Updating Friday . . .

Trump verdict $83.3 million in damages -- The more than $83 million in combined damages far exceeds the amount Donald Trump was ordered to pay last year when a jury found for E. Jean Carroll. In that case, the jury found that he sexually assaulted her and defamed her, and awarded her a combined $5 million. Mark Berman in the Washington Post$ Benjamin Weiser, Maria Cramer, Kate Christobek, Jonah E. Bromwich in the New York Times$ Corinne Ramey, James Fanelli in the Wall Street Journal$ Larry Neumeister, Jake Offenhartz Associated Press Jacob Knutson, Shauneen Miranda Axios -- 1/26/24

Former L.A. Councilman Jose Huizar sentenced to 13 years in prison in corruption case -- Prosecutors said Huizar monetized his government position for years, securing more than $1.5 million in cash bribes, gambling chips, luxury hotel stays, political contributions, prostitute services, expensive meals and other financial benefits from developers with projects in his downtown district. Dakota Smith, David Zahniser in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/24

Gavin Newsom went to South Carolina to stump for Biden. Voters eyed him for 2028 -- People on the ground seemed to love distracting themselves with talk about the presidential election after the one this year. Christopher Cadelago Politico -- 1/26/24

‘I lost everything.’ Former L.A. Councilman Jose Huizar seeks leniency in corruption case -- The letter from Jose Huizar, a former L.A. City Council member, was filed a day before his sentencing in a case focused on bribes from downtown developers. Dakota Smith, David Zahniser in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/24

S.F. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins fired him. Now he’s running against her -- Ryan Khojasteh, an Alameda County prosecutor, plans to announce Friday that he will run for San Francisco district attorney in the November election, kicking off a campaign to unseat incumbent Brooke Jenkins, who fired Khojasteh amid a wider staff purge when she took office in 2022. David Hernandez in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/26/24

Walters: California regulators want to spend billions to reduce a fraction of water usage -- Household use is a tiny fraction of California’s overall water supply, but the state wants to spend billions of dollars to make a tiny reduction in that already infinitesimal bit of water consumption. Dan Walters CalMatters -- 1/26/24

Workplace

New California ruling targets pension ‘spiking’ as retirees appeal for relief -- Some California retirees are losing income as their pension funds make adjustments to comply with a 2013 law that attempted to curtail “spiking.” Adam Ashton CalMatters -- 1/26/24

California Economic Development Department calls workers back to office with few exceptions -- The EDD announcement echoes similar proclamations from the state’s for environmental protection and health and human services agencies. All three employers touted increased collaboration and office culture as benefits of the return to in-person work. Maya Miller in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/26/24

Remote Workers Bear the Brunt When Layoffs Hit -- New data shows fully remote employees are more likely to be let go than their peers. They’re also more likely to quit. Te-Ping Chen in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 1/26/24

Climate

How S.F.’s Embarcadero could be transformed by this $13.5 billion proposal -- San Francisco's largest ever infrastructure project would mean the city’s Embarcadero and Ferry building would be shut down for a considerable period to fortify against rising seas and earthquakes. John King in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/26/24

What’s happened since California cut home solar payments? Demand has plunged 80% -- As rooftop solar projects have plummeted, about 17,000 workers could lose their jobs. Will this derail the state’s climate and clean energy goals? Julie Cart in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 1/26/24

California board blasts EV charger company, then approves its $200-million plan anyway -- After ripping into Electrify America’s latest public EV charger spending plan for its perceived inadequacies, members of the California Air Resources Board approved it unanimously. “I want to get the money out,” board member Davina Hurt said. Russ Mitchell in the Los Angeles Times$ Ari Plachta in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/26/24

Biden administration awards nearly half a billion dollars for Northern California offshore wind project -- $426 million grant jump starts plans to build hundreds of turbines in the Pacific Ocean, 20 miles offshore. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 1/26/24

Taxes

New, expanded child tax credits are back — and they may actually pass Congress -- Congress may be on the verge of doing something big: passing a bill to bring back a smaller version of pandemic-era expanded tax credits. They could lift half a million kids out of poverty by next year. David Lauter in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/24

Homeless

How big is California’s homelessness crisis? Inside the massive, statewide effort to find out -- California is counting its homeless population. Here’s a look at how the state gets the numbers that impact everything from program funding to stump speeches. Marisa Kendall CalMatters -- 1/26/24

After a storm battered San Diego's homeless, hundreds spread out to see who’s still on the streets -- It’s not yet clear whether two people recently found dead in Santee were homeless. Their deaths haven’t even been definitively linked to Monday’s historic storm. Blake Nelson, Phil Diehl, Lauren J. Mapp, Tammy Murga in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 1/26/24

Cannabis

Did legal marijuana help or harm Californians? Here’s what the data says -- The sky hasn’t fallen, and the state has some more money. But there are some new challenges, such as accidental ingestion by children and emergency medical problems among elders. Lisa M. Krieger in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 1/26/24

Street

They died in San Diego County jails. They shouldn’t have been there at all, an outside review found -- The findings are the latest eye-popping conclusions from independent reviews of San Diego Sheriff’s Department practices, which have come under growing scrutiny over the hundreds of deaths inside county jails over the past two decades. Jeff McDonald in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 1/26/24

Notorious L.A. gang informant now accused of setting fire that killed 7 children -- Los Angeles County prosecutors allege that Juan ‘Termite’ Romero set fire to a crowded apartment building, killing seven children and three women. Matthew Ormseth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/24

Education

‘My confidence grew’: LAUSD student board member works to elevate Latino, student voices -- Karen Ramirez spent five years on the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council before running for the LAUSD school board. Mallika Seshadri EdSource -- 1/26/24

Also

The power of Kobe -- Close to 650 public art pieces honoring Bryant have been painted globally, with nearly 350 springing up throughout Southern California alone. Alex Prewitt in the Washington Post$ -- 1/26/24

California Policy and Politics Friday

Garofoli: ‘Reality is setting in’: Possibility of a Trump return jolts Dem groups into action -- Watching Donald Trump virtually wrap up the GOP nomination early is good news to an unlikely set: organizations devoted to defeating him. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/26/24

Mayor Breed is taking credit for the dip in S.F. crime last year. What’s behind the trends? -- Mayor London Breed is touting a drop in crime in San Francisco as she pushes a police ballot measure in March and looks ahead to her own re-election bid in November. J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/26/24

Judge appears wary of lawsuit accusing Biden admin of aiding genocide -- The Bay Area federal judge in a case accusing President Joe Biden of aiding genocide against Palestinians has signaled he plans to dismiss the suit. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/26/24

Undocumented

UC rejects proposal to allow campuses to hire undocumented students -- The proposal would have meant challenging a federal law that bars employers from hiring undocumented immigrants. Advocates requesting the change argue that the University of California, as a state agency, is exempt from that law. Mikhail Zinshteyn CalMatters Blake Jones Politico Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/26/24

Workplace

Levi’s announces plan to lay off up to 15% of global workforce in 2024 -- The San Francisco company disclosed the impending layoffs during its fourth-quarter earnings call to investors on Thursday, the same day it announced its $170 million commitment to maintain its sponsorship of the San Francisco 49ers’ stadium. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/26/24

Salesforce Laying Off 700 Workers in Latest Tech Industry Downsizing -- The layoffs, which will affect around 1% of its workforce, follow a 10% reduction last year. Tom Dotan in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 1/26/24

Kickback

S.F. City Hall corruption: Another employee charged in alleged kickback scheme -- A San Francisco city employee was charged Thursday with helping embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from a program meant to fund neighborhood improvements, prosecutors said. St. John Barned-Smith in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/26/24

Clean Energy

Roth: The lithium revolution has arrived at California’s Salton Sea -- After a dozen years of engineering, permitting and financing, the Australian firm Controlled Thermal Resources is ready to start building a lithium extraction and geothermal power plant at the southern end of the Salton Sea, more than 150 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Sammy Roth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/24

PG&E

California utility regulators fine PG&E $45 million for Dixie Fire, state’s 2nd-largest wildfire -- PG&E has settled civil lawsuits brought by multiple Sacramento Valley district attorneys for $55 million to avoid prosecution in both the Dixie Fire and the 2019 Kincade Fire. Ishani Desai in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/26/24

RoboTaxi

‘Us versus them’: Cruise’s animosity to regulators led to company’s California suspension, law firm says -- A 195-page report made public by Cruise details a series of missteps that landed the General Motors-owned company in hot water with state and federal regulators. Ricardo Cano in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/26/24

GM’s Cruise Says U.S. Is Investigating Driverless Car’s Collision With Pedestrian -- Law firm hired by company found a failure of leadership in its dealings with regulators. Meghan Bobrowsky in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 1/26/24

Waymo wants to expand its driverless robotaxis to the Peninsula, opposition rises -- The controversial Bay Area experiment in robot-driven taxi service will expand from San Francisco to much of the Peninsula if Google-spinoff Waymo’s application to state authorities succeeds — but it is already running into opposition. Ethan Baron, Ryan Macasero in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 1/26/24

Street

Costa Mesa man convicted of murder in freeway shooting of 6-year-old -- Orange County jury finds Marcus Eriz guilty of second-degree murder three years after he fired into a car on the 55 Freeway, killing a 6-year-old boy. Christopher Goffard in the Los Angeles Times$ Sean Emery in the Orange County Register -- 1/26/24

Petition seeks to decertify Undersheriff April Tardy for alleged dishonesty -- A Los Angeles attorney filed a petition this week asking the state to “decertify” Undersheriff April Tardy for allegedly committing perjury when she testified in court last year as a witness in a civil lawsuit about a deputy gang known as the Executioners. Keri Blakinger in the Los Angeles Times$ Scott Schwebke in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 1/26/24

'Rust'

SAG-AFTRA defends Alec Baldwin after ‘Rust’ criminal charge: ‘An actor’s job is not to be a firearms or weapons expert’-- SAG-AFTRA defended Alec Baldwin, who recently was charged with involuntary manslaughter for his role in the deadly shooting on the “Rust” set, saying it is not an actor’s job to be a firearms expert. Wendy Lee in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/24

Also

S.F.’s Powell Street has seen better days. Now there’s a push to give it a makeover -- Powell Street, the starting point for countless cable car rides and a key entrance to Union Square, could soon get a fresh look to try and shake off the impacts of the pandemic. John King in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/26/24

New defense against staged car crashes: security cameras -- A state task force arrested five people for staging a car wreck to defraud an insurer after the caper was recorded on a home security camera. Jon Healey in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/24

Can the IRS’s New Free Tax-Filing Tool Replace TurboTax? We Tried It Out -- The Internal Revenue Service’s new tax-filing site is far better than wrestling with a paper tax form. And it is free for users. But this first version of the government’s foray into electronic tax preparation isn’t a TurboTax killer yet. Richard Rubin, Ashlea Ebeling in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 1/26/24

Boeing Max 9s to return to skies less than a month after a panel blew off midflight -- The FAA is greenlighting an inspection and maintenance procedure for Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft that could allow them to fly again by this weekend. Andrew J. Campa in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/26/24

Explicit Deepfake Images of Taylor Swift Elude Safeguards and Swamp Social Media -- Fans of the star and lawmakers condemned the images, probably generated by artificial intelligence, after they were shared with millions of social media users. Kate Conger, John Yoon in the New York Times$ -- 1/26/24