California Dems are angry over these three concessions as House approves debt limit deal
The Chronicle, SHIRA STEIN: "A compromise to prevent a default on the federal government’s debts has California Democrats riled over concessions made by the White House that they say could harm their constituents.
The U.S. government has — since the early 1900s — periodically reached a legal limit on how much money it can borrow, requiring Congress to increase that ceiling. Negotiations between Republicans and the White House went on for weeks and cut it close to the deadline, but the two parties announced they had reached an agreement Sunday evening.
The legislation passed the House on Wednesday evening and will head to the Senate in the coming days. The vote split the Bay Area members of Congress. Four Bay Area Democrats opposed the bill — Reps. Mark DeSaulnier, Jared Huffman, Ro Khanna and Barbara Lee — while Reps. Anna Eshoo, John Garamendi, Zoe Lofgren, Kevin Mullin, Jimmy Panetta, Nancy Pelosi, Eric Swalwell and Mike Thompson supported the measure."
Meta threatens to pull news from Facebook over proposed California law
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Facebook parent company Meta threatened on Wednesday to pull news from its sites in response to a proposed California law that would force the platform to pay journalists.
The bill, AB886, would require platforms like Facebook to pay a “journalism usage fee” to news organizations. The fees would be calculated as a percentage of ad revenue and would be set based on an arbitration agreement between digital news publishers and large digital platforms. Facebook, Google and Microsoft are the primary platforms targeted by the bill.
News organizations would be required to spend at least 70% of the revenue to pay journalists."
California to send $95 million to undocumented flooding victims – months after promising ‘rapid response’
CALMatters, NICOLE FOY: "California will send $95 million to flood victims in a long-awaited program to assist undocumented residents suffering hardship and damage from the recent months of storms.
The money will be available in many affected counties starting in June, according to the state’s Department of Social Services.
The announcement comes two months after Gov. Gavin Newsom promised flood victims that help would come from the state’s Rapid Response Fund. Since then his office provided few details despite repeated queries and criticism."
Majority of Californians fear worsening weather swings due to climate change, poll finds
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: "As California continues to experience swings from one weather extreme to another, a majority of residents say they are increasingly concerned about the state’s changing climate, and some worry that weather impacts could force them to move in the future.
Nearly 70% of registered voters say they expect that volatile fluctuations between severe drought and periods of heavy rain and snow — what some call weather whiplash — will become more common in the future due to climate change, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.
The poll comes on the heels of a shockingly wet winter that ended three years of drought, killed nearly two dozen people and flooded the long-dry Tulare Lake Basin."
Thanks to Tribal partnerships, California can lead the world on offshore wind (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, VIOLET SAGE WALKER: "California is planning for offshore wind power at a scale unprecedented anywhere else on earth. Simultaneously, to ensure our proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary succeeds, I had to become an expert in wind energy.
My ancestors have cared for California’s Central Coast since time immemorial. As Chairwoman of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, I am advancing decades of my family’s work advocating for the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, which will protect 7,000 square miles of ocean spanning 156 miles of coastline. I never expected to become adept in wind energy – yet I recently found myself giving a keynote address at Offshore Wind California’s 2023 Pacific Offshore Wind Summit.
As we begin the defining year for our proposed marine sanctuary, the California Energy Commission is developing their initial offshore wind plan, due on June 30 for legislative review. Last year, the Biden administration conducted the Pacific Ocean’s first-ever offshore wind development lease sales. The proposed sanctuary and the “Morro Bay 399” offshore wind site will be neighbors at the sanctuary’s northwestern border, off the coast of Cambria. While offshore wind is cutting-edge, much more needs to be done for its responsible and equitable implementation."
California has investigated Catholic priest sex abuse for years. Victims want answers on what they found
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "After Pennsylvania authorities issued a bombshell report in 2018 detailing widespread sexual abuse of children and coverup in the Roman Catholic church, California’s attorney general invited victims here to share their stories. The next year, the state subpoenaed half of California’s Roman Catholic dioceses.
What California authorities have learned since remains a mystery.
And for victims of long-ago abuse seeking justice in the courts while the state’s dioceses increasingly seek bankruptcy protection, the silence is a growing aggravation — especially as other states, notably Illinois and Maryland, recently issued their own reports, revealing a devastating past of abuse by hundreds of clergy of thousands of children."
State Farm won’t write new home policies in California. Here’s what could happen next
The Chronicle, CLAIRE HAO, CAROLYN SAID: "State Farm, California’s largest property and casualty insurer, ceased writing new homeowners’ policies in the state on Saturday, citing wildfires, rising construction costs and challenges with reinsurance. Consumers were left worrying that their rates would soar and it would be harder to get insurance.
Some insurance advocates say the news is not as catastrophic as it may appear, noting that there are more than 100 other insurers still doing business in the state, although at least two others, AIG and Chubb, which both cater to high-end homes, have made similar moves this year.
“It is significant, but it’s not the end of the competitive home insurance market in California,” said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a nonprofit advocate for insurance consumers, which holds free webinars about finding coverage, including one on June 9. “This is one company making a business decision. We have lots of good work streams in place to keep people’s assets protected, and this is not a reason to panic.”"
For many Black Californians, skepticism and hope over reparations
LA Times, BRENNON DIXSON: "Carolyn Peters grew up during a time when Compton was a mostly white middle-class suburb, and she was part of her generation’s vanguard, as one of the first Black students to integrate the city’s Roosevelt Middle School. Their reception was cold and often cruel.
“There were teachers that had problems with Black children there. And we met resistance not only from other children but from their parents,” Peters said, recalling that era almost 60 years ago.
Teachers insisted that Black students use salutations like “sir” or “ma’am,” but allowed white students to reply to their questions with a simple “yes” or “no.” In Peters’ opinion, educators appeared to prefer working with white children. She spent 38 years as a teacher, trying to rectify that."
Chesa Boudin: Why I’m not running for office in 2024 (OP-ED)
The Chronicle, CHESA BOUDIN: "During last year’s midterm elections, Republican candidates across the country tried to exploit sensationalistic media coverage and voter polls that identified crime and public safety as a top issue of concern. The manufactured frenzy largely failed as an electoral strategy — Democrats far outperformed expectations and actually picked up a seat in the Senate. Still, too many Democrats took the bait, and sound criminal justice policy is suffering as a consequence.
In New York state, officials rolled back pretrial release reforms for poor people who can’t afford bail. Meanwhile, despite widespread claims about being defunded, police budgets sssacross the country surged without any demands for accountability. Even in liberal San Francisco, the mayor’s office closed a supervised drug consumption site while ratcheting up policing of drug users with results as predictable as they are tragic: The city is suffering its most fatal year of overdoses on record, by far.
Devastating as it is to watch, the current public discourse and policy conversations surrounding criminal justice are too often devoid of evidence or even, it seems, short-term memory. Instead of showing leadership, most politicians are kneecapping efforts to move toward workable solutions. As I learned during my two-and-a-half years as San Francisco’s elected district attorney, it takes far more than winning elections to achieve lasting progress."
California private colleges fear affirmative action ban as Supreme Court prepares to rule
CALMatters, ITZEL LUNA: "As a first generation student of color, JP Flores credits much of his academic success to his ability to attend Occidental College, a small, private college in Southern California with what he describes as an inclusive culture.
“It changed my perspective on the world and changed the trajectory of my life,” said Flores, who is now pursuing a Ph.D. in bioinformatics & computational biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
That trajectory might have been different, Flores said, if Occidental had be."
Amid pockets of rising student homelessness, California districts tap Covid funding to help families
EdSource, BETTY MARQUEZ ROSALES, EMMA GALLEGOS, DANIEL J. WILLIS: "An injury forced the family of five to live in a leaky 1995 RV with a malfunctioning plumbing system during one of California’s wettest seasons in decades.
Ana Franquis’ husband, Oscar, was fired about two years ago after injuring his back while working as a carpenter.
Oscar provided their household’s sole income, so they applied for a pandemic-era rent support program. But they eventually received an eviction notice. Their children were 2, 10, and 12 years old — and they had three days to leave their apartment in Seaside."
Tourism workers seek $25 minimum wage before Olympics, World Cup in Los Angeles
CALMatters, ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE: "Jovan Houston wakes most days at 3:30 a.m. and commutes from her Inglewood apartment to the Los Angeles International Airport, where she directs passengers, ensures they have IDs and passports ready, and alerts security if someone goes through the wrong door.
At the end of each shift she’s exhausted, she said, but not done.
She’s home when her 13-year-old son returns from school, and she makes dinner and gets him started on homework. Then she gets back to work — cutting clients’ hair in her living room."
S.F. budget grows to record high. Here's how much Mayor Breed wants to spend on homelessness, crime
The Chronicle, JD MORRIS, MALLORY MOENCH: "San Francisco’s budget is expected to reach $14.6 billion — a record high — for each of the next two fiscal years, even as it works to close a massive two-year deficit of about $780 million.
The latest spending plan for the city and county, announced Wednesday by Mayor London Breed, increased from $14 billion in the current fiscal year because tax revenue is still growing year over year, as are the city’s expenses, including labor costs.
Because of the economic headwinds facing San Francisco, tax revenue growth hasn’t been fast enough to keep up with the city’s rising costs, producing the deficit it has to close this year."
Thousands of local hotel workers move closer to a strike: ‘Living in L.A. is no longer an option’
LA Times, SUHAUNA HUSSAIN: "A union is asking 15,000 workers at hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties to authorize a strike during the height of tourist season.
Unite Here Local 11 said contracts are expiring June 30 at 62 Southern California hotels, including luxury stays such as the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles, the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica and the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills.
Union officials say they are asking for the strike authorization vote on June 8 to jump-start sluggish negotiations and convince hotel operators to seriously consider pay increases for their workers."
Bay Area tech layoffs top grim milestone after jobs cuts by Meta, Nuro, others
BANG*Mercury News, GEORGE AVALOS: "The latest disclosures of local layoffs by Facebook owner Meta Platforms, along with recently revealed cutbacks by other companies, have shoved the number of tech job cuts in the Bay Area far beyond a grim milestone.
Tech companies have revealed plans to eliminate nearly 25,000 jobs during 2022 and so far in 2023, according to this news organization’s analysis of numerous WARN notices that employers have filed with the state Employment Development Department.
Meta Platforms, whose apps include Facebook and Instagram, has reported to state labor officials that it has decided to chop 1,125 jobs in the Bay Area."
S.F. started taxing vacant storefronts. Here’s why only 74 owners and tenants have paid so far
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI, SUSIE NEILSON: "A long-planned San Francisco retail vacancy tax went into effect last year, but only 74 property owners and tenants have paid the tax so far, according to data released by the city this week.
That means only 2.6% of around 2,800 property parcels that were potentially subject to the tax were listed as vacant by tax filers for more than 182 days in the year. The tax excludes downtown and covers around three dozen shopping districts near residential areas. But the relatively low response from affected taxpayers doesn’t mean the city’s retail corridors have a minuscule number of empty storefronts.
“These are taxpayers that responded and said they had a vacancy,” said Amanda Fried, chief of policy and communications at the Office of the Treasure and Tax Collector. “This is not the audited information. This is not how many vacancies exist.”"
A break for renters? California considers reining in high security deposits
CALMatters, ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE: "Most renters know securing housing isn’t as simple as finding the perfect place.
California’s renters must save up thousands of dollars to provide security deposits that can legally be as much as two months’ rent, or three months’ for furnished units.
Add in the requirement that renters put up the first month’s rent before they can move in and low-income families are most likely to give up hope of finding a home."
How a convicted murderer’s bid for freedom sparked a fight between L.A. County judges
LA Times, JAMES QUEALLY: "When he sought to make the leap from prosecutor to judge in 2008, Patrick Connolly branded himself to voters as a hard-charging and hard-partying attorney who had won some of the most complicated murder cases in Long Beach between sleepless trips to Las Vegas.
Months before he was elected to the bench, Connolly sent Frank Gonzalez and Justin Flint to prison for the rest of their lives. He’d won murder convictions against them in the killing of off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Maria Rosa.
At trial, Connolly accused Gonzalez of firing the shot that felled Rosa, who was 30 at the time of her slaying in 2006. But Flint was also convicted of murder because he was involved in the robbery that led to her death."
More U.S. Space Force missions to be based in Colorado as politics bedevil HQ choice
AP, TARA COPP: "The U.S. Air Force announced the permanent location of many more U.S. Space Force units Wednesday — and none of them is in Huntsville, Ala., suggesting that the service may be moving ahead with at least part of its original development plan for the new force before it became entangled in politics.
Four more Space Force missions will now be based in Colorado Springs, Colo., a notable choice during a larger battle over where to locate the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command. Colorado Springs, which is housing Space Command’s temporary headquarters, was the Air Force’s preferred location, but former President Trump, in his final days in the White House, chose Alabama instead.
Alabama has strict antiabortion laws, and Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican, earlier this year announced that he would hold up all military nominations until the Department of Defense rescinds a new policy that would allow female service members to be reimbursed for travel costs if they have to go out of state for reproductive care."
NASA’s experts talk UAPs ahead of final report on unidentified flying objects
LA Times, CORINNE PURTILL: "Former naval pilot Scott Kelly was flying an F-14 Tomcat when his radar intercept officer made an insistent but extraordinary claim: He had just seen a UFO. The U.S. Air Force announced the permanent location of many more U.S. Space Force units Wednesday — and none of them is in Huntsville, Ala., suggesting that the service may be moving ahead with at least part of its original development plan for the new force before it became entangled in politics.
Kelly, who would go on to command the International Space Station, circled the plane back around so the two could investigate the mysterious object, he recounted during a public meeting Wednesday of NASA’s first panel tasked with studying unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs.
When they got closer, they realized it was an escaped balloon emblazoned with Bart Simpson’s face."
