Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "The board of directors for SEIU Local 1000 voted Friday to reduce the amount of time three top officers may be paid for union work, in a change likely to aggravate tensions between the officers and the union’s president."
"The change eliminated three quarters of the union leave available to vice presidents Tony Owens, Anica Walls and Kevin Menager, who have clashed with longtime president Yvonne Walker over their roles since they were elected in 2018."
"Union leave provides pay for members who conduct union business during time they otherwise would be working. The vice presidents were on full-time union leave. The change reduces their leave to 25 percent."
Bay Area donors question Buttigieg about lack of African American support
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "Pete Buttigieg is near the top of the polls in overwhelmingly white states like Iowa and New Hampshire, but he’s hearing questions from donors at his private fundraisers in the Bay Area about what he can do to attract more support from African American voters."
"It is a question that hounds the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind. Nationally, Buttigieg is backed by just 2% of African Americans who are registered Democrats or lean Democratic, according to a Quinnipiac University survey released Monday. His support is at 13% among whites."
"His lack of African American backing helps to explain why Buttigieg is mired in the single digits in the more racially and ethnically diverse early voting states, South Carolina and Nevada. The racial divide could ultimately doom Buttigieg’s campaign, as 1 in 4 Democratic voters is African American."
Popular sports website blames California labor law as it cuts ties with freelancers
Sacramento Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "A popular sports website is severing ties with California-based freelance writers, and blaming a new state law taking effect Jan. 1 that dictates which kinds of workers must receive full employment benefits."
"California-based writers and editors from SB Nation, a hub of sports blogs with team-by-team websites owned by Vox, announced on Monday that their company is ending their contracts because of the new California law."
"As with many of my colleagues today, because I live in California, I was just told that I can no longer hold a paid position with SB Nation. This means that I will be forced to step down as editor in chief of Mavs Moneyball as of March 31,” wrote Rebecca Lawson, in a post published Monday morning."
SF mayor orders budget cuts as city takes on homelessness, mental illness
The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA: "Slowing revenue growth and rising costs have prompted San Francisco Mayor London Breed to mandate belt-tightening in an effort to stave off a budget deficit as the city steps up spending on homelessness and mental health."
"Breed issued instructions Monday calling on city departments to find ways to shrink their budgets by 3.5% in each of the next two fiscal years to deal with a projected $420 million budget shortfall over those fiscal years."
"That shortfall is nearly 55% higher that the previous budget."
Health insurance is expensive and unnceccassry according to some Californians. Will the new tax credits help?
USC's MICHAEL FINCH II in Sacramento Bee: "Even with access to health insurance at a historic high in the state, a growing number of uninsured Californians say they struggle to afford coverage, according to new results from UCLA’s California Health Interview Survey."
"Nearly four out of every 10 uninsured residents, or 37 percent of those surveyed, said the price of insurance was the leading reason for not having coverage in 2018. About 17 percent of people said they didn’t believe in or need health insurance."
"The findings came as no surprise to some health providers and policy experts who said the cost of health care remains an underlying challenge in California and beyond. The state’s high cost of living, which already weighs heavily on family budgets, is another factor."
SCOTUS ruling on Boise homeless case could affect Sacramento, here's how:
Sacramento Bee's THERESA CLIFT/ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS: "Sacramento police and sheriff’s deputies will continue to be barred from issuing citations to homeless people sleeping in public places for “unlawful camping” unless a shelter bed is available – for now."
"The United States Supreme Court will not take up the city of Boise’s appeal in the controversial case of Martin v. Boise, which largely prohibits local governments from ticketing homeless people for illegal camping, filings showed Monday."
"Shortly after September 2018, when the Boise ruling was first issued, the city and county stopped citing homeless people for unlawful camping on public property unless police could find them an open shelter bed, offer transportation to it, and the person rejected the offer."
E-cigs found to increase risk of chronic lung diseases
The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "People who smoke e-cigarettes face a significant risk of developing severe, chronic lung illnesses — such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema — that have long been associated with smoking combustible cigarettes, according to a UCSF study released Monday."
"The study found that people who use e-cigarettes in addition to smoking traditional tobacco triple their risk of chronic lung disease."
"The study, from tobacco researcher Stanton Glantz, showed for the first time that e-cigarette smoking, or vaping, has long-term effects on respiratory health that are similar to those of traditional tobacco smoking. Earlier studies identified a link between e-cigarettes and lung disease at a single point in time, but researchers hadn’t demonstrated long-term impacts, Glantz said."
LA County officials unveil a way to predict homelessness, in effort 'to get to more people sooner'
Daily News's ELIZABETH CHOU: "Los Angeles County officials said Monday they now have a tool that they can use to predict, with a high rate of accuracy, who is on the cusp of falling into homelessness. And they hope to use it to stem a growing tide of people who are becoming homeless each year."
"Researchers and scientists from the California Policy Lab used county data from 2012 until 2016 to try to predict who would become homeless in 2017. The models they created produced a list of 3,000 people believed to be at the greatest risk of homelessness, and out of those, 46% did become homeless, according to a report the group released Monday."
"This tool could help county officials begin to unravel a problem they face of how to most effectively and efficiently prevent homelessness, and that they hope can make a case for a portion of funding that is also needed for programs helping those who are already on the streets. This year, the homeless population on a given night climbed 12% from the prior year countywide, to 60,000 people."
SF expands job training and mental-health services for youths
The Chronicle's JOAQUIN PALOMINO: "As San Francisco moves ahead with its plan to close juvenile hall, it will expand services and employment opportunities for young people living in neighborhoods where incarceration rates are high."
"The city’s Juvenile Justice Reform Blue Ribbon Panel on Monday announced plans to start a job training program for youths in southeast San Francisco, expand mental health services at the Sunnydale public housing complex and open a retreat center for young people who have few opportunities to get out of the city."
"Sheryl Davis, executive director of San Francisco’s Human Rights Commission and chair of the panel, said the reforms will fill gaps in services that can contribute to delinquent or criminal behavior.
Kaiser mental health workers picket outside SF medical center
The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO: "Thousands of unionized Kaiser therapists, psychologists and social workers picketed outside Kaiser Permanente medical centers across California on Monday, protesting what they say are long wait times for patients seeking access to mental health services."
"The workers, members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers — which represents 15,000 Kaiser employees, including 4,000 mental health clinicians — plan to picket every day this week. Kaiser’s contract with the union expired in September 2018 and the two sides are in negotiations."
"Kaiser has said it has hired more mental health clinicians and invested millions of dollars to help people enter the profession. But workers say this has done little to relieve their workload or shorten wait times of up to six weeks that many patients face when trying to book follow-up appointments with a therapist."
Women in SFPD face barriers in assignments and recognition
The Chronicle's ANNA BAUMAN: "Women in the San Francisco Police Department were equally promoted, but more often confined to administrative roles that lack recognition than men, according to a new report."
"The city’s Department on the Status of Women reviewed police department data from 2015 to 2018, interviewed 45 sworn female officers and held focus groups as part of a gender analysis of the department released Monday."
"Sworn women are a valuable and essential part of the San Francisco Police Department and I am committed to addressing their concerns regarding diversity and equity,” Police Chief William Scott said in a statement. “We continue to make progress in identifying and addressing areas to improve gender equity and ensure equal opportunities for our members to develop and advance their careers."
Local colleges swept up in national campus anti-semitism debate
OCR's DEEPA BHARATH: "Pitzer College, a small yet prestigious liberal arts college in Claremont, has become part of a national debate over the line between anti-Semitism and anti-Israel speech and boycotts on college campuses."
"President Trump, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, signed an executive order during a Hanukkah celebration at the White House, extending civil rights protections to Jews and specifically targeting the pro-Palestine Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel movement on many of the nation’s elite college campuses, including Pitzer and other larger Southern California campuses such as UCLA, UC Riverside and UC Irvine."
"The order, which gives the Education Department the power to withhold federal funding from campuses that are under investigation for anti-Semitism, the definition of which will now include some anti-Israel speech, adds another layer of complexity to public discourse on college campuses on the Israel-Palestine conflict."
House Impeachment vote expected to spark national rallies
OCR's BROOKE STAGGS: "Thousands of people who want President Donald Trump removed from office have signed up to attend more than two dozen rallies scheduled Tuesday evening at intersections, parks, beaches and government buildings across Southern California."
"The local events are part of a coordinated “Nobody is Above the Law” campaign, with some 600 rallies planned nationwide on “impeachment eve,” just hours before Wednesday’s expected House vote on whether to impeach Trump."
"Activists are urging members of the Democratic-controlled House to impeach Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of congress."
$1.4T spending package crammed with unrelated provisions
AP: "House leaders on Monday unveiled a $1.4 trillion government-wide spending package that’s carrying an unusually large load of unrelated provisions catching a ride on the last train out of Congress this year."
"A House vote is slated for Tuesday on the sprawling package, some 2,313 pages long, as lawmakers wrap up reams of unfinished work — and vote on impeaching President Donald Trump."
"The legislation would forestall a government shutdown this weekend and give Trump steady funding for his U.S.-Mexico border fence. The year-end package is anchored by a $1.4 trillion spending measure that caps a difficult, months-long battle over spending priorities."
