California Republicans ask Gavin Newsom to change prison release rules after Sacramento shootings
LINDSAY HOLDEN, SacBee: “California Republicans want Gov. Gavin Newsom to make it harder for prison inmates to serve shorter sentences for good behavior following the Sacramento mass shooting that left six people dead.
Republican Assembly Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, and a group of his colleagues are urging Newsom to suspend changes to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) program that increases the rate at which inmates convicted of both violent and nonviolent crimes earn the credits.
They also want to see Newsom and legislators tighten laws around sentencing enhancements to lengthen the amount of prison time judges hand down for those who use guns or are affiliated with gangs. Police have said the shootings were gang-related.”
Sacramento shooting is latest struggle for downtown strip
KATHLEEN RONAYNE, AP: “ The mass shooting that police say was a gun battle between rival gangs that left six dead and 12 wounded earlier this month shook the downtown core of California’s capital — and created another challenge for a city trying to redefine itself as a destination for more than just government workers.
In recent years, downtown Sacramento has benefited from billions of dollars of development but has been rattled by rising crime, protests resulting in property damage and an economic drubbing caused by the pandemic. Now, the city is reeling from the aftermath of the April 3 shooting, when at least five gunmen fired 100 shots as people left bars and nightclubs
The violence just blocks from the Capitol highlights the successes and challenges many U.S. urban centers are facing as struggles with crime and homelessness persist despite revitalization efforts.”
Really folks, redistricting isn’t all that confusing
PAUL MITCHELL, Capitol Weekly: “Why is this so hard?” That’s what Matt Rexroad, owner of Redistricting Insights, tweeted repeatedly when he saw news that downtown Sacramento City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela faced a recall from residents of the uptown neighborhoods in East Sacramento.
The problem: It wouldn’t be a legal recall. But confusion over that fact seemed to drag on for weeks.
Here’s the background: In December, Sacramento, like many cities and nearly all counties in California, completed their redistricting process. When it was done, the city told council members that the new districts were now theirs, and started reassigning constituent services, put a notice on the official website and informed residents who their new council member would be.”
Endangered condors brought to Northern California for reintroduction into the wild
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "The California condor, one of the rarest and most majestic birds on the planet, hasn’t flown over Northern California for more than a century. That will soon change.
Members of the Yurok Tribe recently transported four condors, secured in dog crates in the back of SUVs, from the Central Coast to Redwood National and State Parks in Humboldt County, where they’re acclimating before being released int o the wild later this month.
The effort is part of a larger bid to re-establish the endangered bird across the West after condor numbers slipped to just 22 in the 1980s. The effort is also meant to restore a small piece of Native American mythology."
Boudin, Gascón accuse law firm of targeting immigrant-run businesses with fraudulent disability suits
BOB EGELKO, Chronicle: “Accusing a law firm of fleecing small businesses in California with thousands of baseless disability-rights suits, the district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles asked a judge Monday to halt the practice and order the firm to refund millions of dollars the businesses paid to settle the suits.
For years, the firm, Potter Handy of San Diego, has been “bombarding California’s small businesses with abusive, boilerplate lawsuits,” District Attorney Chesa Boudin and his Los Angeles County counterpart, George Gascón, said in a suit in San Francisco Superior Court.
They said the firm sues on behalf of a handful of disabled clients who, in most cases, have never even visited the businesses and claim violations that are typically fabricated. For example, two restaurants in San Francisco’s Chinatown were accused of serving food at outdoor tables that were too low to accommodate wheelchairs — at a time when both were providing only takeout meals because of the pandemic.”
17 L.A. gangs have sent out crews to follow and rob city’s wealthiest, LAPD says
LA Times, KEVIN RECTOR: "More than a dozen Los Angeles gangs are targeting some of the city’s wealthiest residents in a new and aggressive manner, sending out crews in multiple cars to find, follow and rob people driving high-end vehicles or wearing expensive jewelry, according to police.
In many cases, they’re making off with designer handbags, diamond-studded watches and other items worth tens of thousands of dollars — if not more — and then peddling them to black-market buyers who are willing to turn a blind eye to the underlying violence, police said.
In some cases, suspects have been arrested but then released from custody, according to police, only to commit additional robberies."
Slick Business: Texas Oil Company Wants to Use California Clean Energy Credits to Extract More Oil
NICHOLAS KUSNETZ, KQED: “Occidental Petroleum is seeking to sell credits in California’s transportation carbon market to help finance the construction of what would be the world’s largest industrial carbon dioxide removal plant.
The operation would effectively invert what Occidental has done for a century, by taking carbon out of the air and sending it underground, even if on a relatively small scale.
But there’s a twist. Occidental has said it plans to use some or most of the carbon dioxide it captures from the Texas plant to squeeze more petroleum out of the ground, by pumping it into aging oil fields. As a result, the California carbon market, which is meant to help lower the climate emissions of transportation in the state, could supply tens of millions of dollars to help extract more oil, thereby contributing more emissions.
As Russia menaces Ukraine’s east, Putin says peace talks hit ‘dead end’
LA Times, PATRICK J. MCDONNELL/LAURA KING/JENNY JARVIE: "As Russian forces pressed ahead Tuesday in their drive to seize the strategic southern port of Mariupol and encircle Ukrainian defenders in the country’s east, Russian President Vladimir Putin defended his invasion as a noble cause.
Putin said there was “no doubt” Moscow would achieve its aims to protect Russian security and, blaming Ukraine, said talks between the two sides had reached a “dead end.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in turn, said the nearly 7-week-old war could be entering a “new stage of terror” for his embattled country after Russian troops’ withdrawal from the capital, Kyiv. He again accused Russia of war crimes."
Gilroy council member cited by city over Halloween party at her home that turned deadly
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: "A Gilroy City Council member violated several city laws in connection to a large party last year at her home where a shooting left an 18-year-old dead and three others injured, according to a report released Monday by city officials.
The city of Gilroy issued Council Member Rebeca Armendariz 10 administrative citations on Friday after an investigation by an independent firm hired by the city found that she helped organize the Halloween party outside her home in October 2021 that led to the fatal shooting, city officials announced Monday in a news release.
The Oct. 30 shooting left 18-year-old Michael Daniel Zuniga-Macias dead and three other youths injured, one of whom is now paralyzed, according to a statement from Gilroy Mayor Marie Blankley. The three injured range in age from 17 to 19, the Gilroy Police Department said."
UC considers imposing criteria for California’s high school ethnic studies classes
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: "An influential committee of University of California faculty that oversees academic admissions requirements is proposing that UC set criteria and content for high school ethnic studies courses similar to what the State Board of Education rejected two years ago as divisive.
If adopted, the requirements (see pages 11-12) would circumvent both a state law and the ethnic studies model curriculum that the state board adopted in March 2021. Both give local districts the authority to decide what should be taught in ethnic studies.
Instead, one of many course goals that UC would require would be to prepare students to “address and dismantle systems of oppression and dehumanization in the many forms in which they appear.” Another would be to prepare students to “recognize and interrogate power and oppression at ideological, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized levels.”"
Coachella, spring break, Easter and rising coronavirus: How to stay safe
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II and LUKE MONEY: "A recent uptick in cases is fueling some concern about the trajectory of the coronavirus in California, especially as April brings both a bustling holiday season — including Easter, Ramadan and Passover — and a social calendar packed with spring break travel plans and major events like the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals.
After plummeting from the all-time-highs seen during last winter’s surge, the number of newly reported coronavirus infections is rising modestly in some parts of the state, including Los Angeles County. The numbers remain fairly low, and officials said it’s far from clear the state will see another major spike.
But they are urging people to be cautious as they travel and take part in activities."
Inflation means a Bay Area resident will spend $4,400 more for the same stuff this year
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "Buying pretty much anything in the Bay Area is generally more expensive, but adding rising inflation into the mix has made things even harder.
Just the thought of filling up the gas tank at $6 a gallon can induce anxiety.
The White House announced Monday that the latest Labor Department data is expected to show very high inflation numbers, primarily due to spiking energy costs caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, any hopes of seeing relief for our wallets soon don’t look good."
Westfield owner to sell all U.S. malls. What will happen in San Francisco?
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI: "The owner of two dozen of the top U.S. malls, including the Westfield San Francisco Centre and Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose, wants to exit the country by 2024.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield plans to focus exclusively on its European properties, where it’s the largest mall operator, and sell its U.S. holdings.
“By 2024, we will have successfully reshaped the business to capture future growth, centred on our portfolio of Flagship destinations in the wealthiest cities and catchment areas in Europe,” said Jean-Marie Tritant, CEO of URW, in a statement."
A transgender psychologist has helped hundreds of teens transition. But rising numbers have her concerned
LA Times, JENNY JARVIE: "Day after day, emails pour into Erica Anderson’s inbox from parents struggling to support their teenagers coming out as transgender.
“He’s been depressed and anxious since the pandemic began, and over the past few days he has shared with me that he’s pretty sure he’s trans,” said one message about a 17-year-old.
“I am very worried that my child is being pressured into wanting to take [puberty] blockers, ‘because that is the next step,’ ” said another. “We are supportive and have helped them to socially transition, but the medical part somehow for her at 13 does not seem right.”"
Times sues for records on LAFD chief deputy who was reportedly drunk during a major fire
LA Times, PAUL PRINGLE: "The Times has filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles that seeks to force Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office and the Fire Department to release numerous internal records in the case of a high-ranking fire official who was reported to be drunk on duty during a major blaze but faced no discipline and retired with a $1.4-million payout.
Filed late Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the suit alleges that the city violated the California Public Records Act by denying the newspaper’s requests for an investigative report and other documents regarding former Chief Deputy Fred Mathis, who was the department’s top administrative commander.
Mathis was reported to be under the influence during last May’s Palisades fire while overseeing the department’s operations center at City Hall East. Critics of then-Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas contended that he and other officials attempted to cover up the incident by not filing a complaint about Mathis’ conduct for three days and allowing someone to make a retroactive entry in city timekeeping records to show he was out sick when he was allegedly intoxicated at work."
Twitter bots helped build the cult of Elon Musk and Tesla. But who’s creating them?
LA Times, RUSS MITCHELL: "In early November 2013, the news wasn’t looking great for Tesla. A series of reports had documented instances of Tesla Model S sedans catching on fire, causing the electric carmaker’s share price to tumble.
Then, on the evening of Nov. 7, within a span of 75 minutes, eight automated Twitter accounts came to life and began publishing positive sentiments about Tesla. Over the next seven years, they would post more than 30,000 such tweets.
With more than 500 million tweets sent per day across the network, that output represents a drop in the ocean. But preliminary research from David A. Kirsch, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, concludes that activity of this sort by so-called bots has played a significant part in the “stock of the future” narrative that has propelled Tesla’s market value to altitudes loftier than any traditional financial analysis could justify."
