Californians’ electricity bills could see huge change if PG&E proposal goes through"
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "Northern California’s largest utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., and its two Southern California counterparts are seeking to restructure how their residential electric customers are billed, potentially reducing costs for lower-income households while resulting in higher-income customers paying more.
Their proposal, filed this week with the California Public Utilities Commission, is a response to a new state law that changed the requirements for how public utilities charge customers, PG&E said. Under the plan, monthly bills would be broken out into two parts: a fixed infrastructure charge, tiered by customer income level as required by the law, and an electricity use charge, which would vary based on consumption.
Analysis: Why Dianne Feinstein’s absence in Senate is causing problem for Democrats
AP, MARY CLARE JALONICK: "Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s monthslong absence from the Senate to recover in California from shingles has become a vexing problem for Democrats who want to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominees to the federal courts. Now there is some pressure from within her party, and her state, to resign.
With frustration mounting among Democrats, Feinstein on Wednesday asked to be temporarily replaced on the Senate Judiciary Committee while she recuperates. The statement came shortly after a member of California’s House delegation, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, called on her to step down, saying it is “unacceptable” for her to miss votes to confirm judges who could be weighing in on abortion rights, a key Democratic priority.
It will not be easy to temporarily replace Feinstein on the influential committee. Republicans could block such a move, given that the full Senate must approve committee assignments."
Judge declares mistrial in bribery case of former L.A. Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan
LA Times, MICHAEL FINNEGAN: "A federal judge declared a mistrial Thursday in the bribery prosecution of former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan after doctors confirmed his attorney needs months to recover from a recent hospitalization.
U.S. District Court Judge John F. Walter instructed Chan to find a new lawyer to replace Harland Braun, whose March 2 hospitalization brought the trial to a halt while prosecutors were still presenting their case to the jury.
Braun, 80, one of the city’s best-known criminal defense attorneys, spent more than two years preparing for Chan’s highly complex trial."
Abortion pill can remain in use — with major limits, appeals court says
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Mifepristone, used in more than half of all U.S. abortions, will remain in legal distribution while the Biden administration appeals a judge’s ruling that the government should not have approved it 23 years ago, a federal appeals court said Thursday.
But a panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans determined some parts of U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision could go into effect, including a ban on sending it to patients by mail."
Map shows how far toxic dust from Bay Area refinery accident may have traveled
The Chronicle, JULIE JOHNSON: "A new map from local air pollution regulators has attempted to estimate how far toxic white dust from PBF Energy’s malfunctioning oil refinery in Martinez may have traveled last November.
Using computer modeling combined with witness reports, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District charted an approximately 15-mile swath of Contra Costa County where the refinery dust may have fallen five months ago on Thanksgiving night."
Rogue COVID testing sites have returned to San Francisco sidewalks
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER: "For many pedestrians strolling by, it was an easy way to make $5 cash. All they had to do was swab themselves for COVID and show their photo ID.
But several testing sites that popped up on San Francisco sidewalks this week appear to be unscrupulous operations that are not properly licensed through a laboratory and whose workers do not follow basic public-health rules."
California condors killed by avian flu for first time, increasing risk to famed species
BANG*Mercury News, PAUL ROGERS: "A new and growing threat is facing America’s largest bird, the California condor, a famed species that has been slowly recovering from the brink of extinction.
A highly contagious strain of avian influenza has killed at least 18 of the massive birds around the Grand Canyon in Arizona over the past month. And now California biologists are scrambling to address what could be a catastrophic setback if condors in Big Sur and other parts of the state become infected.
“The disease has moved so quickly, and a vaccine development has not,” said Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society, a non-profit group that has released condors into the wilds around Big Sur and San Simeon since 1997. “We are in a very tough spot.”"
How one school gets English learners to read by third grade
EdSourcel, ZAIDEE STAVELY: "At Frank Sparkes Elementary, words fly everywhere. On a recent Monday, kindergartners sang and danced as they learned about the silent e that changes other vowel sounds.
First graders asked how to spell words like “hamster” to finish writing sentences about how they wanted to spend their piggy-bank money. Third graders discussed out loud whether Oreo or Chips Ahoy cookies are best – the topic of their opinion essays.
Surrounded by almond groves in the rural town of Winton, about 10 miles northwest of Merced in California’s Central Valley, Frank Sparkes Elementary serves mostly low-income Latino students, and more than half are English learners. That’s not unlike many schools in California. More than 1 in 3 children enter school in California not yet proficient in English.
On a ship where future mariners train, CSU women say they faced sexual abuse and harassment
LA Times, COLLEEN SHALBY, ROBERT J. LOPEZ: "For nearly three decades, the navy-and-gold Training Ship Golden Bear has plied oceans around the globe for California State University’s Maritime Academy, providing a unique classroom for students training to be leaders in the seafaring industry.
In recent years, Cal Maritime students and employees reported accusations of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment aboard the 500-foot ship to officials at the Vallejo campus.
Interviews and internal campus records reviewed by The Times showed the allegations included two rapes reported in 2019, a sexual assault in 2022 and accusations that a captain sexually harassed women and made disparaging remarks about the LGBTQ community and women during a 2021 training cruise."
'Completely taken aback': Associates react to charging of Nima Momeni in Bob Lee's death
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC, ST. JOLHN BARNED-SMITH: "Nima Momeni, the man San Francisco police arrested Thursday in connection with the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee, owned a Bay Area IT consulting company, had a minor criminal record and was regarded by people who knew him as warm and friendly, according to interviews and public records.
Police arrested Momeni, 38, at his Emeryville home Thursday morning on suspicion of murder. Lee, 43, died after being stabbed in the chest in Rincon Hill just before 2:30 a.m. April 4. The Miami resident had been visiting San Francisco — where he once lived — on bTesla is refusing to comply with subpoena in racism probe, California tells courtusiness."
Tesla is refusing to comply with subpoena in racism probe, California tells court
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Amid a series of discrimination complaints against electric-car manufacturer Tesla, the California Civil Rights Department says the Elon Musk-owned company is refusing even to discuss its treatment of racial minorities, women and disabled people at its facilities in California.
The department sued Tesla in February 2022 for allegedly running a “racially segregated workplace” at its assembly plant in Fremont. In a filing Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court, where the suit is pending, the department said Tesla had agreed to provide a knowledgeable staff member to discuss its practices, but then claimed no one was available and that the department was abusing its powers by obtaining a court subpoena for the information."
State agency asks court to order Tesla to cooperate in discrimination investigation
LA Times, MELODY PETERSEN: "California officials took action against Tesla in court on Thursday in an attempt to force the company to comply with a state investigation into the alleged illegal harassment of and discrimination against a group of manufacturing employees.
“Tesla’s failure to comply with my office’s obligation to investigate allegations of workplace misconduct shows a lack of respect for the rights and well-being of their workers,” Kevin Kish, the director of the California Civil Rights Department, said in a news release Thursday.
The state’s legal filing asks the court to force Tesla to comply with a confidential subpoena issued by the department on March 3. The state said the subpoena was part of its investigation of a complaint filed in 2021 that alleged discrimination based on sex, race and disability against a group of production and manufacturing workers in California."
Bay Area exodus: Wealthy resident departures worsen ‘doom loop’ fears
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN VARIAN: "Wealthier residents, liberated from the office by remote work, are leaving the Bay Area at a higher rate than before the pandemic — a trend that could exacerbate a dreaded economic “doom loop” for the region’s slowly recovering job centers and downtown cores.
In 2021, households earning more than $150,000 made up 32% of all those moving out of the nine-county Bay Area, up from 27.6% in 2019, according to a new analysis of census data by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.
Although most of those departing are lower-income residents struggling to afford the region’s high housing costs and living expenses, the uptick in wealthy households moving out is beginning to strain local tax bases, said Abby Raisz, the institute’s research director."
Oakland struggling with $7 million in road damage from winter storms, report says
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: "The atmospheric river storms that pummeled the Bay Area for weeks at the start of the year caused significant damage to Oakland’s roads and recreational areas that will cost $7.1 million to repair — a total the city can’t cover on its own while awaiting federal emergency funds, according to a recent city report.
The historic rainstorms that hit the Bay Area between Dec. 31 and Jan. 20 led to a rash of road closures, landslides and potholes in Oakland, the city’s Public Works department wrote in a March report. The city received 369 reports of potholes or roadway depressions in January, higher than the previous three years — though lower than the 543 requests in 2019, which also began with a strong atmospheric river, officials said."
State regulators give L.A. County more time to fix dysfunctional juvenile halls
LA Times, REBECCA ELLIS, JAMES QUEALLY: "State regulators on Thursday put off a shutdown of Los Angeles County’s two dysfunctional juvenile halls, angering youth advocates who accused the state agency of shirking its responsibility to shutter facilities that have clearly failed.
The move gives the county extra time to carry out a turnaround of its juvenile halls so dramatic that even state regulators appeared skeptical they could pull it off.
“I struggle trusting L.A. County going forward,” Linda Penner, chair of the California Board of State and Community Corrections, or BSCC, said at a meeting in Sacramento after county officials had finished detailing planned improvements at the facilities. “You’re talking about a long-range, futuristic plan about how to get staff on board. But I’m concerned [about] your staff today. I’m concerned what’s going to happen overnight tonight."
Torrance police officers indicted in 2018 killing of Christopher Deandre Mitchell
LA Times, JAMES QUEALLY: "Two Torrance police officers linked to a racist text messaging scandal have been indicted in the 2018 shooting death of a Black man who was holding an air rifle, according to defense attorneys for one of the officers.
Defense attorney Tom Yu confirmed Thursday that Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez were indicted in the killing of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell, a 23-year-old suspected car thief.
Yu said he did not know what charges the officers would face, but a court appearance is expected early next week."
Ex-deputies involved in Guardado shooting indicted federally in separate abuse case
LA Times, KERI BLAKINGER, JAMES QUEALLY: "Two former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies have been indicted on charges of violating the civil rights of a skateboarder they allegedly forced into the back of their cruiser and threatened before crashing the vehicle in 2020, prosecutors announced Thursday.
According to a five-count indictment, Miguel Vega and Chris Hernandez — who were also involved in the highly publicized 2020 killing of 18-year-old Andres Guardado — were charged with conspiracy, witness tampering, falsification of records and deprivation of rights. Vega was charged with a count of falsifying records.
The indictment, which echoes a 2021 Times investigation into the case, also accuses the former deputies of obstructing justice in multiple ways to hide their “unlawful detention and false imprisonment” of 24-year-old Jesus Alegria."
ICE deported him to Afghanistan, then flew him back to L.A.
LA Times, HAMED ALEAZIZ: "Last summer, nearly a year after the Taliban took over his country, Mr. A, an Afghan man in his 20s, crossed the southern border in California and told authorities he was seeking asylum.
On Jan. 27, in a decision they would later reverse, U.S. authorities deported Mr. A back to the country he had fled.
He hid in fear in Afghanistan, convinced the Taliban would find him, as his attorneys attempted to convince the government that his deportation was a mistake and he needed to be returned."
