PG&E faces new blackout restrictions
The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS: "California’s most powerful utility regulator is stepping up efforts to limit Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s planned blackouts ahead of this year’s wildfire season."
"Marybel Batjer, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, told PG&E on Thursday that she found “serious deficiencies” in the way the company says it is improving its shut-off program."
"Reports that PG&E filed with the commission were “fundamentally inadequate” in the amount of specifics provided, and the company inappropriately stopped filing the reports entirely last month, Batjer said."
After failure, California leaders vow to pass housing bill
From AP's ADAM BEAM: "Desperate for more housing in the nation’s most populous state, the leader of the California Senate committed Thursday to passing a law this year to add more housing in a state facing a shortage of 3.5 million homes."
"Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins’ comments came moments after the Senate failed to pass the most ambitious housing bill in memory: One that would have forced local governments to let developers build small apartment buildings in some neighborhoods reserved for single family homes."
"The bill took on what has become the biggest issue in California: A housing shortage that is sending rents and home prices soaring while contributing to the state’s growing homeless population, the largest in the country."
Sierra snowpack measures below average -- but there's plenty of time to hope
The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "Despite a damp December that delivered 18 days of rain and hope for a wet and snowy winter, California’s snowpack has fallen well below average."
"But it’s not yet time to panic, state water officials said Thursday after taking the second snowpack measurement of the season near Phillips Station near Echo Summit."
"If you remember back to 2012 to 2015, this field was completely bare, with grass,” said Sean de Guzman, chief of snow surveys for the state Department of Water Resources. “We’re standing currently on 4 to 5 feet of snow, so I’d say we’re in decent shape right now."
How local residents are prepping for coronavirus
Sac Bee's THEODORA YU: "No known cases of the novel coronavirus have shown up in Northern California. That’s not stopping people in Sacramento from being prepared."
"Some people are even trying to help."
"The virus, which was first identified in Wuhan, China, and has no specific antiviral treatment recommended for patients, now has more than 7,000 confirmed cases and a death toll of 170 in the country. On Thursday, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern."
READ MORE related to Coronavirus: Is wearing a facemask necessary to prevent contracting coronavirus? -- Sac Bee's THEODORA YU; As coronavirus fears mount, fewer flights and more masks at SFO -- The Chronicle's CAROLYN SAID/ANNA BAUMAN
Teens drench themselves in fake oil in climate change protest at California pension fund
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "Dozens of young people staged a dramatic march from the Capitol to the headquarters of California’s teacher pension fund on Thursday, imploring CalSTRS to withdraw its investments from oil and gas companies."
"The children, some drenched in mock oil, participated in a “die-in” at CalSTRS headquarters in West Sacramento, where they said their generation would suffer from the effects of climate change."
"We’re the ones that are vulnerable,” Sophia Jacobs, 12, of Berkeley said."
Women may sue UC Berkeley over treatment after reporting assaults, court rules
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "Three women who say they were sexually assaulted by fellow students or faculty at UC Berkeley in 2012 may sue the school for an alleged policy of deliberate indifference to claims of assault and harassment, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday."
"Two women said they were assaulted by students, and the third said she was repeatedly groped by a man who was a visiting lecturer at the university. One of the students was criminally tried and convicted of assault, but his victim said he was later allowed to return to campus while she was still a student. All three women said they received little or no information from UC Berkeley about its investigation of their complaints."
"The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the university may have been “negligent, lazy and careless” in failing to follow its own policies or guidance from the U.S. Department of Education in investigating the incidents."
State Dem fails to ban 'Teach for America' -- but says the fight ain't over
Sac Bee's HANNAH WILEY: "A proposal to ban organizations like Teach for America from sending young educators to low-income schools in California failed on Thursday."
"Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, introduced Assembly Bill 221 in 2019 to ban Teach for America educators from working in charter and traditional public schools if at least 40 percent of the students were from low-income families."
"Garcia expanded the legislation to include all third-party organizations that don’t require recruited teachers to commit to at least five years in low-income schools. But she postponed an Assembly floor vote on AB 221 last May after it appeared not to have enough votes.
Bloomberg plans Sacramento, Fresno visit next week
Sac Bee's BRYAN ANDERSON: "Michael Bloomberg will visit Sacramento and Fresno during his fourth California trip since declaring his candidacy in late-November."
"According to his campaign, the former New York City mayor and Democratic presidential candidate will hold public “organizing events” at three campaign stops on Monday. He’ll make an appearance in Sacramento early in the morning, go to Fresno later in the morning and then travel to Compton in the early afternoon."
"Bloomberg has adopted an unorthodox strategy for the 2020 primary, skipping the four earliest voting states in the nation, spending more than $250 million on political ads and going all-in on California — the most delegate-rich state in the nation."
How long will Nuru hang on to his job and pension?
The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA: "Calls for disgraced Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru’s ouster from city government are intensifying amid the widening fallout from the public corruption scandal he’s been accused of orchestrating."
"But despite the details the Justice Department laid out in its criminal complaint against Nuru this week, the expected end of his decades-long career as a public employee depends on the outcome of a meticulous personnel investigation now under way."
"That process will also provide the answer to another central question: Will Nuru get to keep his city pension, despite accusations of corruption and fraud?"
READ MORE related to SF Graft Probe: Meet the man tasked with cleaning up SF agency in wake of Nuru allegations -- The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN
US citizen mistakenly targeted for deportation returns home
The Chronicle's TATIANA SANCHEZ: "A California man mistakenly targeted for deportation in 2015 — which led him to move to Cambodia — returned home Wednesday, reuniting with dozens of family members and supporters at San Francisco International Airport."
"Even he didn’t know until November that he was a U.S. citizen."
"About 75 people spread out across the International Terminal in the evening, many from Fresno, where he lives. They danced to traditional Cambodian music, sang and passed around donuts to welcome Sok Loeun, 35, who left the country voluntarily five years ago after he said immigration agents threatened to deport him. Loeun, who was brought to the U.S. at 1 year old, had no idea he’d been a citizen since he was 12."
Accreditors place troubled Peralta Community College District on probation
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "Accreditation officials will announce Friday that they have placed the Peralta Community College District’s four East Bay colleges on “probation,” a severe sanction meaning the schools are out of compliance with a number of required standards and must repair the problems or be further penalized."
"The new status is the latest in a series of troubles for Peralta, whose four colleges are Berkeley City College, the College of Alameda, and Laney and Merritt in Oakland. The campuses serve as a leg up into the middle-class for some 50,000 students, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college."
"In July, the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team warned that the Peralta district was at high risk of insolvency after years of mismanagement that had administrators regularly breaking their own rules."
Shooting of fleeing man by Sac deputies settled for $1.725M
Sac Bee's SAM STANTON/MOLLY SULLIVAN: "Sacramento County officials have agreed to pay out more than $1.7 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the May 2017 shooting of Mikel Laney McIntyre by Sacramento sheriff’s deputies."
"McIntyre, a 32-year-old black man who was experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot to death during rush hour along Highway 50 after assaulting deputies with large river rocks and then trying to run away."
"Deputies fired 28 rounds at him, striking him seven times, six in the back."
READ MORE related to Prisons & Public Safety: Berkeley officers didn't use excessive force on transgender woman, appeals court rules -- The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO
Oakland councilwoman introduces ordinance that would give renters first right to buy their home
The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI: "An Oakland councilwoman introduced legislation Thursday that she said would give landlords an incentive to offer their tenants first right of refusal when selling the property."
"The proposal by Councilwoman Nikki Fortunato Bas is still raw and doesn’t yet specify what the incentive would be."
"But Fortunato Bas said her intention is to protect renters from losing their homes. She said she was inspired by a group of homeless mothers, known as Moms 4 Housing, who recently took over a vacant property in West Oakland for two months to highlight the area’s crises of affordable housing and homelessness."
Trump trial could end soon; Alexander says no to witnesses
AP: "Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee declared late Thursday night he will oppose calling more witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, all but dashing Democratic efforts for more testimony and pushing the Senate toward an imminent vote to acquit the president."
"A vote on witnesses, expected Friday, could lead to an abrupt end and assured acquittal in only the third presidential impeachment trial in American history. Trump was pressing for action in time for his State of the Union address, and that now seems likely. As the Senate adjourned late Thursday, it set the date for Tuesday night's speech."
"Despite the Democrats' singular, sometimes-passionate focus on witnesses after revelations from John Bolton, the former national security adviser, the numbers are now falling short. It would take four Republicans to break with the 53-seat majority and join with all Democrats to demand more testimony."
