California’s drought is over but forests are still dying. What’s happening?
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "While the historically wet year in California came as relief for the state’s drought-battered forests, large numbers of trees continue to die — especially in Lake Tahoe.
Across the mountainous region, rust and apricot hues of withered woodlands have shrouded hills and valleys while fear of toppling trees has prompted closures of trails and campgrounds, dealt tree crews more work and wood than they can handle and forced homeowners to pay top dollar to clear hazard trees."
Desperate for water, a desert city hopes to build a pipeline to the California Aqueduct
LA Times, LOUIS SAHAGUN: "After decades of unrestricted pumping in the rain-starved northwestern corner of the Mojave Desert, the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Basin Authority has the distinction of managing one of the most critically overdrawn aquifers in California.
Now, the region is in an uproar over a proposal that the authority sees as a way out of its groundwater crisis, one that critics say would give priority to urban consumers in the city of Ridgecrest and the adjacent Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake over farmers and mining operations."
Here’s how S.F. beat out other major U.S. cities to host APEC
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI: "San Francisco beat out major cities around the U.S. to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative summit, bringing the highest-profile international event in eight decades to the Bay Area this Saturday.
“There was a competitive process. And I think for us, from a policy standpoint, we were looking for the cities around the United States that we thought would be the best backdrops for what we were trying to do at each of the meetings,” Matt Murray, the U.S. State Department’s senior official for APEC, told the Chronicle. “You want to find the place that you think is the perfect encapsulation of what you’re trying to promote on the policy side.”"
READ MORE -- APEC is already causing traffic nightmares in downtown San Francisco -- The Chronicle, MICHAEL CABANATUAN, J.D. MORRIS
Education Policy – Teacher Shortage and Other Challenges (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Education Policy which was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 7, 2023."
S.F. supervisor, current and former judges say challenges are a political attack on the judiciary
The Chronicle, ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH, BOB EGELKO: "As two San Francisco judges face election contests from challengers whose supporters plan to label the judges as soft on crime, a city supervisor and several current and former judges voiced concerns Thursday about the prospect of a political attack on the judiciary.
“It is fundamentally important that San Francisco and the state of California maintain its independent judiciary,” Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin said at a news conference on the steps of City Hall. “These races should not be countenanced. There is nothing these sitting judges have done that should rise to the level of removing them.”"
UFW wins first farmworker union vote under new California law"
CALMatters, NICOLE FOY: "Workers at a Stanislaus County tomato farm and packing company are the first to successfully unionize under a new California law making it easier for farmworkers to organize, the United Farm Workers said today.
The union said California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board certified the election petition of workers at DMB Packing, also known as DiMare Fresh, based in the northern San Joaquin Valley town of Newman. Barely 51% of the company’s 297 workers voted for union representation, said Santiago Avila-Gomez, the executive secretary of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. The company is disputing the results.
Neo-Nazis are exploiting the Israel-Hamas conflict to stoke another crisis: a ‘race war’
The Chronicle, RAHEEM HOSSEINI: "By many measures, it was a feeble showing.
Seven or so members from White Lives Matter’s California chapter hid their faces and displayed their antisemitism through signs reading “No More Wars for I$rael” and promoting 2017’s Hitler-deifying fauxumentary “Europa: The Last Battle” from a bridge in Walnut Creek."
Think you can’t afford health insurance? Check out financial help at Covered California for 2024
Sacramento Bee, CATHIE ANDERSON: "If you were discouraged last year by the costs for health insurance, don’t let that experience keep you from shopping and comparing prices during this year’s open enrollment because there’s more financial help than ever, consumer advocates said Thursday.
More than 1.3 million Californians go uninsured, even though they’re eligible for subsidies through Covered California or no-cost coverage from Medi-Cal, Covered California Executive Director Jessica Altman reported."
Recognizing fake news now a required subject in California schools
CALMatters, CAROLYN JONES : "Pushing back against the surge of misinformation online, California will now require all K-12 students to learn media literacy skills — such as recognizing fake news and thinking critically about what they encounter on the internet.
Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed Assembly Bill 873, which requires the state to add media literacy to curriculum frameworks for English language arts, science, math and history-social studies, rolling out gradually beginning next year. Instead of a stand-alone class, the topic will be woven into existing classes and lessons throughout the school year."
Stanford loses fourth top administrator in less than a year
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "Stanford’s vice provost for student affairs will step down at the end of the fall quarter, university officials announced Thursday, marking the school’s fourth high profile resignation in less than a year.
Susie Brubaker-Cole, who has been in her role for six years and at Stanford for a total of 14 years, plans to return to her home state of Oregon, according to the school. C. Matthew Snipp, a sociology professor who currently works as the vice provost for faculty development, diversity and engagement, will serve as the interim vice provost for student affairs, and the university will form a search committee to replace Brubaker-Cole."
Foster, homeless youth lose disproportionately more instruction to suspensions
EdSource, MALLIKA SESHADRI: "Students in precarious living situations — especially foster and homeless youth —are much more likely to be suspended and lose instructional time vital to their academic success, according to a report released by the UCLA Civil Rights Project and the National Center for Youth Law.
In the 2021-2022 academic year alone, California students lost more than 500,000 days to out-of-school suspensions, where students are sent home as a form of discipline, the study said."
10 Big Ideas for San Francisco: These proposals created by city residents target our biggest issues
The Chronicle, EMILIO GARCIA-RUIZ: "When we launched SFNext two years ago, our goal was to convene community members for robust conversations about the challenges facing the city. This would allow residents to have their voices heard in the form of solutions they would propose for how to fix their community.
Today, after meetings that included more than 1,000 of you, we deliver on that vision."
Tech layoffs: Google, Amazon, Snap and Zillow announce new job cuts
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "In the latest round of corporate downsizing, several tech industry heavyweights announced additional staff reductions this week.
Google announced cuts within its Users & Products team, which is responsible for addressing user complaints regarding its consumer services, the Information reported.
Apple to pay $25 million to settle allegations of discriminatory hiring practices in 2018, 2019
AP: "Apple has agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations that it engaged in a pattern of discriminatory hiring practices when filling some of its jobs during 2018 and 2019.
The deal announced Thursday resolved a lengthy investigation by the Department of Justice into alleged violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act."
The strikes are over, but Hollywood’s lost year is a tipping point for the industry
LA Times, MEG JAMES, WENDY LEE, CHRISTI CARRAS: "Six months after picket lines first formed outside iconic studio gates, Hollywood can finally return to work.
Wednesday’s hard-fought tentative agreement on a new contract between SAG-AFTRA and studios sparked jubilation, with performers flocking to local watering holes, including a brewery near the guild’s Wilshire Boulevard headquarters. Sound stages mothballed since last spring are poised to reopen, welcoming back thousands of actors and film crew members."
Column: Once flush with Chinese tourism dollars, San Gabriel Valley searches for a new normal
LA Times, FRANK SHYONG: "When my reporting takes me to the San Gabriel Valley, I often stop at Jim’s Bakery for egg tarts, Ba Le for banh mi and Alice’s Kitchen for rice rolls, if my diet can justify it.
But they were all closed Tuesday, a common day off for restaurants — especially for mom-and-pop businesses where family members work every shift. A growing number, however, seem to be closed one or more days per week in the immigrant neighborhoods of the San Gabriel Valley, even those that are popular and established."
San Jose cop who wrote racist texts should face steeper punishment, say Black community leaders
BANG*Mercury News, GABRIEL GRESCHLER: "A coalition of the South Bay’s Black community on Thursday called for more accountability for a former San Jose police officer who wrote a slew of racist text messages as well as the dropping of all charges in criminal cases that involved him.
Officer Mark McNamara resigned last week after correspondence was released showing him mocking a shooting he was involved in at a downtown San Jose taqueria and writing to another officer, “I hate Black people.”"
