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BART takeover robbery: 50 to 60 teens swarm train, rob weekend riders -- A recent string of robberies on BART trains took a frightening turn when dozens of juveniles swarmed an Oakland station over the weekend and commandeered a train car, forcing passengers to hand over bags and cell phones and leaving at least two with head injuries, witnesses told the transit agency. The incident — the first of its kind in recent memory — occurred around 9:30 p.m. Saturday at Coliseum Station. Demian Bulwa in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Harry Harris in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 4/24/17

Ghost Ship lease specified illegal use -- Documents obtained by the Bay Area News Group show that the lease Derick Almena and a partner signed for the Ghost Ship warehouse planned an illegal use from the very start — an artist collective that was not allowed under zoning laws — and that the building owner had approved the use. Matthias Gafni, Aaron Davis, Thomas Peele and David Debolt in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 4/24/17

Wake up, cross the border, go to school: For some Mexican students, it's a daily routine -- The schoolyard at Calexico Mission School is quiet, save for a stray giggle here and there. Third-graders huddle for reading time: the girls lying beneath a shade tree, the boys under a blazing pink bougainvillea. Hailey Branson-Potts in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/17

The billion-dollar budget item Garcetti didn't mention in his State of the City speech -- When Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled his proposed budget last week, he called a $176-million effort to battle homelessness his top priority, highlighted a $35-million plan to mend broken streets and promised $2 million to clean up graffiti. He did not mention the expenditure that dwarfs all of those combined: more than $1.1 billion to pay for city employees’ pensions and healthcare after they retire. Jack Dolan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/17

Leaving California? After slowing, the trend intensifies -- Yet, even as the economy has recovered, notably in the Bay Area and in pockets along the coast, the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates show that domestic migrants continue to leave the state more rapidly than they enter it. Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 4/24/17

California’s landmark climate-change program would also fight air pollution under proposal -- Air pollution — not just climate-warming greenhouse gasses — would be melded into the complex cap-and-trade program under Assembly Bill 378, by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia. Garcia heads the Assembly’s Committee on Natural Resources, which is reviewing the proposal Monday afternoon. Katy Murphy in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 4/24/17

A mentally ill inmate was dragged from a cell. Prison staff now may face punitive damages -- For 22 years, the federal court in Sacramento has pounded the California Department of Corrections with orders and injunctions and slapped it with sanctions to get the state prison system to clean up its mental health treatment mess. Now, attorneys for mentally ill inmates are trying for another attention getter: punitive damages. Andy Furillo in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 4/24/17

Fox: Eliminate the Bd of Equalization? I Voted for That, Sort Of -- A spotlight has been put on the Board of Equalization, a state tax agency, that has been found wanting after a critical audit, enough so that the governor has clamped restrictions on the board. One idea that has re-surfaced in the wake of Board of Equalization examination is that the agency should be closed down. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 4/24/17

Former Hungary ambassador and Clinton fundraiser announces she's running for California lieutenant governor -- Eleni Kounalakis, a former U.S. ambassador to Hungary and Hillary Clinton fundraiser, on Monday officially announced her bid for lieutenant governor of California. Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/17

TrueCar proposes public offering to raise money -- The Santa Monica-based vehicle pricing and information website said Monday it expects to offer 1 million shares of common stock, and that certain existing shareholders will likely offer 7.5 million shares in the offering. Samantha Masunaga in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/17

Jerry Brown on his Fitbit: ‘I only have 1,332 steps’ -- Gov. Jerry Brown’s rejection of material possessions is one of the many literary tropes employed by writers to pad their lists of idiosyncrasies in profiles about him. In recent months, however, one possession has provided the Democratic governor with an abundant run of public fascination: His Fitbit, a watch-like device that tracks his physical activity and even monitors sleep patterns. Christopher Cadelago in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 4/24/17

 

California Policy & Politics This Morning  

Gas tax bill — designed to fix California’s roads — could lead to more smog -- When it was passed earlier this month, the state’s landmark legislation to hike vehicle fuel taxes to raise billions of dollars to repair and improve California freeways, roads, bridges and other transportation facilities included wording limiting the ability of regulators to crack down on big-rig trucks, Southern California’s greatest source of smog-forming emissions. David Danelski in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 4/24/17

Meet the Republican Who Wants to Be California’s Next Governor -- Republican businessman John Cox jokes that he made his fortune in potato chips, a reference to the purchase and turnaround of Jays Foods by his venture capital company in the 1990s. Scott Shafer KQED -- 4/24/17

Skelton: It's time for California to stop leaning on the rich and take up state tax reform -- Californians already carry the nation’s heaviest state income tax burden by far. That’s especially true for the wealthy. But President Trump and Congress could make it a lot more onerous. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/17

Walters: It’s time to abolish California’s dysfunctional tax board -- The most recent revelations about self-serving hijinks of politicians on the state Board of Equalization, such as commandeering civil service workers for political chores, have a depressing familiarity. Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 4/24/17

This group smuggles drug-testing kits into Coachella -- They throw their bags over fences, use hidden compartments in cars and exploit weaknesses in festival security to get their supplies in. Jason Henry in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 4/24/17

Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions 

As industry struggles, San Francisco cabdrivers at odds on dividing big fund -- Back in 2010, when Uber was just rolling to a start and no one had heard of Lyft, the idea of selling San Francisco’s much-wanted licenses to operate cabs and creating a fund with some of the proceeds to benefit taxi drivers seemed like a good one. Michael Cabanatuan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/24/17

Underfunded CalPERS, CalSTRS dislike divestment -- A bill that began life as a requirement that CalPERS and CalSTRS divest holdings in Dakota Access Pipeline firms emerged from a legislative committee last week reborn — a requirement that the pension funds only report on their “engagement” with the firms. Ed Mendel Calpensions.com -- 4/24/17

Highly trained fire protection for $2 an hour: California’s inmate fire crews -- The orange-suited, tool-wielding inmate fire crew chewed through manzanita and redshank on a Bautista Canyon hillside like a herd of hungry goats. Brian Rokos in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 4/24/17

Abcarian: Cannabis workers, once facing legal peril, get the California seal of approval -- The parking lot of the River City Phoenix medical cannabis dispensary was jammed last Thursday. As a security guard directed traffic, a line of patients stretched out the door of the North Sacramento outlet in a funky industrial neighborhood. Robin Abcarian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/17

Report: Southern California’s commercial market is booming -- Southern California’s commercial real estate market is booming, according to new report from Coldwell Banker Commercial. The company’s Blue Book market intelligence report for 2016 says the region is gaining traction in a variety of areas, ranging from business expansion and low office vacancy rates to an increase in land sales and strong activity at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Kevin Smith in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 4/24/17

Education 

1 in 8 children in California schools have an undocumented parent -- Posing significant challenges for educators, about 1 in 8 students in California schools has at least one parent who is undocumented, according to a new brief from the Education Trust-West. Louis Freedberg EdSource -- 4/24/17

Charters vs. CTA heads for Capitol showdown -- The growing struggle between charter schools and opponents within the traditional system will spill into legislative chambers this week as lawmakers consider several bills that would put new regulations on charters and their operators. Alisha Kirby Cabinet Report -- 4/24/17

Also . . . 

Anti-Semitic incidents have reached levels unseen in recent years, Anti-Defamation League report says -- The number of anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. skyrocketed by 86% in the first three months of the year, according to a new report released Monday by a prominent Jewish civil rights organization. Jaweed Kaleem in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/24/17

POTUS 45  

Showdown looms as Trump demands funding for wall on U.S.-Mexico border -- President Trump and White House officials pressed congressional Republicans on Sunday to use the looming threat of a government shutdown to win funding for a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico, a top priority for the administration as it nears the symbolic 100-day mark. Kelsey Snell and Robert Costa in the Washington Post$ -- 4/24/17

Disapproval of President Donald Trump Grows in Latest WSJ/NBC News Poll -- Americans are dissatisfied with President Donald Trump as he nears his 100th day in office, with views of his effectiveness and ability to shake up Washington slipping, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds. Rebecca Ballhaus in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 4/24/17

‘Everyone tunes in’: Inside Trump’s obsession with cable TV -- During a small working lunch at the White House last month, the question of job security in President Trump’s tumultuous White House came up, and one of the attendees wondered whether press secretary Sean Spicer might be the first to go. Ashley Parker and Robert Costa in the Washington Post$ -- 4/24/17

Beltway 

Will the Government Be Open in a Week? Here Are the Dividing Lines -- Congressional leaders and White House officials have steered the nation to the brink of a government shutdown that virtually all parties agree would be a terrible idea. Matt Flegenheimer and Thomas Kaplan in the New York Times$ -- 4/24/17