U.S. Supreme Court Justice Alito blasts 9th Circuit in San Jose police shooting case
LAT, SONJA SHARP: "U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. slammed the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals this week over its handling of a California police shooting case, calling lower courts’ decision to award damages to the victim’s widow and children “a flagrant error.”
“The courts below badly fumbled this basic tenet of our qualified immunity doctrine,” by relying in part on a 2022 appellate decision to rule the officer was not shielded from liability in the 2017 shooting, Alito wrote, dissenting in the Supreme Court’s decision to not take the case."
Trump is bulldozing over Congress. Why aren’t lawmakers taking him to court?
The Chronicle, RAHEEM HOSSEINI: "Less than two months into her first term in Congress, Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Oakland, says she couldn’t anticipate just how troubled the mood at work would be.
“It’s a very tense place,” Simon said of the U.S. Capitol, home to the federal government’s legislative branch. “There is a fight that is happening. It’s a fight for this country’s very existence, for its democracy, for its Bill of Rights, for its Constitution. You feel it. It’s visceral.”"
California Governor Gavin Newsom tries his hand at being a podcast influencer
LIA RUSSELL, SacBee: "Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he is hosting another podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom.” It’s his second venture into the audio world since he started hosting “Politickin’” last year with former NFL star Marshawn Lynch and his sports agent friend Doug Hendrickson.
Some political observers attributed the Democrats’ loss in the 2024 election to their failure to engage with new media like podcasts, influencers and streamers, where conservative-leaning hosts dominate the conversation. Newsom has eschewed sit-down interviews with California political reporters in favor of friendly, ideologically similar media with national audiences such as the liberal YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen and Pod Save America, whose hosts are ex-Obama aides."
Huntington Park City Hall and mayor’s home raided in corruption investigation
LAT, RUBEN VIVES: "Huntington Park City Hall and the homes of current and former City Council members were searched Wednesday as part of a corruption investigation, the L.A. County district attorney’s office announced.
Electronics, paperwork and records were seized as part of the investigation, dubbed Operation Dirty Pond, the D.A. said."
California Democrats vowed to tackle affordability—but the agenda isn’t yet clear
RYAN SABALOW and SAMEA KAMAL, CalMatters: "As California Democrats convened a new two-year legislative session in December, they were still reeling from Donald Trump’s victory. They’d just lost three legislative seats to Republicans. Voters rejected several progressive priorities on ballot initiatives. Kamala Harris had one of the worst showings in California for a Democratic presidential candidate in 20 years.
It was clear, according to most election experts, that voters were frustrated with rising costs under Democratic leadership."
Where can L.A. immigrants go for help under Trump? Try the public library
LAT, TONY BARBOZA: "Among the bookshelves at the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles, Ramón Hernández sits in a cubicle a few days a week, holding hour after hour of consultations with immigrants who have questions about their legal status.
Demand for the public library’s free immigration services has shot up since the return of President Trump, who has attacked immigrants as “poisoning the blood of our country,” promised the largest mass deportations in U.S. history and suggested selling $5 million “gold cards” granting rich people permanent residency and a path to citizenship."
Why bills to help prevent California fires fail
SAMEA KAMAL, CalMatters: "In an educational video, the state’s fire agency set two demonstration homes on fire: one built to the latest building standards and one that did not have these protections. As you would expect, the one with new features stayed standing, while the other burned within minutes.
Experts say that mitigation measures, such as clearing brush or using fire-resistant building materials, are the most effective way government can reduce the impact of wildfires. And once again, after the recent Southern California wildfires, lawmakers and experts are stressing the need for more of it."
Is pet insurance worth it? Here’s what California pet owners think
The Chronicle, JESSICA ROY: "The very first pet insurance policy was written in California in 1982 for the dog who played Lassie on television. Today, California is the largest pet insurance market in North America.
Two-thirds of Americans have a cat or dog, and about a quarter of pet owners have insurance, according to a 2024 NerdWallet survey. More than 5 million pets are insured in North America, trade industry data indicate, and roughly 1 in 5 of those insured pets in the U.S. are here in California."
He overdosed waiting for help. Why did S.F.’s largest drug treatment provider turn him away?
The Chronicle, MAGGIE ANGST: "Jonathan Martin was face down, his head in his pillow, when Shy Baniani went to shake his roommate awake.
As soon as Baniani’s hand touched Martin’s bare skin, the coldness sent a shock through his fingertips. Without time to process it, he turned over Martin’s limp body, dialed 9-1-1 and began chest compressions. But when paramedics arrived at their San Francisco apartment a few minutes later, they declared Martin dead."
Will there be a California superbloom in 2025? Here’s what to expect
The Chronicle, JACK LEE: "Recent seasons have produced abundant wildflowers across California — even a rare “superbloom” in 2023 that brought a profusion of flowers visible from space.
This year is playing out differently. A news release this week announced Southern California state parks will likely experience limited blooms this spring, on account of below-average winter rainfall. But there’s still the potential for the Bay Area to experience vivid flower displays, experts say."
Cargo ship lost 23 containers worth $735,000 off California coast due to loading error
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "A report released Tuesday revealed that a U.S. cargo ship lost 23 containers and damaged 10 others off the coast of California last year due to a weight miscalculation during loading.
The incident occurred on Feb. 6, 2024, when a cargo ship called President Eisenhower was drifting south of Oakland, awaiting a berth, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The total damage, including lost cargo and repairs to the ship, was estimated at over $735,000."
An S.F. inspector went to prison for taking bribes. These homeowners are paying the price — literally
The Chronicle, ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH: "Andreu Osika had just woken up and walked into his bathroom to brush his teeth when the stench hit him.
He glanced around, then looked into his shower, and gagged. Inside, liquid sewage including “meaty” chunks was slowly seeping out of the shower drain."
She was one of the first Black homeowners in the Palisades. At 96, she is starting over
LAT, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "In the mid-1960s, Louvenia Jenkins posed a question to her mailman: Do any Black people live in Pacific Palisades?
The mail carrier, a light-skinned Black man, told her there were about half a dozen or so, but they were “all passing.” As in, their skin was light enough that they could pass as white."
Embattled S.F. developer claims he’s broke. So why do records show a ‘life of luxury?’
The Chronicle, JK DINEEN: "Gregory Malin, a Pacific Heights luxury real estate developer facing a court order to pay defrauded investors $50 million, says he is broke.
Yet, 10 months of credit card statements filed Wednesday in San Francisco Superior Court paint a different picture: a high-roller who has continued to travel frequently and spend lavishly at fine restaurants and private clubs, shelling out thousands on everything from hotel rooms to orchids to wines to cigars."
‘Look, there’s nowhere else to go:’ Inside California’s crackdown on homeless camps
MARISA KENDALL and KATIE ANASTAS, CalMatters: "It’s been eight months since the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed how cities in California and beyond can respond to homeless encampments, allowing them to clear camps and arrest people for sleeping outside — even when there’s nowhere else to sleep.
The July ruling in the case Grants Pass v. Johnson upended six years of protections for unhoused people. It was a radical change, and it came as many Californians, from small business owners to Gov. Gavin Newsom, were fed up with regularly seeing tent camps that stretched for blocks, human feces smeared on sidewalks and people injecting drugs in the open. Once the Supreme Court gave the green light, even liberal strongholds such as San Francisco were quick to start removing camps — despite a collective outcry from activists supporting the rights of homeless Californians."
Study finds strong link between illegal drug use and homelessness — and unmet need for treatment
LAT, DOUG SMITH: "Illegal drug use is deeply intertwined with homelessness, both increasing the risk of losing housing and arising or worsening when people find themselves on the streets, a new study has found. But it also found that a large majority of people living on the streets are not drug users.
The study, published in the medical journal JAMA by the Benioff Homeless and Housing Initiative at UC San Francisco, gives a complex statistical picture of a topic that has been fraught by conflicting narratives. Against a public perception that drug use is endemic to homeless camps, service providers and advocates see an exaggerated reaction to open drug use on the street that stigmatizes the majority of homeless people who do not use drugs."
Gene Hackman, two-time Oscar winner, found dead with his wife and dog in Santa Fe home
LAT, DENNIS MCLELLAN: "Gene Hackman, the Oscar-winning actor who brought a flinty menace to films such as “Bonnie and Clyde,” “The French Connection” and “Unforgiven” was found dead Wednesday along with his wife in New Mexico, authorities said. He was 95.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department said Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, and their dog were found in their home and that no foul play was suspected."
