Prepare to pay more for gas in California starting today, as new tax hits
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: “Californians contending with the highest gas prices in the nation will pay another 3 cents per gallon starting Friday due to the state’s annual gas tax increase.
Yes, you read that right: Gas prices will go up due to the state’s excise tax on gasoline, which is adjusted each year.
Golden State drivers on Thursday were already paying an average of $6.289 for a gallon of regular gas, far more than the national average of $4.857 and the most of any state, according to the American Automobile Assn.”
Tens of thousands of Californians in limbo as eviction protections end
CALMatters, MANUELA TOBIAS: “Eviction protections for tens of thousands of California households still waiting in line for payments from the state’s multi-billion dollar rent relief program expired Thursday.
Since September 2020, the Legislature has passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed four laws shielding tenants who were unable to pay rent due to COVID-19 from eviction. The most recent extension shielded tenants through June 30 who had applied for rent relief from the state’s $5 billion program by the March 31 deadline but had yet to hear back or receive payments. Those tenants can now be brought to court by their landlords.
“It’s highly unlikely that they are going to get through all these applications by June 30, when the eviction protections expire,” Sarah Treuhaft, vice president of research at PolicyLink, a nonprofit that has been reviewing the state’s rent relief program, said during a press conference this week. “This means they are likely to be evicted and they might eventually get rental assistance.””
Newsom signs state budget bills, with gas refunds to 17.5 million California taxpayers
TARYN LUNA, LA Times: "Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed into law key elements of a new $307.9-billion state budget, a spending plan centered on gas refunds for 17.5 million taxpayers to soften the sting of high fuel prices and the cost of living.
The refunds, varying from as little as $200 for individuals up to $1,050 for couples with children, are the hallmark of the state’s effort to return a portion of an anticipated $101.4-billion surplus back to Californians. The governor and lawmakers also invested heavily in K-12 public education, directed billions of dollars to secure enough power to keep the lights on during heat waves and earmarked $47 billion for infrastructure projects over the next three years.
“This budget invests in our core values at a pivotal moment, safeguarding women’s right to choose, expanding health care access to all and supporting the most vulnerable among us while shoring up our future with funds to combat the climate crisis, bolster our energy grid, transform our schools and protect communities,” Newsom said in a statement."
California vows to redouble climate efforts after Supreme Court’s EPA ruling
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: “The Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday that federal officials have no authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants was a blow against national efforts to combat global warming. For California officials, it also showed the need for state action.
“Today’s ruling makes it even more imperative that California and other states succeed in our efforts to combat the climate crisis,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “While the court has once again turned back the clock, California refuses to go backward — we’re just getting started.”
“We are running out of time in the fight against climate change, and we need all levels of government working together to take action before it’s too late,” state Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.”
California lawmakers pass major plastic-reduction measure after years of thwarted attempts
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER: “Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a sweeping plastic-reduction measure that aims to dramatically shrink the amount of disposable packaging and food ware that Californians use in their daily lives.
The bill, SB54, is the result of a breakthrough legislative deal between some environmentalists, business groups and waste haulers, a last-minute compromise that led proponents to withdraw an anti-plastic waste initiative from the November ballot.
SB54 will require plastic manufacturers to ensure that plastic packaging and food ware items — such as cups, straws and takeout containers — are recyclable or reusable. Manufacturers will also be required to reduce the amount of plastic they create in the first place.”
Great America was the Bay Area’s Disneyland. Now, it’s a victim of Silicon Valley tech boom
LA Times, SUMMER LIN: “When Great America amusement park in Santa Clara opened in 1976, it quickly became the Bay Area’s version of Disneyland.
It was never as popular or iconic as Walt Disney’s Anaheim landmark, but Great America quickly became the go-to theme park for families and tourists — and a welcome diversion in a quiet Silicon Valley suburbia that locals say is low on thrills.
But Great America is now poised to close in coming years as part of a huge real estate deal that speaks to the dramatically changing development patterns in California’s tech capital.”
Kentanji Brown Jackson is sworn in, becoming the first Black woman on U.S. Supreme Court
AP, MARK SHERMAN: “Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the newest Supreme Court justice Thursday, becoming the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court.
The 51-year-old Jackson is the court’s 116th justice, and she took the place of the justice for whom she once worked. Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s retirement took effect at noon.
Moments later, joined by her family, Jackson recited the two oaths required of Supreme Court justices, one administered by Breyer and the other by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.”
Attempt to allow Legislature’s staff to unionize moves forward
Capitol Weekly, CHUCK MCFADDEN: “The clerks, receptionists, and those who get the coffee in the Capitol have historically been “at will” employees – meaning the legislators who employ them can fire them whenever they wish.
That may be about to change.
AB 1577, working its way through the Legislature, would for the first time in history allow approximately 2,000 legislative employees to unionize and engage in collective bargaining — a procedure already enjoyed by state government’s vast workforce of civil service employees.”
California lawmakers reject ballot proposal that aimed to end forced prison labor
CALMatters, BYRHONDA LYONS: “Samual Brown was on the front lines of the pandemic, sanitizing and disinfecting prison cells. Diagnosed with asthma, Brown, 45, said he feared contracting the virus. He wanted to quit his prison job.
He couldn’t.
“My supervisor told me … I had to do this job,” Brown said.”
Supreme Court orders Ninth Circuit to reconsider California’s ban on large gun magazines in light of new ruling
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: “After striking down restrictions on carrying concealed firearms in California and other states, the Supreme Court told an appeals court Thursday to reconsider the legality of California's ban on gun magazines that can hold more than 10 cartridges.
The court’s order, in an appeal by an affiliate of the National Rifle Association, signaled the potentially broad impact of its June 23 ruling overturning laws that require gun owners to show a special need for self-defense in order to carry the weapons outside the home. In the 6-3 ruling, Justice Clarence Thomas said a state seeking to justify limits on gun ownership or possession must prove its law is “part of the historical tradition,” dating back as early as the colonial period.
California lawmakers banned the sale of guns with large-capacity magazines in 2000 and the purchase of them in 2013. Both those laws were declared unconstitutional in 2019 by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego, but remain in effect while under review by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.”
Fearful after abortion ruling, many LGBTQ couples are updating their legal status
AP, JAY REEVES: “Emails and phone calls from same-sex couples, worried about the legal status of their marriages and keeping their children, flooded attorney Sydney Duncan’s office within hours of the Supreme Court’s decision eliminating the constitutional right to abortion.
The ruling last week didn’t directly affect the 2015 decision that paved the way for same-sex marriage. But, Duncan said, it was still a warning shot for families headed by same-sex parents who fear that their rights could evaporate like those of women seeking to end a pregnancy.
“That has a lot of people scared and, I think, rightfully so,” said Duncan, who specializes in representing members of the LGBTQ community at the Magic City Legal Center in Birmingham, Ala.”
Supreme Court says Biden can end Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ border policy
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: “President Biden has the legal authority to end former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which has required tens of thousands of immigrants seeking asylum to remain south of the border in dangerous conditions while awaiting decisions on their applications, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The decision did not immediately end “Remain in Mexico,” which began in 2019, but it set aside lower-court rulings that upheld the policy. States defending the program can ask the lower courts to restore it but only under the Supreme Court’s broader view of the current administration’s authority to allow asylum-seekers into the United States. The majority opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts was joined by Justice Stephen Breyer in his final case before retiring Thursday, ending 28 years on the court.
The vote was 5-4 to overturn the lower-court decisions. But one of the dissenters, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, said she agreed with Roberts’ view of the law and contended only that it was premature to decide the issue now.”
S.F. closer to opening supervised drug consumption site with California bill headed to approval
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH: “The California Assembly passed a bill Thursday that could help pave the way for San Francisco to open a supervised drug consumption site after years of advocacy by supporters and hand-wringing over federal laws, which still prohibit such sites.
The bill allows San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland to approve organizations to operate overdose prevention programs where people can use drugs under the supervision of trained staff and receive referrals to substance use disorder treatment. Participants would get clean supplies, but bring their own drugs.
San Francisco politicians and harm-reduction advocates have long pushed for this intervention as the city faces a drug overdose crisis that killed more than 1,500 people since the start of 2020 - nearly two people a day.”
Gavin Newsom is running for re-election in California. So why is he running ads in Florida?
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI/SOPHIA BOLLAG: “Gov. Gavin Newsom is running for re-election in California.
But on Monday, he will be starring in TV ads that will air in Florida.
Newsom, as he has often done over the past 25 years, is playing the long game.”
San Francisco vacant homes tax headed to ballot, campaign says
The Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: “Supporters of a proposed San Francisco tax on vacant homes say they have gathered enough signatures to qualify their measure for the November ballot.
The Empty Homes Tax campaign announced Thursday that it was submitting 13,734 signatures to the city — well above the nearly 9,000 needed to appear before voters this fall.
If approved by a simple majority in the Nov. 8 election, the tax could make about 4,500 vacant units available over two years and generate more than $38 million in annual revenue, according to a January report from the Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Legislative Analyst.”
Black Bay Area residents own homes at half the rate of white neighbors. Could $500 million help change that?
The Chronicle, LAUREN HEPLER: “The Berkeley where Darris Young works today in a downtown co-working space isn’t the same diverse East Bay city where he grew up.
Berkeley’s Black population has been nearly cut in half since 1980, as Young’s own family and friends first left for more affordable nearby locales like El Cerrito or Antioch. More and more, he said, loved ones are heading for distant destinations like Atlanta.
It’s a “sorrowful” trend that the nonprofit manager hoped to slow by advocating for a first-of-its-kind $500 million Black Bay Area Regional Housing Fund — a state budget proposal that has so far taken a backseat to other priorities in a year marked by steep competition for a record $98 billion surplus.”
What are the odds you’ll get COVID from someone who’s asymptomatic? Here’s how to measure the risk now
The Chronicle, GWENDOLYN WU: “How likely is it for people to catch COVID from someone who is asymptomatic? It’s not impossible — and may be more common than people realize, health experts say.
With coronavirus cases currently stuck at a high level across California as fast-spreading offshoots of the omicron variant crowd out their competitors, that means the chances of getting COVID from an asymptomatic person are heightened.
An estimated 5%, or about 1 in 20, asymptomatic patients coming to UCSF for procedures unrelated to COVID are testing positive for the virus, said Dr. Bob Wachter, one of the university’s leading infectious disease experts.”
State and federal restrictions make it harder for low-income families to get infant formula
CALMatters, ELIZABETH AGUILERA: “An infant formula shortage plaguing the nation has been difficult for all families that need it, but state and federal limitations have made it even worse for low-income families in California that rely on government assistance.
Those families receive vouchers to pay for formula through the federal Women, Infants and Children program, which provides supplemental nutrition assistance to low-income pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum individuals, infants and children under 5 years old. But the program limits which brands families can buy, making an already scarce supply even scarcer for program participants.
California received a federal waiver in February, when the shortage began, to make changes to the program to ensure formula was still getting to families that need it. Still, it took three more months for the state to expand the list of approved formula brands because of federal restrictions."
Will California’s offshore wind farms damage underwater life? Here’s what scientists are finding
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: “As sites for two massive wind farms are due to be leased soon off the California coast, conservationists are concerned whether renewable energy development can coexist with whales, seabirds and a lucrative fishing industry.
That’s partly what scientists who spent five days on the research vessel Fulmar last week were trying to find out. They set out along the Big Sur coast on a foggy morning to collect underwater sounds of baleen whales, porpoises, dolphins and other marine mammals that call the area home.
Their research is part of dozens of studies being done in anticipation of the lease of a 376-square mile site about 20 miles offshore Morro Bay for wind energy development. Last year, the Biden administration and Gov. Gavin Newsom approved the site and a smaller location off Eureka (Humboldt County) that will be up for auction at the end of this year. The sites have the potential to produce at least 4.6 gigawatts of energy per year, enough to power 1.6 million homes. The first projects of their kind on the West Coast, they fit into California’s ambition to derive all of its power from carbon-free sources by 2045.”
Local organizations bring STEM programs to Los Angeles Unified
EdSource, KATE SEQUEIRA: “Students across Los Angeles Unified are participating in programming from a group of museums, aquariums and STEM organizations from across L.A. County this summer. From learning about engineering with Tinker the Robot to tackling marine life with the Aquarium of the Pacific, students are able to explore a variety of STEM topics.
Having started with 12 organizations in 2020, the group has now grown to more than 40 and has officially established itself as the LA STEM Collective as it heads into its third summer of programming. The group is now hosting a mix of virtual and in-person enrichment for LAUSD and at parks across Los Angeles.
“It’s been a lot of work, but it’s a really great thing,” said Ben Dickow, who leads the L.A. STEM Collective and is president of the Columbia Memorial Space Center. “I think we see time and time again that this sort of organization that we’ve been building is needed.””
A’s waterfront ballpark wins key state agency vote for Howard Terminal
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: “A key state agency voted Thursday in favor of the Oakland A’s request to remove Howard Terminal’s 56 acres from port designation — dealing a major win to the team’s $12 billion waterfront ballpark project and surrounding development.
The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission voted that Howard Terminal isn’t needed for port use, an important step in the A’s quest to get a new stadium. Without a “yes” vote from BCDC, the project would have died. The 23-2 vote doesn’t approve the project, but it allows it to move forward.
The commissioners who voted in favor of the A’s request said BCDC staff’s “diligent” analysis showed that Howard Terminal is not needed for port functions and that there is “adequate capacity” to handle cargo growth elsewhere.”
Pressure builds on Biden to turn to executive action despite its limits and risks
LA Times, COURTNEY SUBRAMANIAN: “He is facing high inflation, a potential recession and a domestic agenda languishing in the Senate. Last week the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, the landmark abortion ruling, and this week upended his climate plans. A looming midterm elections look dire for his party, and his base is frustrated. Pressure is mounting on President Biden to take action.
“The White House needs to move faster and do more on at least the executive actions that we’ve already outlined for them, that we’ve been in discussion with them on,” Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in an interview. “It feels like the delays overwhelm the actual action.”
If only it were so easy, say those close to Biden, pointing to serious problems facing the president if he were to issue a flurry of executive orders in coming months. While such actions might satisfy his base, for a time, they are also likely to leave portions of it disappointed and won’t bring about the dramatic change some Democrats are seeking.”
Russian missiles strike Odesa area in southern Ukraine, killing at least 19
AP, FRANCESCA EBEL: “Missile attacks early Friday on residential areas in a town near Odesa killed at least 19 people, authorities said, a strike that pierced the cautious relief of a day earlier when Russian forces withdrew from an island where they could have staged an assault on the city with Ukraine’s biggest port.
Video of the predawn attack showed the charred remains of buildings in the small town of Serhiivka about 30 miles southwest of Odesa. The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said three X-22 missiles fired by Russian bombers struck an apartment building and two campsites.
“A terrorist country is killing our people. In response to defeats on the battlefield, they fight civilians,” said Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff.”
