Supreme Court repeals the constitutional right to an abortion
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: “The Supreme Court on Friday repealed the constitutional right to abortion it had declared 49 years ago and immediately divided the nation in half — between states that will outlaw the procedure and others, including California, that will offer refuge to women seeking abortions.
In a 6-3 ruling, Justice Samuel Alito said the court’s Roe v. Wade decision in January 1973 was based on the erroneous view that a woman’s constitutional right to privacy entitled her to terminate a fetal life she was carrying.
Anticipating the ruling, 13 states have enacted “trigger laws” that would ban abortions once the 1973 ruling was repealed, and at least another 13 are likely to prohibit most or all abortions in the near future, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that supports abortion rights.”
After Roe: What happens to abortion in California?
ALEXEI KOSEFF and KRISTEN WANG, CalMatters: “The constitutional right to abortion in the United States is no more. Today the U.S. Supreme Court struck down its landmark Roe v. Wade precedent in a 5-4 decision, ending nearly 50 years of guaranteed abortion access for American women.
The historic ruling has been expected since early May, when a draft of the opinion was leaked, and was widely anticipated long before that as conservative justices tilted the court. The fight over abortion rights now returns to the states, where it played out five decades ago, with the procedure immediately set to become nearly or entirely illegal in almost half of them and several more bans likely to follow.
California is moving in the opposite direction, ramping up legal protections for abortion providers and pouring resources into expanding access as clinics prepare for a possible surge of patients traveling from other states to terminate their pregnancies.”
The post-Roe future California has been prepping for is here. How the state plans to welcome abortion-seekers
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: “More than half of the states in the country are expected to ban abortion now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade.
But in California, abortion access will get stronger.
California abortion rights leaders and advocates - led by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta - have been anticipating the court’s decision for months and have vowed to make the state a haven for those seeking the procedure.”
California won’t make it easy to obtain concealed carry licenses, despite Supreme Court ruling
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER: “The Supreme Court probably tore a giant hole in California’s concealed-carry gun law, but that doesn’t mean the Golden State must suddenly make it easy to obtain licenses to carry firearms in public.
On Thursday, the court struck down a New York law requiring gun owners to show they have “proper cause” to get a permit to carry a handgun outside of their home. The ruling probably jeopardizes similarly restrictive laws in California, a half-dozen other states and the District of Columbia, which all require applicants to prove they have a special reason to need self-protection.
That ruling elicited cheers from gun rights activists and alarm among Democratic officials and victim advocates, who pointed to a flurry of mass shootings across the country in recent months.”
Biden administration moves to expand Title IX protections. Here’s what California says
LAT, TERESA WATANABE/COLLEEN SHALBY: “New Title IX proposals by the Biden administration to affirm sexual discrimination protections for transgender students and others would not significantly change existing policies at California universities and colleges, said officials who were assessing Thursday the potential impact on the state.
California campuses already bar discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. And some of the proposed changes to the Title IX sexual misconduct review processes are already in place in California under a 2019 state appellate court ruling, regardless of federal regulatory revisions.
“It’s unclear whether this will really be a sea change,” said Kiersten Boyce, UC Riverside associate vice chancellor and interim Title IX officer.”
Electricity use would surge under California’s new climate plan
CALMatters, NADIA LOPEZ: “California’s sweeping climate plan would increase electricity consumption by as much as 68% by 2045 – which would put an immense strain on the power grid unless hefty private and public investments are made in clean energy, state air quality officials said today.
The California Air Resources Board is holding its first day-long public hearing today on its proposed climate-change blueprint, called a scoping plan, for reducing greenhouse gases.
The state’s power grid — marred by outages in previous years and increasingly extreme weather — needs massive investments to attain the clean-energy future outlined in California’s five-year climate roadmap.”
Early signs indicate Southern California finally using less water. But big test lies ahead
LAT, HAYLEY SMITH: “Less than a month after sweeping water restrictions took effect across Southern California, early indications suggest residents are finally heeding calls to conserve as officials report a noticeable drop in demand throughout the region.
Officials at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California reported that demand was 5% lower than what they hoped to see under the first three weeks of restrictions.
At the same time, water waste complaints have soared throughout Los Angeles, signaling perhaps that many residents have taken conservation to heart.”
Thousands of lightning bolts hit California this week. Here’s why the state was spared from catastrophic fires
The Chronicle, Hannah Hagemann/Annie Vainshtein: “A thunderstorm event this week with 67,000 lightning bolts captivated Californians, who anxiously tracked the monsoon and hoped it wouldn’t ignite any catastrophic fires.
Data from the National Lightning Detection Network shows the storm largely outdid the number of lightning strikes that touched down in August 2020 and devastated parts of Northern California.
Tuesday’s storm traveled from the Mexico border to the northern San Joaquin Valley, and west to the Big Sur coast. It carried with it lightning that ignited the Thunder Fire — which has since burned more than 2,300 acres in Kern County — and dozens of other smaller fires throughout the state.”
A California gold mine’s toxic legacy: Inside the fight over reopening a treasure trove
LAT, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: “Five years ago, Canadian mining executive Ben Mossman came to this little Gold Rush town in the Sierra Nevada foothills, planning to strike it rich.
His company bought the abandoned Idaho-Maryland mine — an 1860s-era treasure trove that once was one of the most productive gold mines in the country.
He has tried to sell the idea of reopening the mine to locals by promising to create more than 300 good-paying jobs in rural Nevada County, where references to the Gold Rush — the Mine Shaft Saloon, the Gold Miners Inn, the rusty ore carts and stamp mills decorating street corners and parks — are everywhere.”
Legislators, Newsom negotiating behind closed doors over energy deal
CALMatters, JULIE CART/RACHEL BECKER: “California’s top-ranking legislators, under pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom, are privately negotiating to include a far-reaching energy package in their budget deal that would give the state Energy Commission sole control over siting of clean-energy facilities.
The effort aims to streamline approval of solar and wind projects, and deliver more electricity to California’s aging grid while scaling back reliance on fossil fuels.
But it also could usurp local decision-making over projects, and already has triggered vehement objections across California from city and county officials. The deal also would sideline other state agencies and raise concerns about the environmental impacts of the energy projects.”
One man’s fight to end California’s ban on ferrets
LAT, ANDREW J. CAMPA: “Noodle was the first to tumble out of the cage, roused by a series of belly rubs and head scratches.
She scampered around the lower-level den, bouncing around a pair of La-Z-Boy recliners, a white-and-gray flash with her long back hunched.
Then two more ferrets emerged from the cage. Merlin, living up to his masked “bandit” markings, chased Astro, who shimmied through a crinkly plastic tunnel in a frantic effort to get away. Watching him interact with the humans in his life, Astro gave every indication that he would rather cuddle with them than tussle with his cage-mate.”
Will the coronavirus evolve to cause less severe COVID? Why we can’t assume the answer is yes
The Chronicle, ERIN ALLDAY: “When scientists find a new disease-causing virus in humans, the first question they want answered is: Can this thing spread easily from person to person? And if not, will it someday?
Avian influenza can infect humans, but it’s not very good at passing from one person to another. Same with the coronavirus that causes MERS, another severe respiratory illness. Though hundreds of cases of both have been reported over the past two decades, neither virus seems inclined to evolve toward efficient person-to-person transmission.
In less than three years, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has mastered it.”
Could endorsements from Biden, Harris or Obama help swing LA mayor’s race?
LAT, NOAH BIERMAN/BENJAMIN ORESKES: “Just five days before the mayoral primary this month, the nation’s top housing official made an unusual appearance with Rep. Karen Bass in Los Angeles, helping the mayoral candidate make a show that she would tackle the city’s homeless crisis by summoning friends in the federal government.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge’s visit to a subsidized apartment building was technically in her official capacity, paid for with U.S. tax dollars rather than Bass campaign funds.
Fudge’s presence, however, fit neatly with Bass’ central campaign argument — that her lifetime in Democratic politics and national connections are an asset in fixing the city’s most urgent problems.”
After San Francisco, will L.A. County D.A. Gascón be recalled next? Inside the final push
LAT, JAMES QUEALLY: “In a three-room office in West Los Angeles, volunteers tear open envelopes one at a time, hoping the contents will bring them closer to a goal that seemed impossible a year ago.
Los Angeles County’s progressive district attorney, George Gascón, has been the subject of intense criticism since he was elected in 2020. But attempts to channel that outrage into political will were unsuccessful during his first year in office. An initial attempt to recall him fell far short of its goal, lacking the fundraising or organization necessary to prove a real threat.
But in the last six months, a string of controversies, an open revolt among Gascón’s own prosecutors and rising concerns about crime and homelessness in Los Angeles have left Gascón vulnerable and helped a second recall campaign collect more than half a million signatures.”
Civil liberties concerns poised to kill proposals to get people with mental illness off the street
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: “Gov. Gavin Newsom and a handful of lawmakers have prioritized bills addressing the mental health crisis on California streets this year. But opposition to those measures, particularly concerns about infringing on the civil rights of people with severe psychotic disorders, is threatening to derail them.
The bills aim to address a very small but visible segment of people — often living on the streets — with severe, untreated psychosis. Two of the bills that the mayors of California’s 13 biggest cities, including San Francisco, have advocated for to reduce barriers to place people in conservatorships look unlikely to advance ahead of a key deadline. Another championed by Newsom that would create a new process for getting people into treatment known as Care Court, cleared a key hurdle this week but still faces opposition from civil liberties groups.
If the bills die, so will the Legislature’s ability to help thousands of people who can’t care for themselves this year, said Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco.”
California to boost number of bilingual teachers in Asian languages
EdSource, ZAIDEE STAVELY: “It’s about to get easier to become a bilingual teacher in Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin and other Asian languages in California.
School districts in California struggle to hire bilingual teachers in all languages, including Spanish, but the shortage is more severe for teachers who are fluent in Asian languages. Many districts want to start or expand dual immersion programs in Asian languages but do not have enough teachers with bilingual authorizations in these languages to do so.
“We have dire shortages of bilingually authorized teachers in those languages,” said Magaly Lavadenz, professor and executive director of the Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University. “Teachers are in high demand, and there’s a big shortage of them, and districts really want them and families and communities really want them.”
Switching Lowell High School back to merit-based admissions won’t be easy. Here’s why
The Chronicle, JILL TUCKER: “A day after the San Francisco school board voted to restore merit-based admissions to Lowell High School, district officials scrambled to figure out the logistics of the transition, which will require significant overtime, extra staffing and a big effort to put the old paper application online.
It could also mean battling a legal challenge over competitive admissions at the academically elite school.
After a nearly two-year battle, supporters of the merit-based admissions process celebrated Thursday, while opponents vowed to continue the fight to ensure entrance to Lowell remains a lottery-based process, as has been the case for the last two admission cycles. The school has become more diverse under the lottery.”
News Analysis: Russia has unified NATO. But Biden, G-7 allies face mounting challenges
LAT, ELI STOKOLS/TRACY WILKINSON: “When President Biden returns to Europe this weekend for six days of economic and national security meetings, he’ll do so as the leader of reinvigorated Western alliances, resolute in responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and recommitted to defending democracy.
But he will also arrive as a fundamentally weaker political figure than he was a year ago. Bogged down at home by frustrations over inflation, the president is bracing for November elections that could see Republicans take control of Congress.
And he is hardly alone among the leaders of the world’s preeminent democracies, all of whom are strenuously navigating the economic and political shockwaves from the protracted conflict in Ukraine while also facing domestic pressures that could imperil their broader collective ambitions.”
