Stem cell agency lists own board members with conflicts of interest
Capitol Weekly, DAVID JENSEN: “In a first in its 18-year history, the California stem cell agency has begun posting on its website a list of its governing board members who have conflicts of interest as they award hundreds of millions of dollars.
The most recent example comes next Tuesday in a $48 million round that will benefit at least 16 public and private colleges in the Golden State and up to 400 students at a cost of $58,220 each.”
The public conflict postings reflect an awareness of the need for transparency at the $12 billion agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). The research effort was created by voters in 2004 via a ballot initiative, Proposition 71. The measure gave many of the potential beneficiaries a seat at the table where the money is handed out."
How Vanessa Bryant won part of a stunning $31-million victory involving gruesome Kobe crash photos
LA Times, STAFF: “In February 2020, the Los Angeles Times reported that Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies had shared graphic photos of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others.
The revelation triggered a major scandal at the Sheriff’s Department that culminated Wednesday, when a jury ordered Los Angeles County to pay Vanessa Bryant, widow of Lakers star Kobe Bryant, and another man $31 million in damages.
The trial marked the culmination of an intensely personal, two-year legal fight for Vanessa Bryant and Chris Chester, who lost his daughter and wife in the crash. Bryant often expressed outrage over the conduct of deputies.”
California is set to make history by banning sales of gas-powered cars. Can it deliver?
LA Times, TONY BRISCOE: “California air regulators are set to vote Thursday on a historic plan that would effectively require all new cars sold within the state to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035 — a ruling that would put the nation’s most populous state in the forefront of phasing out internal combustion engines and the harmful, planet-warming gasses they emit.
If approved, the regulations are expected to significantly reduce vehicle carbon dioxide emissions, as well as smog-forming nitrogen oxides over the next two decades. It could also lead the way in transforming America’s aging fleet of gasoline-powered automobiles.
“The climate crisis is solvable if we focus on the big, bold steps necessary to stem the tide of carbon pollution,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. “California now has a groundbreaking, world-leading plan to achieve 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035. It’s ambitious, it’s innovative, it’s the action we must take if we’re serious about leaving this planet better off for future generations.””
Even conservative parts of California overwhelmingly support abortion ballot measure
SCOOTY NICKERSON, Mercury News: "California voters overwhelmingly support a measure, Proposition 1, that would amend the state constitution to ensure access to abortion and contraception throughout the state.
No surprise? Well, that support is not just in the deep blue Bay Area or liberal pockets of LA.
A new poll released Wednesday by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found at least 65% of voters in the Golden State’s most conservative regions — from the North Coast to the Sierras to the Central Valley to the Inland Empire — support the abortion measure, a resounding result that could have implications up and down the ballot in November’s midterms."
California could be first state to ban 1-pound propane cylinders used by campers
The Chronicle, GREGORY THOMAS: “During peak summer season in Yosemite National Park, when campgrounds are packed, the spent gas canisters that people use to fuel their camping stoves and lanterns tend to pile up on the ground near dumpsters as if no one is quite sure what to do with them.
Despite there being special recycling bins for empty propane canisters, the stray canisters — 1-pound, forest-green cylinders sold by brands like Coleman and Bernzomatic — present a constant chore for rangers.
“We’ll have hundreds if not thousands of them in the park,” said Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman.”
Why Californians with student loans will gain massively from forgiveness plan
LA Times, TERESA WATANABE/DEBBIE TRUONG: “Sadia Khan, a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, was glued to her iPhone on Wednesday, refreshing Twitter and reading articles to gather emerging details of President Biden’s landmark student loan debt forgiveness plan.
When she learned she was eligible for up to $10,000 in loan forgiveness — enough to wipe out her entire $6,000 federal debt — the financially struggling single mother was overcome with relief.
“We’ve been pinching pennies on everything,” said Khan, 27, a legal studies major. “As someone who doesn’t have anybody to fall back on, this would be life-changing.””
Why environmentalists say Newsom’s climate push has dangerous strings attached
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER: “In a vacuum, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed climate change package is the sort of bold move that many environmentalists would ordinarily cheer because it aims to quickly ramp up California’s efforts to reduce planet-warming emissions.
But the governor’s climate push has received a lukewarm response that could jeopardize his ability to get the landmark plan approved at the state Capitol before legislators must adjourn for the year next Wednesday.
Many environmentalists and legislators are skeptical over what they see as two major strings attached to Newsom’s proposal: He wants to delay the closure of California’s last nuclear power plant and carve out a role for carbon-capture technology, which activists say could give industry a loophole to avoid cutting emissions.”
DA: Over 70% of offenders released on $0 bail in one California county were re-arrested
ANDREW SHEELER, SacBee: "People released from jail under Yolo County’s “$0 bail” policy went on to be re-arrested 70% of the time, according to a new report released by the District Attorney’s Office.
In April 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Judicial Council took the step of imposing a statewide emergency bail schedule, ending the requirement of cash bail for low-level offenders in a bid to reduce the spread of the virus among inmates.
The order set bail at $0 for most misdemeanor and lower-level felony charges. The emergency order was lifted in June 2020, though individual counties were permitted to make their own decisions on whether to keep $0 bail in place."
New racist texts reveal Torrance cops talked about hurting and killing Black suspects
LA Times, JAMES QUEALLY: “The day after Torrance police shot Christopher DeAndre Mitchell in 2018, his mother and a dozen of his loved ones staged a protest outside the department’s headquarters.
At the same time, a group of officers — including the two who had killed Mitchell — were discussing the situation via text message.
“Was going to tell you all those [N-word] family members are all pissed off in front of the station,” one wrote, according to court documents recently reviewed by The Times.”
A soldier’s tale: Russian serviceman’s scathing memoir depicts a senseless war
LA Times, LAURA KING: “A Russian soldier’s searing firsthand account of the Ukraine invasion — depicting ordinary foot soldiers exploited as cannon fodder by inept commanders and a cynical Kremlin leadership — is drawing decidedly mixed reviews from inside and outside the battle zone.
For many outside observers, the ex-serviceman’s 141-page memoir, posted by him online in early August, offers a rare inside glimpse of Moscow’s brutal yet bungled attempt to subdue a smaller and less powerful neighbor.
But six months into a devastating war, some Ukrainians believe that widespread Western media attention to the veteran ex-paratrooper’s journal unfairly lionizes a willing tool of the Russian military machine, who should share in the accountability for wartime atrocities.”
Wage Theft: Car wash workers in $2.3 million case await pay 3 years later
CALMatters, ALEJANDRO LAZO/LIL KALISH: “Antonio Dominguez had never seen a car wash before moving to Los Angeles from Mexico in 1997. As a 24-year-old day laborer, he’d walk home each day, stop along a palm-lined boulevard and watch a team of mostly Mexican workers sponge, rinse, dry and polish a line of cars.
He was charmed by the waiting customers who seemed pleased with how their vehicles were left gleaming. And he simply loved the cars. In his Mexican hometown, there were few paved roads and cars were luxuries. “I just wanted to touch those cars, those new cars,” Dominguez said. “They came out so pretty.”
Dominguez worked five years at his first car wash job, earning only cash tips, and then was put on the payroll, though his weekly check often didn’t pay him for all of his hours, he said.”
Beyond gender-neutral bathrooms: A guide to rights and protections for LGBTQ+ students
EdSource, CAROLYN JONES: “In many parts of the U.S., students returning to school will encounter a rash of new laws and regulations aimed at students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. At least six states have recently passed laws restricting rights and protections for LGBTQ+ students, including Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law that limits discussions of sexuality and gender in the classroom.
LGBTQ+ students have far more protections in California, which has one of the highest percentages of gay people in the country at 9.1%, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. But amid the national debate, confusion persists about what laws protect LGBTQ+ students in California. Here are some common questions and answers about how schools can support LGBTQ+ students:
Who is considered LGBTQ+?”
Do you qualify for student loan forgiveness? What to know about Biden's plan
The Chronicle, KATHLEEN PENDER: “President Biden made his long-awaited announcement on student debt cancellation Wednesday, but many questions still remain. The administration promised to provide answers soon. In the meantime, here are some things we know and don’t know about the program.
Who qualifies for debt cancellation?
The administration said it will “provide targeted student debt cancellation to borrowers with loans held by the Department of Education.” To qualify, borrowers must have “annual income during the pandemic of under $125,000 (for individuals) or under $250,000 (for married couples or heads of households).””
Is Lowell segregated? Here’s how every S.F. school scores on a racial ‘divergence’ index
The Chronicle, NAMI SUMIDA: “Diversity has been a hot topic in recent events related to San Francisco public schools. The impact on the diversity of the student body was central to the debate around changes to Lowell High School’s admissions system, and desegregating elementary schools is one of the primary reasons for the district’s new student assignment policy.
Yet according to a Chronicle analysis of student demographic data from the 2021-2022 school year, SFUSD schools remain highly segregated along racial lines.
About 60% of the 99 non-charter schools analyzed have “highly segregated” student populations compared with the districtwide racial composition, according to researchers. Among the most segregated are three majority-Black elementary schools in the Bayview and five majority-Latino schools in the Mission that offer Spanish-language instruction.”
