Bay Area storm timeline: Three days of rain, strong winds and travel impacts
The Chronicle, GREG PORTER: "California is set for an active weather pattern over the next week, with three storm systems expected to bring significant rainfall and heavy mountain snow. In the Bay Area, a three-day stretch of wet weather begins Wednesday as the first system moves into the region.
Light rain showers will develop across the North Bay in the predawn hours Wednesday, with scattered showers also possible over the Peninsula and San Francisco. Those rain showers will continue spreading southward through the morning, likely making for a wet morning commute, though not a washout. Meanwhile, Silicon Valley and Santa Cruz County will remain mostly dry until the afternoon."
READ MORE -- Strongest storm of week to hit Los Angeles on Wednesday. Here’s what to expect -- LAT, HANNAH FRY/KAREN GARCIA
Trump called DOGE stimulus checks a ‘great idea.’ Will California residents actually get $5K?
Sac Bee, CAMILA PEDROSA: "President Donald Trump has voiced his support for distributing $5,000 stimulus checks from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Could Californians actually see some money?"
With his new podcast, Gavin Newsom may just talk himself to political death
LAT, MARK Z. BARABAK: "Gavin Newsom — eyes on the White House, vision firmly fixed on his future — is leaning once more into the self-promotion business.
One might imagine his hands are quite full these days being California governor, what with the state reeling from one of the costliest, most destructive natural disasters in U.S. history. Two months after the hellfires began in Southern California, each day brings fresh pain."
California state workers concerned about space after Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office order
Sac Bee, STEPHEN HOBBS: "Even before the sleek new Natural Resources Agency headquarters opened in 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration hailed it as a symbol of government efficiency. Agency leaders packed more employees into it than it was originally designed to house.
With many workers only coming into offices occasionally, not everyone needed a permanent desk."
California senators are split on Donald Trump’s labor secretary nominee. Here’s why
Sac Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "California’s Democratic senators, historically big supporters of organized labor, were split over whether to confirm Lori Chavez-DeRemer as the Trump administration Labor Secretary, a rare schism between the two Democrats.
Chavez-DeRemer is a former Republican congresswoman from Oregon who has been seen as sympathetic to union interests."
Alameda County to spend $3.5 million defending immigrants Trump wants to deport
The Chronicle, KO LYN CHEANG: "Alameda County’s board of supervisors approved $3.5 million Tuesday to fund services for immigrants targeted for deportation by President Donald Trump, the first major funding package of its kind approved by the county since Trump’s second presidential term began.
Since taking office, Trump has authorized the deportation of millions of immigrants, though far fewer deportations have been carried out so far than would be needed to expel the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants who live in the U.S. Still, Trump has converted Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba into a immigration detention facility and gave expanded powers to immigration enforcement to deport certain migrants without a hearing, a move that’s invited a legal challenge. He also has moved to deport those who Biden granted temporary legal permission to be in the U.S."
California farm groups look to stabilize workforce amid crackdown on illegal immigration
LAT, REBECCA PLEVIN: "As the Trump administration cracks down on illegal immigration, California farm groups are working behind the scenes to influence legislative measures that would ensure a stable supply of laborers for the state’s farms and ranches, an industry long reliant on a foreign-born workforce.
The administration’s vows of mass raids targeting undocumented immigrants, combined with its new tariff-induced trade wars, have farmers and labor groups united behind the need for legislation that ensures the U.S. continues producing an ample food supply and has sufficient workers to tend its crops."
They live in California’s Republican districts. They feel betrayed by looming health care cuts
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "Natalie Padilla signed up for Medicaid 17 years ago. She had just given birth and needed insurance to bring her son to the doctor. The Bakersfield resident was still in school, and her husband’s work didn’t offer insurance. She was on the program for six months.
About an hour north of Bakersfield, Rodolfo Morales-Ayon, a 21-year-old community college student, relies on Medicaid today. He’s studying political science and wants to go to law school. Morales-Ayon grew up in Pixley, a small Central Valley town where air quality is poor and asthma and respiratory infections are common."
The Salton Sea is California’s most imperiled lake. Can a new conservancy save it?
CALMatters, DEBORAH BRENNAN: "Haze hung over the Salton Sea on a recent winter day, while black-necked stilts and kildeer waded in the shallows, pecking at crustaceans.
Something else emerged a few steps closer to the lakeshore: a briny, rotten egg stench wafting from the water."
California taxpayers urged to file for $922M in unclaimed refunds before deadline
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Over 116,000 California residents may be leaving nearly $922 million in unclaimed tax refunds on the table with a critical filing deadline approaching, the Internal Revenue Service warned Tuesday.
For those who failed to file their 2021 federal tax returns, the clock is ticking: April 15 marks the final day to claim refunds before the funds revert to the U.S. Treasury."
S.F. Tesla showroom has been operating without proper permits for nearly a decade
The Chronicle, ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH: "The San Francisco Tesla showroom on Van Ness Avenue has been operating without a proper permit for nearly a decade after city building inspectors failed to sign off on a $2.3 million renovation back in 2016.
A review of the Department of Building Inspection’s permit-tracking system showed that the agency made repeated visits to 999 Van Ness Ave. in late 2015 and early 2016 as the showroom’s contractor remodeled the interior of the 1937 building — a former Bentley dealership — and overhauled its mechanical and electrical systems."
Most Angelenos back tougher building codes, restrictions on homebuilding in wildfire zones, poll finds
LAT, LIAM DILLON: "Overwhelming majorities of Los Angeles County voters support strengthening building codes and imposing greater restrictions on home construction in high-risk areas following January’s devastating Palisades and Eaton fires, according to a new poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times.
Eighty percent of those polled backed tougher building codes to make homes more fire resistant even if doing so added to costs. Seven out of 10 wanted more regulations to curb homebuilding in wildfire-prone neighborhoods."
Here’s what prosecution data tells us about how S.F. officials are treating crime
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "In 2022, San Francisco voters supported a recall campaign against District Attorney Chesa Boudin that argued his progressive policies made the city less safe. Almost three years later, it's clear that the recall was the beginning of a major shift in how crimes are prosecuted in San Francisco, as key statistics under current District Attorney Brooke Jenkins are trending back to where they were a decade ago.
Before the pandemic upended life in the city and the country, Boudin, a former public defender, narrowly won the 2019 race for district attorney. Boudin, who followed another progressive D.A., George Gascón, campaigned on promises to reduce jail populations, divert more cases away from the criminal justice system and prosecute more police officers — putting San Francisco at the center of a nationwide progressive prosecution movement."
LAPD cops shot 21 bystanders in 10 years. How does it keep happening?
LAT, LIBOR JANY: "Israel Hernandez heard the faint whine of sirens outside his Wilmington apartment and looked up just in time to see a minivan crash into another vehicle as police gave chase.
Two LAPD officers jumped out of their squad car and took cover behind its bulletproof doors, weapons drawn. Hernandez could hear them barking commands at the driver to come out with his hands in the air."
