Newsom facing Republican-led recall election
JOHN HOWARD, Capitol Weekly: "A GOP-orchestrated effort to oust Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has gathered enough signatures to place the recall before voters on the statewide ballot.
The announcement Monday by the secretary of state means that Newsom is all but certain to face voters later this year.
It will mark the second time in less than 20 years that a Democratic California governor has gone before the statewide electorate to decide whether he should be removed from office. The other was Gray Davis, who was recalled in 2003 on a number of issues, including the perception of his pay-to-play fund-raising and his handling of the state’s electricity crisis. Davis was replaced by Hollywood celebrity Arnold Schwarzenegger."
READ MORE RECALL NEWS -- Newsom faces recall election. What's next? -- Sac Bee, LARA KORTE; The exact date of the Newsom recall election is still unclear. Here’s why -- JOHN MYERS, LA Times; Newsom recall has enough signatures to make ballot, California says--ALEXEI KOSEFF, Chronicle
The recall circus is back in California. Here’s how it will probably play out for Newsom
GEORGE SKELTON, LA Times: "Here comes the circus — with clowns, ring masters and trained politicians.
The recall circus is headed our way and there’ll be lots of performers, maybe even bringing some entertainment.
But it’s looking less compelling than the last recall circus 18 years ago, when Hollywood action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger — the “Terminator” — leaped in and stole the show. The centrist Republican got himself elected governor, and Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was tossed out of office."
California is about to lose a seat in Congress for the first time. Texas will gain 2
Sac Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN/KIM BOJORQUEZ: "California will lose one congressional seat next year because its population growth has been slower than other states, marking the first time in California’s 170-year history that its political power will shrink in Congress.
The change, announced Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau, means California will contest 52 House of Representatives seats in the 2022 election and lose one electoral vote in the 2024 presidential election.
The lost seat is expected to come from the Los Angeles area, though lines are likely to be redrawn throughout the state. Other states with bigger population gains will pick up seats, notably Texas, which will add two."
ERIC McGHEE, MARISOL CUELLAR MEJIA and HANS JOHNSON in Capitol Weekly:The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred reports of Californians taking advantage of the flexibility of remote work to flee the Golden State’s high cost of living. The Census Bureau released total population numbers for California today (Monday, April 26), and they do suggest a significant slowdown in the state’s population growth.
But these numbers do not include the last half of 2020, and they do not tell us why population growth has slowed. We won’t have official census counts of this information for many months. But we do have population estimates from the California Department of Finance through the first few months of the pandemic. What do they suggest about how California’s population has changed?
The state’s population growth has been slowing for at least 20 years, but growth came to an effective stop between 2019 and 2020, increasing just 0.05%.
EPA plans to give California back waiver that allows it to regulate vehicle emissions
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it is planning to reinstate California’s authority to regulate vehicle emissions, a move that, combined with actions taken last week by the Transportation Department, will return to the state a powerful tool to fight climate pollution.
Under former President Donald Trump, U.S. regulators determined that California did not have the right to go beyond the federal government in independently establishing rules on greenhouse gases produced by automobiles. In 2019, the EPA withdrew parts of a waiver that gave the state the autonomy to curb tailpipe emissions and mandate the sale of zero-pollution vehicles.
California’s strict rules on cars and light trucks have long been embraced by several states and, in turn, by the auto industry, which doesn’t want to make different vehicles for different places. The Trump administration had argued that the California rules were driving up automobile costs for consumers and giving the state too much leverage. But under Biden, the federal government has committed to policy changes that prioritize action on global warming."
California attorney general candidate assails Chesa Boudin, S.F. over crime rate
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER: "Anne Marie Schubert, the Sacramento County district attorney, said Monday that she will run for California attorney general next year and lashed out at progressive advocates of criminal justice reform such as San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
Schubert, a conservative-leaning career prosecutor, said she will run against recently sworn-in state Attorney General Rob Bonta, a former Bay Area state legislator, because cities like San Francisco are “in chaos” due to liberal policies that endanger public safety.
“In San Francisco, you have a district attorney ... who is letting violent criminals out with little oversight or consequences, criminals who go on to victimize again,” Schubert said."
After J&J blood clotting reports, Bay Area, California to resume use but offer residents choice of vaccine
The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO: "Bay Area health officials and providers are gearing up to resume using the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine this week following a nearly two-week nationwide pause. But some — anticipating consumer wariness over rare blood clots associated with it — will offer the Pfizer or Moderna shot option as well. Others have yet to decide if they will resume using the Johnson & Johnson product at all.
Federal and state regulators over the weekend recommended that the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine could again be used safely, following review of rare but serious blood clots and low platelets in 15 cases out of the 8 million U.S. residents who have received the shot.
The scientists who reviewed the cases found there is a possible link between the vaccine and the clots, but it remains unclear what exactly that is or why most of the 15 cases were in women under age 50. UCSF on Sunday announced that a Bay Area man in his 30s also had developed a clot in his leg after getting the vaccine; he was in good condition and was expected to leave the hospital."
Mayor Breed taps City Attorney Herrera to lead agency roiled by S.F. City Hall corruption scandal
The Chronicle, TRISHA THADANI: "Mayor London Breed nominated City Attorney Dennis Herrera on Monday to be general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, a significant decision that will allow her to appoint someone to fill his position until the next election.
Whoever Breed appoints to the city attorney job would oversee an ongoing probe into a sweeping City Hall corruption scandal, a local investigation that Herrera launched in January 2020. That puts pressure on Breed to tap someone who’s seen as independent from her and others at City Hall.
Herrera has been a longtime fixture in San Francisco politics, winning the city attorney position six times since he was first elected in 2001. News of his potential departure shocked many in City Hall, and some members of the Board of Supervisors criticized the decision and questioned the optics of the mayor appointing the next leader of the corruption investigation."
Stanford students turn to protests, graffiti to preserve 11 sports
The Chronicle, ANN KILLION: "A crowd of students gathered in the Stanford quad on Monday afternoon, to protest the university’s decision to drop 11 sports programs.
“Stop the cuts, stop the cuts” they chanted outside the office of university President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Tessier-Lavigne was expected to meet with the Board of Trustees on Monday to discuss reconsidering the decision to eliminate almost a third of the university’s teams.
For much of the past year, the Stanford campus has been largely empty, which worked to the advantage of athletic director Bernard Muir and the Stanford leaders who abruptly decided to drop 11 varsity sports in July. “Under cover of the pandemic” seemed to be an effective strategy."
Texas' population grew more than twice as fast as California. Experts say there's still no Golden State exodus
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI/NAMI SUMIDA: "California’s
loss of a House seat for the first time ever and Texas’ two-seat gain is adding to concerns that the Golden State is losing its edge — along with tens of thousands of people per year — to its political and economic archrival. From 2010 to 2020, California’s population grew 6.1%, the smallest percentage increase since at least 1910 and below the national gain of 7.4%,
according to preliminary Census data released Monday.
Texas’ growth rate of 15.9% was more than double both the national and California rates.
Texas was the most popular destination for ex-Californians between 2010 and 2019. During that time, nearly 700,000 Californians moved to Texas,
according to Census data. Less than 400,000 Texans moved to California during that time. In 2019 alone, an estimated 82,000 Californians fled to Texas."
SpaceX strikes deal with Port of Long Beach (for real this time, mayor says)LA Times, SAMANTHA MASUNAGA: "After striking a deal to lease space at the Port of Los Angeles and then scrapping that plan — twice — SpaceX has a new deal: to use a waterfront facility at the Port of Long Beach for the recovery of its rocket boosters.
The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners on Monday approved the Hawthorne company’s use of a 6½-acre marine terminal, according to a statement from the Port of Long Beach.
The site is to be used to dock the vessels that ferry used SpaceX first-stage rocket boosters to shore and offload equipment. SpaceX is set to take over the site Saturday. The site was previously used for two decades by Sea Launch, a satellite-launch company that blasted rockets to space from a modified, floating oil rig in the Pacific Ocean. Sea Launch was
later acquired by a Russian firm, and its Port of Long Beach site has been vacant for more than a year, the port said. Before Sea Launch, the site was a U.S. Navy complex."
California prison warden faces $5 million lawsuit from family of slain inmate
Sac Bee, SAM STANTON: "Tou Thao was halfway through his six-year sentence for second-degree robbery when he was beaten to death inside his cell at California State Prison, Sacramento, in September 2019.
The slightly built, 38-year-old Hmong man had been placed in a cell with Jose Antonio Negrete – a much larger convicted sex offender – despite warnings by Negrete that he wanted to be housed alone and would kill his cellmate, court papers say.
Negrete, who was serving a life term for sodomy, kidnapping, sexual battery and other offenses, already had been housed with two or three other cellmates before Thao, all of whom “feared for their safety, and moved out quickly,” court records say."
Biden’s coronavirus success threatened by political divisions he pledged to heal
LA Times, CHRIS MEGERIAN: "Since President Biden took office, he’s talked about two goals more than any others — ending the COVID-19 pandemic to ignite a jobs boom, and uniting a politically divided country.
As he approaches his 100th day as president on Thursday, it’s clearer than ever that those two goals are interwoven, and success with the first may not be possible without the second. As much progress as Biden has overseen in the nation’s public health campaign, the mission is far from accomplished.
So politicized was the pandemic response Biden inherited that polls consistently show Republicans are more resistant to getting vaccinated, and public health leaders say the daily number of shots delivered could begin to slow down, even as supplies have become more readily available. What began as a logistical success — the United States has vaccinated a greater percentage of its population than almost any other nation — risks becoming bogged down just as Biden is pushing toward the finish line."
