California's 17-year-olds may get right to vote in primary elections
The Chronicle's JOHN WILDERMUTH: "A bid to allow 17-year-olds to vote in California primary elections is headed for the November ballot, 16 years after it was first introduced in the Legislature.
A bill that won final approval Friday, ACA4, would allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections if they would turn 18 before the general election. As a constitutional amendment, it must be passed by a majority of voters in November before it can take effect.
For Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, the San Mateo Democrat who carried the measure in the Legislature, the bill is a matter of simple justice."
Coronavirus cases top 10 million worldwide with 500,000 confirmed deaths
AP: "The world surpassed two sobering coronavirus milestones Sunday — 500,000 confirmed deaths, 10 million confirmed cases — and hit another high mark for daily new infections as governments that attempted reopenings continued to backtrack and warn that worse news could be yet to come.
“COVID-19 has taken a very swift and very dangerous turn in Texas over just the past few weeks,” said Gov. Greg Abbott, who allowed businesses to start reopening in early May but on Friday shut down bars and limited restaurant dining amid a spike in cases.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled back reopenings of bars in seven counties, including Los Angeles. He ordered them to close immediately and urged eight other counties to issue local health orders mandating the same."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: AIDS activists feel sense of deja-vu as they watch the coronavirus policy battle unfold -- LA Times's MEGAN BOTEL; Newsom orders bars closed in counties where virus is spreading fast -- The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF/MATT KAWAHARA/MATTHIAS GAFNI; Rural California defies Newsom's mask order -- Sac Bee's DALE KASLER
Newsom left out as California Democrats pick convention delegation leaders
The Chronicle's JOHN WILDERMUTH: "A pair of Bay Area representatives is in and Gov. Gavin Newsom is out as California Democrats chose the leaders of their delegation to the Democratic National Convention in August.
Rep. Ro Khanna of Fremont and Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland will join Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis as the co-chairs of the 495-member state delegation rather than Newsom, who as California’s highest-ranking Democrat would normally lead the state contingent.
Dubbing the proposed co-chairs “California’s unity team,” Rusty Hicks, chair of the California Democratic Party, told delegates on a Sunday morning dial-in meeting of the delegation that the three “will represent the great diversity of California."
Orange County detectives helped GSK author take evidence, attorney claims
Sac Bee's DARRELL SMITH/SAM STANTON: "The author of the best-selling book that detailed her search for the man she and a nation would call the Golden State Killer was allowed to walk out of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department crime lab in 2016 with boxes and bins of evidence in the then-unsolved case, an Orange County public defender alleged in court filings last week.
The haul – 35 boxes and two bins of evidence from one of the nation’s most notorious serial murder investigations – was “the Mother Lode,” the book details. The operation was pulled off with the help of Orange County sheriff’s investigators.
Now, on the eve of Joseph James DeAngelo’s anticipated guilty plea Monday in Sacramento to his decades-long string of murders and rapes that terrorized California in the 1970s and 1980s, Orange County Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders is raising new questions about how late true-crime author Michelle McNamara was able to take home the evidentiary treasure trove."
PG&E changes leaders for a post-bankruptcy era fraught with challenges
The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS: "Crimes previously committed by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. hung over Bill Johnson for the entire time he was chief executive of the parent company PG&E Corp.
Effective Tuesday, Johnson will retire, handing control of California’s largest utility to a successor who also faces a new set of problems. The task of the next top executive, Bill Smith, is to keep the company stable while beginning to steer it away from its catastrophic past.
It won’t be easy. Not only does PG&E owe billions of dollars to the victims of previous wildfires sparked by its power lines, but the company also faces a profound challenge in what may be an acutely dangerous fire season this year. PG&E is under pressure from all sides to avoid causing more calamities while also reducing the use of its most extreme fire-prevention measure: power shut-offs like those that left millions of Californians without electricity last year."
Who knows where SF City Hall corruption investigation will end?
The Chronicle's PHIL MATIER: "The federal investigation into corruption at San Francisco City Hall appears to be widening, and the U.S. attorney looking into the malfeasance is upping his game by adding investigators and teaming up with other other agencies to beef up the hunt.
“What we are finding in our City Hall corruption investigation is that one case leads to another,” U.S. Attorney David Anderson said in a recent interview.
In addition to the more than six prosecutors and one auditor already assigned to the case, Anderson is teaming up with more than a dozen special agents from both the FBI and IRS."
California should audit embattled unemployment agency, lawmaker says
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Citing relentless consumer anger over delays and confusion in dealing with the state’s unemployment agency, Assemblyman Jim Patterson on Friday formally requested an audit of the state’s beleaguered Employment Development Department.
Among his requests: A close look at the agency’s decisions to award years of contracts for modernizing and maintaining the system to Deloitte Consulting LLC.
The Sacramento Bee reported Thursday that EDD has repeatedly used Deloitte to help build and maintain its IT systems for years, despite warnings from state watchdogs that the systems were often delayed and over budget."
READ MORE related to Economy & (Un)employment: How Trump's visa suspension could affect California businesses, universities -- Sac Bee's MATT KRISTOFFERSEN; As California opens up, companies want workers back. Some are afraid to return -- The Chronicle's CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO; Bay Area's momentum in reopening economy disrupted as counties freeze some plans -- The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA/SHWANIKA NARAYAN
George Floyd protests merge with pride on 50th anniversary SF weekend
The Chronicle's RUSTY SIMMONS/MATTHIAS GAFNI: "More than a month after the police killing of George Floyd set off protests worldwide, social justice protests demonstrations this weekend merged with a landmark event — the 50th anniversary of San Francisco Pride.
The People’s March & Rally: Unite to Fight was held where the first Pride March took place 50 years ago. People of color organized the Sunday demonstration, which grew to more than 500 people, to call for gay rights and an end to racism and police brutality.
By 10:30 a.m., the intersection at Washington and Polk streets was filled with people carrying signs and wearing costumes that ranged from simple crowns to complete pink jesters. The signs included: “The nightmare must end: The Trump/Pence regime must go,” and “Respect existence, or expect resistance.” A flatbed truck repurposed as a parade float of sorts was adorned in neon pink and green flowers, as well as signs."
Trump policy and coronavirus leave agency bankrupt, tens of thousands of potential voters in limbo
LA Times's MOLLY O'TOOLE: "Azra Nazir had a dress picked out, gray and blue. She had the subway directions. And in a rarity over two decades as an emergency room nurse, the 59-year-old had a few days off — her first in months of battling the coronavirus at its epicenter in Brooklyn.
After 20 years in the United States, where she secured asylum after leaving her native Pakistan, she would attend the ceremony at the end of March, raise her right hand, and become an American citizen at last.
“God made everything perfect for me,” Nazir said she thought."
Bay Area charter schools tap tens of millions in federal small business loans
The Chronicle's TAL KOPAN: "Charter schools in the Bay Area received tens of millions of dollars from a federal coronavirus relief program intended for small businesses, money they say is necessary to stay afloat amid the pandemic.
The schools are alternatives to traditional public schools and are exempt from many state regulations related to class size, curriculum and teacher tenure, yet still receive state funding. Some of the Bay Area charters that got federal bailout money are also backed by Silicon Valley billionaires, and the board chairman of one school conceded that taking the aid could be an “optics issue.”
It’s the latest instance of the federal Paycheck Protection Program coming under scrutiny for giving money to businesses that fit the letter of the law, but which don’t fit the traditional notion of a small business. Among aid recipients were Shake Shack, the owner of Ruth’s Chris Steak House and the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, all of which gave back the money after it was reported that they were beneficiaries."
Bay Area's first red flag warning of the season signals increased fire danger
The Chronicle's KELLIE HWANG: "Fire season is under way, and the Bay Area just received its first red flag warning.
The warning from the National Weather Service runs from 10 p.m. Sunday through 8 p.m. Monday for mountains at elevations of 1,000 feet or higher in parts of Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties.
A triple punch of high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds is expected to increase fire danger."
Tenants fear eviction as UC Berkeley plans student housing project
The Chronicle's CAROLYN SAID: "Natalie Logusch reeled as she read the letter taped to the front door of her downtown Berkeley apartment in mid-April.
UC Berkeley proposed “to undertake the development of the property you currently occupy,” it said. “If you are displaced for the Project, you will be eligible for relocation assistance.” It provided contact information for a relocation company.
“It was devastating,” said Logusch, who’s lived in the rent-controlled two-bedroom at 1921 Walnut St. for 10 years. “This is my home. The world was in the middle of a pandemic.” Her fellow tenants include people who’ve lived there 25 years, she said."
Chief federal judge in LA steps down over racially insensitive comments about Black court official
LA Times's MATT HAMILTON: "The chief judge for the Central District of California, the nation’s largest federal court jurisdiction, which includes Los Angeles and its neighboring counties, has stepped down from that post, citing his racially insensitive comments regarding the court’s top administrative official, a Black woman.
U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney, who began a four-year term as chief district judge June 1, announced his decision to step down from the top post but remain a judge in an email Friday to court staff and fellow judges, and offered a public apology to Kiry K. Gray.
A federal court employee for 35 years, Gray in 2015 became the first Black woman appointed to be the Central District’s executive and clerk of court, a job that entails working closely with the chief judge to oversee court operations."
Police unions donate heavily to Sacramento politicians. Are our leaders 'rolling over'?
Sac Bee's THERESA CLIFT/ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS: "Flojaune Cofer sat at the front of an empty Sacramento City Council chamber earlier this month. She was disgusted.
The City Council had passed a budget weeks earlier that included $157 million for the Sacramento Police Department – an all-time high, despite officials calling it a “status quo” pandemic spending plan.
A Black woman who lives in south Sacramento and is head of the Measure U Citizens Advisory Committee, she felt she had let her community down. She wanted to make sure new sales tax money from the Measure U ballot measure went toward uplifting disadvantaged neighborhoods as city politicians had promised it would."
Trump tweets video with 'white power' chant, then deletes it
AP: "President Trump on Sunday tweeted approvingly of a video showing one of his supporters chanting “white power,” a racist slogan associated with white supremacists. He later deleted the tweet and the White House said the president had not heard “the one statement” on the video.
The video appeared to have been taken at the Villages, a Florida retirement community, and showed dueling demonstrations between Trump supporters and opponents.
“Thank you to the great people of the Villages,” Trump tweeted. Moments into the video clip he shared, a man driving a golf cart displaying pro-Trump signs and flags shouts “white power.” The video also shows anti-Trump protesters shouting “Nazi,” “racist,” and profanities at the Trump backers."
READ MORE related to POTUS45: Trump struggles as furor grows over reported Russian bounty offer to kill US/UK troops -- LA Times's LAURA KING
