Updating Sunday . .   

How the mayor of a small Inland Empire town became one of Congress’ most powerful Democrats -- Rep. Pete Aguilar felt the threat rising. As the House prepared to confirm Joe Biden as the nation’s next president on Jan. 6, 2021, and put an end to Donald Trump’s false claim that the election was rigged, Aguilar had a great view of the doors Capitol security would barricade to ward off the rioting insurrectionists. Benjamin Oreskes in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/23/23

McManus: Trump seems to have a firm grip on GOP polls — but his rivals think they can do better -- Potential Republican presidential candidates have popped up in Iowa and New Hampshire, hoping conservative donors and voters want more alternatives to Trump. Doyle McManus in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/23/23

Water

This California town hasn’t had clean drinking water in 11 years -- How the state’s bureaucracy failed the small farmworker town of San Lucas. Aldo Toledo in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 4/23/23

Street

Five years after woman’s debilitating stroke in jail, county settles lawsuit for $9.5 million -- Colleen Garot, a mother of two, now requires around-the-clock care at a skilled nursing facility. Elly Davis in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 4/23/23

‘I wanted basic accountability’: Injured protester settles lawsuit against SDPD with unique meeting -- But as part of the settlement, he negotiated a private, sit-down meeting with San Diego police Chief David Nisleit and other department leaders, including the captain and lieutenant who oversaw the response to the protest. Alex Riggins in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 4/23/23

Sforza: How did Frankie Taylor overdose in a state-licensed addiction treatment center? -- 'It aches my heart to know that he died following my advice. Please help me understand the circumstances that led to his death,' his dad pleads. Teri Sforza in the Orange County Register -- 4/23/23

Homeless

Vehicle encampment stretching 2 miles long has come to symbolize Marin’s affordability crisis -- On a remote frontage road along Highway 101 in northern Marin County, a line of RVs, trucks and trailers stretches for nearly 2 miles — a critical mass of unhoused residents that ballooned during the pandemic. Annie Vainshtein in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/23/23

Education

ChatGPT is giving students new ways to cheat. Here’s why some teachers aren’t panicking -- Bay Area schools are worried about cheating with ChatGPT. But they now see potential for AI to enrich classrooms. Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/23/23

Guns

Gun Violence Is Actually Worse in Red States. It’s Not Even Close -- America’s regions are poles apart when it comes to gun deaths and the cultural and ideological forces that drive them. Colin Woodard Politico -- 4/23/23

Twitter

These celebrities ‘subscribed to Twitter Blue.’ Except they’re dead -- Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant and Anthony Bourdain are the latest celebrities to be verified under Twitter Blue, the social media platform’s paid-subscription service that allows anyone to get a blue check mark by their display name if they pay $8 a month and confirm their phone number. Annabelle Timsit, Marisa Iati in the Washington Post$ -- 4/23/23

Also:

California snowpack data debunked: 2023 was no record year. And neither was 1952 -- That top honor should really go to 1983, which cinched first at 231% of normal, an analysis by the Bay Area News Group found. Scooty Nickerson in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 4/23/23

Abcarian: Is the reign of the surf thugs at Lunada Bay finally coming to an end? Looks like it -- For decades, this group of Palos Verdes Estates surfers — young and old — has terrorized outsiders in a largely successful quest to privatize a public beach that is considered by many to offer the most epic winter waves in California. Robin Abcarian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/23/23

Bed Bath & Beyond Files for Bankruptcy -- Years of losses and a failed turnaround plan left the retailer struggling to stock stores. The company expects all its retail locations to eventually close. Suzanne Kapner, Soma Biswas in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 4/23/23

 

California Policy and Politics Sunday

California’s cool forecast could limit dangerous snowmelt flooding -- Forecasters say cooler temperatures in May could help spare California a devastating spring snowmelt. Grace Toohey in the Los Angeles Times$-- 4/23/23

Arellano: Whose San Fernando Valley will win? These two women seek to replace Nury Martinez -- Plaza del Valle in Panorama City is one unlikely political battlefield. Gustavo Arellano in the Los Angeles Times$-- 4/23/23

Walters: High living costs solidify California’s two-tier economy -- Gov. Gavin Newsom’s crusade against the oil industry over gas prices missed the larger point that the cost of nearly everything in California is very high. Dan Walters CalMatters -- 4/23/23

Housing

Housing developments could be delayed amid insurance struggles -- The County of Orange is responsible for the planning of thousands of homes in the unincorporated territories to help meet state housing needs, but identifying fire-prone zones and the difficulty of insuring in those areas could be delaying the construction of the new housing here and in similar developments throughout California. Destiny Torres in the Orange County Register-- 4/23/23

Street

S.F. will add police ambassadors in some neighborhoods amid frustration over crime -- After a monthlong delay and brief hiring freeze, San Francisco’s Police Department will deploy 25 additional unarmed community ambassadors, expanding the program into new neighborhoods. Danielle Echeverria in the San Francisco Chronicle$-- 4/23/23

Armed robbery: $100,000 in jewelry, including Rolex watch, stolen at gunpoint in Walnut Creek -- The victim told police that they were held up by three adult men, all of whom carried rifles and wore dark clothing. Scooty Nickerson in the San Jose Mercury$-- 4/23/23

California is returning incarcerated juveniles to counties; San Diego County isn’t ready -- California announced three years ago that it would close the facilities that house the highest level of youthful offenders — minors convicted of murder or other serious crimes — and send them back to their home counties to serve their sentences. Time’s up, and San Diego County isn’t ready. Teri Figueroa in the San Diego Union-Tribune$-- 4/23/23

Also:

Sustainable love: Bay Area marks Earth Day with festivals, music and education -- On a sun-soaked Saturday, Bay Area residents celebrated the 53rd annual Earth Day, celebrating and promoting sustainability with festivals, live music, food trucks and nature walks. Danielle Echeverria in the San Francisco Chronicle$-- 4/23/23

America’s Top Model, Koreatown-style — older immigrants strike a pose and fulfill a dream -- For older Korean immigrants, an audition offers the chance to fulfill their dreams of glamorous careers they set aside as life intervened in their adopted country. Jeong Park in the Los Angeles Times$-- 4/23/23

 

Saturday Updates  

SoCalGas

SoCalGas backed case against Berkeley gas ban and asked customers to pay, advocates say -- The nation’s largest gas utility sought to charge ratepayers more than $1 million for legal fees to support a challenge to Berkeley’s ban on natural gas hookups in most new buildings, a move environmental advocates called a brazen attempt to block climate-friendly policies in California cities. Ari Plachta in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 4/22/23

PG&E

Customers shred electricity bill plans backed by PG&E, other utilities -- A prominent Bay Area energy economist is warning that forthcoming changes to the way PG&E and other power companies in California bill customers could leave many people with sticker shock. George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 4/22/23

Policy & Politics

Book bans are soaring in U.S. schools, fueled largely by new laws in Republican-led states -- Book bans in school libraries, gassed up by legislation pushed by conservatives, rose nearly 30% last semester, according to PEN America. Alexandra E. Petri in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/22/23

Former L.A. Mayor Richard J. Riordan battled, but ultimately honored, the media -- Plenty of Los Angeles mayors have fumed about their coverage in this newspaper. Richard J. Riordan may be the only one who retaliated with a satirical essay aimed at one of his tormentors: me. James Rainey in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/22/23

Workplace ++

‘I was able to give back’: Landmark firefighting law sparks new hope for former inmates -- Then in September of 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2147 into law, allowing incarcerated people who served as inmate firefighters to have their records expunged. Prior to its passage, many inmates were unemployable as firefighters after leaving prison because of their criminal records — even if they had spent years doing the exact same job, and even though California had a shortage of firefighters. Will McCarthy in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 4/22/23

Education

Bill to provide $17,000 for those opting out of public schools defeated in California senate committee -- A bill that would have provided school choice vouchers died at the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. Elissa Miolene in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 4/22/23

Street

California Supreme Court rejects lawsuit challenging Newsom’s plan to treat mental illness -- Gov. Gavin Newsom’s CARE Court plan to address severe mental illness, substance use and homelessness is on track to move forward after the high court rejected a legal challenge. Hannah Wiley in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/22/23

Since photos’ release, LAPD has been quietly scrubbing police rosters from portal -- As the hand-wringing at Los Angeles Police Department headquarters continues over the release of police officers’ pictures, the city has been quietly scrubbing the names and ranks of cops from its public records website. Libor Jany in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 4/22/23

Knight: She survived one of S.F.’s most horrific crimes. Why has she been forced to relive it again and again? -- Thanks to legal loopholes and inaction by state officials, the man who savagely killed Annette Carlson’s husband as she looked on, before raping and beating her, is set to go before California’s parole board — for the 17th time. Heather Knight in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/22/23

Climate

‘Carnage everywhere’: Exploded homes, collapsed buildings after Tahoe’s worst winter in 70 years -- South Lake Tahoe just survived its heaviest winter in a generation, and the damages are still being tallied. Gregory Thomas, Claire Hao in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Jim Carlton in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 4/22/23

Downtown

Hoeven: S.F. is struggling. Sacramento is booming. So why are both of their downtowns flailing? -- While San Francisco struggles to ward off an impending economic “doom loop” triggered by office workers fleeing the city to work remotely — gutting its tax base and decimating regional transit systems like BART — you won’t have to travel very far to find the beneficiaries of this exodus. Chief among them: the largely rural region surrounding Sacramento. Emily Hoeven in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/22/23

Middle Class Refunds

Why over 1 million Californians still don't have their middle class tax refunds -- You wouldn’t think it would be this hard to give money away, but around six months after California began issuing “Middle Class Tax Refunds,” more than 1 million households that were supposed to receive their payment on prepaid debit cards still have not activated them. Kathleen Pender in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 4/22/23

A's

How much do the A’s matter to Oakland’s identity? -- They know that if the once-#RootedInOakland team completes a new deal to buy land and build a stadium in Las Vegas, it won’t change a thing about Oakland’s cultural diversity, food offerings, artistic contributions, progressive values and overall coolness. They also know better than most the nuances of loving something that doesn’t love you back. Shomik Mukherjee in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 4/22/23

Cannabis

Marijuana is mainstream but weed tourism isn’t booming. Here’s why -- At the LitCo dispensary downtown, Brett “Rollan Buds" Davis approached me with a weed waiver. “It’s so you don’t blame us for getting high,” said Davis, who owns Weed Bus Los Angeles and was guiding the Movie Set Tour on a recent Thursday afternoon. With two joints and a container of edibles in my bag, I took full responsibility. Andrea Sachs in the Washington Post$ -- 4/22/23

Also:

Eureka! After California’s Heavy Rains, Gold Seekers Are Giddy -- The mother lode of winter storms has sent water blasting through rock crevices and rivers in the Sierra Nevada, leading to more glittering discoveries by prospectors. Thomas Fuller, Jim Wilson in the New York Times$ -- 4/22/23