Trump says he will never stop trying to repeal Obamacare. California would feel the biggest impact
LA Times, NOAH BIERMAN: "As he campaigns for a return to the White House, former President Trump vowed recently to “never give up” his call to repeal Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act. Trump and congressional Republicans came within one vote of repealing the law during his first term — a defeat that he ranks as one of his biggest disappointments.
California, where about 6.6 million people enrolled in insurance because of the law, would be hit particularly hard by a repeal."
U.S. Supreme Court refuses a fast-track ruling on Trump’s claim he is immune from criminal charges
LA Times, DAVID G. SAVAGE: "In a setback for special counsel Jack Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday turned down his request for a fast-track ruling on whether former President Trump may be prosecuted for having allegedly conspired to block then-President-elect Biden from being certified as the winner of the 2020 election.
Without comment or dissent, the justices denied Smith’s request."
California lawmakers finally tackle reparations. Will $68 billion budget deficit get in the way?
Sacramento Bee, LINDSEY HOLDEN: "California lawmakers next year face huge political and financial challenges as they seriously consider reparations for Black descendants of slaves.
While Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative lawmakers tend to agree there’s a great historic injustice that needs to be righted, implementing any reparations policy faces these flashpoints:"
Their land is sinking. But Tulare Lake farm barons defy calls to cut groundwater pumping
LA Times, SUSANNE RUST, JESSICA GARRISON, IAN JAMES, PAUL DUGINSKI (PHOTOS): "Earlier this year, as floodwaters rushed toward the San Joaquin Valley city of Corcoran — home to roughly 20,000 people and a sprawling maximum-security state prison — emergency workers and desperate local officials begged the state for help raising their levee.
Corcoran had been sinking, steadily, for years because of persistent overpumping of groundwater by major landowners in the Tulare Lake Basin that has sent the valley floor into a slow-motion collapse. And the levee raises made in 2017 — a multimillion-dollar effort funded by local property tax hikes and the prison system — were no longer up to the job. Ultimately, the state agreed to pour $17 million into another round of levee engineering in an effort to save the town."
Smoke exposure from California’s wildfire-busting controlled burns is raising concerns. Are they safe?
Monterey Herald, SIERRA BOUCHER: "At Wilder Ranch outside of Santa Cruz, the fire starts slowly. Forest managers clad in yellow protective gear use drip torches to light the grass, still damp from the previous day’s rain. Huge columns of smoke quickly obscure the sun and ash rains down. At first it smells like a campfire, but soon the smoke is choking, even as the breeze carries it toward the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Prescribed burns, used to limit destructive wildfires, are growing in frequency at California State Parks. But as the smoke swirls around the firefighters and drifts into neighboring residential areas, it’s easy to see why many Californians are concerned about the health impacts of deliberately set fires."
Practical tips for working with Office of Legislative Counsel
Capitol Weekly, CHRIS MICHELI: "In talking with former staff of the Office of Legislative Counsel (OLC) over the years, there are some practical tips that were shared with me for those working with the attorneys at the OLC. While some of these recommendations may seem obvious, many of them bear repeating.
First, a little background: OLC consists of three branches. The largest branch is the Drafting branch, which is the primary work product of the office. There is also an Opinions branch that produces confidential opinions for the office’s clients. These opinions, which may be written or oral, resemble the format of the Attorney General’s opinions. Opinions are distinguished from consultations, which are the informal conclusions of a single deputy rather than the formal position of the office. The third branch is the Legislative Services branch, which provides general counsel services to the two houses of the Legislature."
California new laws for 2024: Workers get more paid sick days
CALMatters, SAMEEA KAMAL: "California workers will be guaranteed five paid sick days a year starting Jan. 1, up from the three days that employers are currently required to provide, thanks to Senate Bill 616.
The bill, authored by Long Beach Democratic Sen. Lena Gonzalez, also extends protections against retaliation to workers who are in a union, but excludes provisions that would have granted railroad employees access to unpaid sick leave."
Everyone seems to be sick with respiratory illness in California. Here’s why
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II: "Does it seem like a lot of people you know are sick?
You’re not alone. Respiratory illness season is in full swing in California and across much of the nation."
Surprise ambulance bills put these families in debt. A new California law bans the practice
CALMatters, K|RISTEN HWANG: "The COVID-19 pandemic took a brutal toll on Danielle Miele’s family, but after two exorbitant ambulance bills she’s afraid to call 911.
Her teenage son attempted suicide in 2022, Miele said. His mental health deteriorated during the pandemic, and he needed an ambulance transfer from the Roseville emergency room where Miele took him to a treatment center in San Mateo. The ambulance company hit Miele with a $9,000 out-of-network charge, which was sent to collections “almost immediately,” she said."
EdSource’s Best of 2023: Top stories
EdSource, STAFF: "In 2023 EdSource continued its mission to highlight the key issues in public education across the state of California and beyond.
Below you will find a collection of our most-read stories of 2023. This is the best of EdSource as chosen by you, our readers.
‘Badass detective’: How one California officer solved eight cold cases — in his spare time
The Chronicle, SCOTT OSTLER: "The trash truck rumbled through the gated community in Southern California one afternoon earlier this year. Riding shotgun was Detective Matt Hutchison, an officer in the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.
Hutchison wore the trash company’s jumpsuit, cap and reflective vest, and he sported a few days of beard stubble. He was collecting trash hoping to find something valuable: the DNA of a person who might prove to be a suspect in the sexual assault and murder of an 18-year-old security guard in Sunnyvale in 1969."
State plans pricey fixes to California’s broken insurance market. Are homeowners on board?
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "Chris Finnie didn’t lose her Boulder Creek home when the CZU Lightning Complex fires in 2020 ripped through the Santa Cruz Mountains. But she lost her home insurance anyway and got forced onto a bare-bones last-resort policy that costs three times as much."
New law has Californians with criminal records ‘quite hopeful’ they’ll finally find housing
LA Times, LIAM DILLON, BEN POSTON: "In 2021, four years after finishing her last jail term and living in transitional housing in Riverside County, Erica Smith was ready for a permanent home.
She’d saved enough to cover a security deposit and the first and last month’s rent for an apartment for her and her daughter. But after three months of searching, Smith ran out of money, having burned through $10,000 on stays in motel rooms. She’d never found a place to live."
Zillow says this Bay Area city’s home prices will see biggest drop among U.S. metros over next year
The Chronicle, CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "Home values in the San Jose metropolitan area will drop sharply in 2024, falling faster than in any of the country’s other largest metros.
At least, that’s according to real estate brokerage site Zillow, which estimates the San Jose metro’s average home values will fall from $1.46 million in November 2023 to $1.37 million in November 2024. But real estate agents pointed out that home prices in the area are in an upswing — one they expect to continue next year."
Thousands of new homes, 200-acre medical campus planned near Sacramento suburb
Sacramento Bee, RYAN LILLIS: "A prominent Sacramento developer and the University of California, Davis are proposing to join forces on a new community outside Folsom that envisions thousands of new homes and a 200-acre medical complex.
The new community would be built on roughly 2,800 acres south of Folsom and in neighboring El Dorado County. It would focus at least partly on serving an older population and residents with disabilities, with many “technology-enabled homes” that are designed to help seniors and those with disabilities live independently, according to a news release.
