Two of California's largest reservoirs are near 100% capacity. Here's where others stand
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "As California’s record snowpack this winter continues to melt, reservoirs across the state are filling up, and two of the state’s largest are nearly at capacity.
Shasta Lake in Shasta County and Lake Oroville in Butte County, where much of Northern California’s water is stored, are at 98% and 99% of their total capacity, respectively, for the first time in five years, according to data from the state Department of Water Resources.
Lake Oroville, which supports 27 million Californians, has experienced water storage whiplash over the last five years — a sign of how volatile the state’s hydrology has been. The last time water storage levels neared capacity was in July 2019. By August 2021, it had hit historic lows."
California’s once-dead Tulare Lake may be at peak size. Here’s how big it is
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "Tulare Lake, the historical body of freshwater that unexpectedly re-emerged in the San Joaquin Valley with the winter deluge, may have reached its peak size this week: about 178 square miles or nearly the size of Lake Tahoe, according to new state estimates.
The revived lake came to life in March, flooding roads, farms and even homes, and has continued to grow as record snow from the nearby Sierra Nevada has melted into rivers that feed the basin.
Models released Tuesday by the state Department of Water Resources, based on last month’s runoff forecasts, show the lake’s floodwaters likely topping out last Friday, with inflow reduced to just one river, the Kings. Measurements this week show the lake larger than Friday’s projected peak, but the difference is slight – all of which suggests the waters have crested or soon will."
Florida says it’s responsible for transporting migrants to Sacramento
LA Times, MELANIE MASON: "Florida officials took responsibility on Tuesday for chartered flights that transported migrants to Sacramento, following days of silence since the first group landed in California on Friday.
The transport had been lambasted as potentially illegal by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who raised the potential for kidnapping charges in a Twitter message directed to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday.
Florida officials pushed back on the allegation that the migrants had been transported against their will or under misleading circumstances."
Bonta: Migrants ‘promised help finding jobs and they didn’t get that help’
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK, ALDO TOLEDO: "Florida officials on Tuesday acknowledged that the Sunshine State was behind a pair of chartered flights that dropped 36 Latin American asylum-seekers in Sacramento as the political showdown heated up with California authorities saying the migrants were falsely “promised help finding jobs” and then abandoned.
Attorney General Rob Bonta told the Bay Area News Group on Tuesday that he and Gov. Gavin Newsom personally interviewed some of the migrants with the help of an interpreter, and their responses suggested a basis for possible criminal charges against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that remain under investigation.
“Many of them indicated they were promised help finding jobs, and they didn’t get that help,” Bonta said in an interview. “They were instead left on the steps of the Sacramento diocese. … We believe based on that, that there’s a very strong indication of deception.”"
Gavin Newsom wants Ron DeSantis charged with ‘kidnapping’ migrants. Is that possible?
CALMatters, NIGEL DUARA, ANABEL SOSA, JEANNE KUANG: "There are lots of thorny legal problems with filing kidnapping charges against a rival governor, but the most important one is simple: Proving that the chief executive of the other state is, in fact, responsible for luring migrants onto a plane under false pretenses.
But Gov. Gavin Newsom, on Twitter, is threatening to do just that after two recent flights delivered 36 people to Sacramento. The first flight arrived Saturday and a second arrived on Monday morning.
Though neither flight originated in Florida, California’s governor put the blame squarely on the Sunshine State, as he did last year when planeloads of migrants were flown into Sacramento and Martha’s Vineyard, Mass."
Bills with different vote requirements in the California Legislature
Capitol Weekly, CHRIS MICHELI: "In the 2023 Session, there is one bill that require a 55% vote for passage. Since 1999, there have been 6 bills that require a 55% vote for passage. This higher vote threshold is required for bills amending Prop. 63 from 2016, the Safety for All Act of 2016, which makes it a crime for a person to possess a large-capacity magazine.
An example is AB 732 (Mike Fong) from the 2023-24 Session
Proposition 63 allows its provisions to be amended by a vote of 55% of the Legislature so long as the amendments are consistent with, and further the intent of, the act. This bill would amend Proposition 63 by requiring a defendant not in custody to relinquish their firearms within 48 hours."
S.F. Mayor Breed told police to arrest more drug users. Will that get them into treatment?
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH: "San Francisco Mayor London Breed has become increasingly vocal about her goal to get people who are high on drugs off the streets – and into treatment by whatever means possible.
Her latest push toward that end is to direct her police department to arrest people whose behavior is escalating into self-harm or violence, jail them to sober up and then offer them treatment.
Over the past week, police arrested 19 people under this approach. Upon release, no one accepted drug treatment, although the mayor’s office could not provide specifics on what was offered. After the same person is picked up three times, the District Attorney will charge them in an alternative court, which can provide social services and treatment if the defendant agrees."
‘Defendant is in Italy?!’: Former Fremont city manager facing felony charges riles prosecutors with international trip
BANG*Mercury news, JAKOB RODGERS: "While awaiting trial on charges of abusing his city credit card for travel and food expenses, a former Fremont city manager is remaking himself as an internationally-trained chef — and arousing the ire of prosecutors who insist he must first face justice.
Mark Danaj incurred felony charges here, but the disgraced official has recently been in Italy learning the art of wine tasting and gelato-making in a 900-year-old castle, part of an expensive culinary school internship complete with cheese tasting and olive-oil-sipping field trips.
Danaj’s midlife career change came not long after he lost his government job and got a generous severance package. He moved to San Antonio to attend The Culinary Institute of America."
This rural California county lost its only hospital, leaving residents with dire healthcare choices
LA Times, MELISSA GOMEZ, HANNAH FRY, GENARO MOLINA: "It was dinnertime when Sabrina Baker, a mother of six, felt the familiar twinge of contractions.
At first, she brushed it off as Braxton Hicks, false labor pains not uncommon in the late stages of pregnancy. But after dinner that night in early January, the pain sharpened and radiated to her back. The contractions intensified, and Baker knew this baby girl was coming fast.
She had a decision to make — and the options weren’t good."
Cal State details potential tuition increases amid massive funding gap
LA Times, DEBBIE TRUONG: "California State University officials are projecting tuition increases of hundreds of dollars per student as the 23-campus system attempts to close a funding gap of almost $1.5 billion.
The tuition proposal, submitted to the California State Student Assn. last month, outlined three models, with the increase for each undergraduate ranging from $174 to $462 in the first year and each subsequent year bringing another increase.
The $1.5-billion shortfall was detailed in a 70-page report presented to the university’s Board of Trustees. In the 2021-2022 school year, there was a 14% disparity between what the system spent and what it actually cost to educate students, pay salaries and keep campuses running, the report said."
Carvalho says replacing Primary Promise will do more for students at much lower cost
LA Times, HOWARD BLUME: "Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Alberto Carvalho on Tuesday outlined a shift to a key educational intervention program that will expand its focus beyond helping elementary students who are struggling with reading and math to reaching older students and strengthening the skills of teachers.
Carvalho and his senior staff detailed the plan in public for the first time after facing criticism for quietly beginning to dismantle the flagship initiative of his predecessor, Austin Beutner, earlier this year.
That program, known as Primary Promise, had been lauded by district officials as recently as 14 months ago."
3 arrested outside Glendale school board meeting in violent clashes between LGBTQ+ protesters
LA Times, JEREMY CHILDS, CHRISTIAN MARTINEZ: "Three people were arrested Tuesday at protests held outside a meeting of the Glendale Unified School District board, where pro-and anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrators faced off over how schools teach gender and sexuality.
Law enforcement declared an unlawful assembly after fighting broke out outside the building, officials said. The situation temporarily disrupted the meeting, which was about an hour into public comments on an agenda item calling for recognition of June as Pride Month — which board members unanimously approved late in the evening.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of protesters had swarmed outside the building, some waving American flags and others waving Pride flags, with many documenting the scene with their smartphones. Those who were protesting the board’s LGBTQ+ policies chanted, “Leave our kids alone” while naming each of the five members of the board."
Students will begin school without textbooks over district’s objection to Harvey Milk
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Students in a Riverside County school district could begin the next school year without textbooks because the district’s conservative school board objects to civil rights icon Harvey Milk.
That might be hard to believe in San Francisco, where the pioneering LGBTQ lawmaker is honored with his name on an airport terminal and an elementary school. It could be hard to believe in many parts of the country as the San Francisco supervisor, the first out gay lawmaker in California, has been memorialized with his own U.S. postage stamp, posthumously received the presidential Medal of Freedom and the Korean War veteran also has his name on a U.S. Navy ship.
But the Temecula Valley Unified School District board — a majority of whose members were endorsed by a conservative Christian organization — refused to approve a new elementary school social studies curriculum because it mentions Milk in an eight-paragraph passage that is optional for teachers to use in class."
Tech companies jettison hundreds more Bay Area jobs as layoffs widen
BANG*Mercury News, GEORGE AVALOS: "Tech companies have revealed plans to jettison hundreds more Bay Area jobs in a disquieting indicator that the tech industry’s layoffs have yet to run their course, new official state government filings show.
The latest staffing reductions for the tech sector are slated to eliminate at least 289 more jobs in the Bay Area, according to several WARN letters filed with the state Employment Development Department.
Here are the details on the most recent layoffs affecting Bay Area workers that tech companies have revealed:"
California rent relief is still available for thousands of tenants who were denied COVID assistance
CALMatters, BEN CHRISTOPHER: "More than 100,000 California tenants whose applications for COVID-era rental assistance were denied or delayed by the state’s housing department will get another shot at relief, thanks to a new legal settlement between the state and a coalition of anti-poverty and tenant rights groups.
More aid isn’t guaranteed. But under the terms of the settlement signed at the end of last month, California’s Housing and Community Development Department agreed to audit its past denials and improve multilingual access for tenants who don’t speak English as a first language.
It also agreed to flesh out the appeal process for applicants and provide more detailed explanations when it denies an application. And it committed to providing more data on the race, ethnicity and location of those who were denied help."
Largest-ever RV safe parking site approved by San Jose city council for $18.9 million
BANG*Mercury News, GABRIEL GRESCHLER: "San Jose’s Berryessa neighborhood will be the site of a massive RV parking lot after city councilmembers approved an $18.9 million lease on Tuesday for the project as part of a strategy to offer faster, interim options to combat the homelessness crisis.
The site — which will host up to 85 vehicles — will be the largest of its kind in the city and is located along Coyote Creek at 1300 Berryessa Road, allowing RV dwellers to legally park with no maximum stay in an area mostly surrounded by industrial buildings.
In a unanimous vote, councilmembers approved a 10-year lease for the 6.3-acre parcel — and the city expects that all expenses for the site, including services, will amount to over $24 million over a five-year period. The project — about a mile from the nearby Berryessa BART station — currently doesn’t have an opening date."
Fired Sacramento cop accepts plea deal, avoids potential prison term in false report case
Sac Bee, SAM STANTON: "Fired Sacramento police Officer Alexa Palubicki accepted a plea deal Monday, entering no-contest pleas to felony charges of filing a false report in connection with the July 12, 2020, arrest of a motorist.
Palubicki had been scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Monday afternoon in Sacramento Superior Court, with two police witnesses standing by to testify.
But after conversations between her lawyers, Deputy District Attorney Nick Johnson and Judge Shauna Franklin, Palubicki went into a courthouse hallway to make a phone call, then returned and agreed to a deal that could keep her out of jail and result in the charges being reduced to misdemeanors a year from now."
New Zodiac Killer clue in the Sierra? Here’s what led one sleuth to Hell Hole Reservoir
The Chronicle, KEVIN FAGAN: "An eerie rock formation that partially resembles the bull’s-eye pattern used by the Zodiac Killer during his reign of terror in the Bay Area in the 1960s has been found in the Sierra Nevada, touching off renewed intrigue over whether a key to the infamous killer’s identity could lie in the Northern California mountains.
But despite national news coverage, the rocks have done little to pique the interest of the longtime sleuths who have tracked the murder mystery for decades, some of whom have previously explored what have turned out to be dead-end links to the Zodiac in the Sierra.
“We’re not looking into it,” flatly stated Sgt. Nick Carlquist of the nearby South Lake Tahoe Police Department, which tends to the cold case of Donna Lass, who went missing from there in 1970 and who some believe was killed by the Zodiac."
Major dam collapse in southern Ukraine floods villages as Moscow and Kyiv trade blame
AP, VASILISA STEPANENKO, SUSIE BLANN: "A major dam in southern Ukraine collapsed Tuesday, flooding villages, endangering crops in the country’s breadbasket and threatening drinking water supplies as both sides in the war scrambled to evacuate residents and blamed each other for the destruction.
Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power station, built in the 1950s on the Dnipro River in an area that Moscow has controlled for more than a year. Russian officials, meanwhile, blamed Ukrainian military strikes in the contested area. It was not possible to verify the claims.
Russian and Ukrainian officials used terms including “ecological disaster” and “terrorist act” to refer to the torrent of water gushing through the broken dam and beginning to empty an upstream reservoir that is one of the world’s largest."
