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4 L.A. County social workers to face trial in horrific death of 8-year-old boy -- A Los Angeles County judge ruled Monday that four social workers accused of criminal negligence in the death of an 8-year-old Palmdale boy they were charged with protecting should stand trial, allowing prosecutors to push ahead with a case that has sent a chill through the ranks of child protection workers nationwide. Melissa Etehad and Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/20/17

L.A. police, county sheriff's department on first-ever federal list of agencies not honoring ICE detainers -- The Department of Homeland Security on Monday released the first ever report on law enforcement agencies that are potentially “endangering Americans” by failing to cooperate with ICE detainers and named multiple jurisdictions in California. Joseph Serna in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/20/17

Worried about Trump, BART rethinks ‘sanctuary’ label -- BART directors have tapped the brakes on a call to declare the popular commuter line a “sanctuary” system after being warned that the word might be seen as provocative by the Trump administration, possibly putting millions of dollars of federal funding in peril. Matier & Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 3/20/17

What does 'get in line' mean in immigration debate? -- Those who support President Donald Trump’s increased immigration enforcement frequently say that immigrants should “get in line” to come to America, rather than enter without authorization. But, what line? Kate Morrissey in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 3/20/17

LA’s ‘sanctuary city’ debate broadens as statewide bill takes shape -- A proposal by state lawmakers that would declare California a “sanctuary state” has magnified an identity crisis playing out in Los Angeles over what it means to be a sanctuary for immigrants who are in the United States illegally. Elizabeth Chou in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 3/20/17

Uber plays the hero for some immigrant drivers caught up in travel ban -- After three agonizing years apart, Uber driver Samer Alrajab Agha thought he’d soon be reuniting with his wife and five children, Syrian refugees he’d left behind in Turkey. Marisa Kendall in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 3/20/17

U.S.-Mexico border wall fight: California considers divesting from companies involved in the project -- Three California Democrats have a warning for contractors who sign up for President Donald Trump’s border-wall construction project between the U.S. and Mexico: Build it, and we will divest from your company. Katy Murphy in the San Jose Mercury$ Liam Dillon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/20/17

This California Democrat is proposing a tax on millionaires to make public colleges tuition-free for in-state students -- To tackle concerns about college affordability, a Democratic legislator is proposing to make public colleges and universities tuition-free for all Californians, and wants to tax millionaires to do it. Melanie Mason in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/20/17

Jerry Brown hits Donald Trump’s Washington amid pitched partisan fights -- Gov. Jerry Brown will arrive in Washington, D.C. just in time for a week’s worth of pitched partisan battles on issues of consequence to Californians. Christopher Cadelago in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 3/20/17

Garcetti, other L.A. leaders call on Legislature to end delays on transportation funding plan -- A group of officials including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday called on state legislators to end a stalemate over approving a transportation funding plan to cover a $130-billion backlog of repairs to California’s roads, bridges and highways. Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/20/17

Oakland turns over draft Ghost Ship report to DA after weeks of delays -- After weeks of failing to provide Alameda County prosecutors access to a draft report on the deadly Ghost Ship fire, city officials delivered a draft version to the criminal investigation team Saturday, hours after this newspaper reported on the delays. Matthais Gafni in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 3/20/17

Advocates say L.A. Unified shortchanges its neediest students -- No one questions that students at La Salle Avenue Elementary, with their low academic achievement, could use a hand up. A civic coalition spearheaded by United Way of Greater Los Angeles puts the South L.A. campus at the very top of schools needing more services and attention; the L.A. Unified School District, however, puts the school at 293rd on its need index out of some 1,000 campuses, according to advocates. Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/20/17

How hydroelectric power has roared back in California -- After slowing to a trickle during the past five years of punishing drought, hydroelectric power in California is poised to make a major comeback this spring and summer, thanks to the wet winter. Dominic Fracassa in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 3/20/17

A discussion of cap-and-trade in California -- Cap and trade is either a sensible effort to reduce pollution in California without undue damage to the state’s economy, or it is a circumvention of the drastic action that is really needed to safeguard the environment. Chuck McFadden Capitol Weekly -- 3/20/17

Stem cell agency loses key executive -- The $3 billion California stem cell agency said it is losing one of its top leaders, James Harrison, one of the authors of the measure that created the agency and who most recently is serving as its “unflappable” general counsel. David Jensen Capitol Weekly -- 3/20/17

Capitol Weekly podcast: Dave Lesher -- Longtime California political journalist Dave Lesher stopped by Capitol Weekly’s office to talk about his latest gig: Editor and CEO of CALmatters, an ambitious, nonprofit news startup that has quickly assembled one of the largest political news bureaus in the state. We talk about that venture, and the status of political media in 2017. Link here -- 3/20/17

F.B.I. Is Investigating Trump’s Russia Ties, Comey Confirms -- The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, took the extraordinary step on Monday of announcing that the F.B.I. is investigating whether members of President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Matt Apuzzo, Matthew Rosengerg and Emmarie Huetteman in the New York Times$ -- 3/20/17

FBI Director Comey: Justice Dept. has no information that supports Trump’s tweets alleging he was wiretapped by Obama -- In a sprawling, near five-hour hearing, FBI Director James B. Comey on Monday said there is “no information” that supports President Trump’s claims that his predecessor ordered surveillance of Trump Tower during the election campaign. Ellen Nakashima, Karoun Demirjian and Devlin Barrett in the Washington Post$ -- 3/20/17

FCC chief says media aren't the enemy of the people. He dodged the question earlier -- The news media are not the enemy of the American people, the new head of the Federal Communications Commission said after dodging the question at a Senate hearing this month. Jim Puzzanghera in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/20/17

Taylor: Berkeley needs to become landlord for homeless -- Berkeley’s mayor announced a plan last week to end the city’s homeless problem: move people through mini-villages and then into permanent housing. Otis R. Taylor Jr. in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 3/20/17

 

California Policy & Politics This Morning  

Fearing immigration crackdown, some go into hiding while churches prepare sanctuaries -- President Donald Trump's aggressive enforcement of immigration laws has changed the lives of thousands of people in Southern California who, fearing deportation, have slipped deeper into the shadows and now step outside only when they have little choice. Leslie Berestein Rojas KPCC -- 3/20/17

LA’s ‘sanctuary city’ debate broadens as statewide bill takes shape -- A proposal by state lawmakers that would declare California a “sanctuary state” has magnified an identity crisis playing out in Los Angeles over what it means to be a sanctuary for immigrants who are in the United States illegally. Elizabeth Chou in the Long Beach Press Telegram$ -- 3/20/17

Sanctuary State Bill Will Increase Crime: Orange County Sheriff -- Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchins says she believes crime will increase if a "sanctuary state" bill now being considered in the legislature becomes law. Conan Nolan NBCLA -- 3/20/17

Former California dairy farmer leads Trump-Russia investigation -- Devin Nunes once said all he wanted to do was work on a dairy farm. Now the man from the rural Central Valley of California is running one of the most scrutinized, complex and politically fraught congressional investigations in recent memory. Eileen Sullivan and Garance Burke Associated Press -- 3/20/17

Border searches can pry into personal technology -- In a small community center tucked away at the back of a business park in Hayward, dozens of men and women sat fidgeting with their phones. As lawyers explained that the devices they held and everything stored on them could be searched at a U.S. border crossing, the men and women exchanged glances. Marissa Lang in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 3/20/17

Jerry Brown takes international stage on nuclear danger: ‘We all ought to wake up’ -- Gov. Jerry Brown, speaking more than a year ago to the scientists who measure civilization’s proximity to global disaster, lamented that it’s difficult to talk about big problems such as the threat of climate change and the nuclear arms race. Christopher Cadelago in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 3/20/17

Gov. Brown requests 4th federal disaster declaration for Calif. storms -- Gov. Jerry Brown asked the federal government Sunday to provide additional help for California’s storm recovery, including repairs at the damaged Oroville Dam. Dominic Fracassa in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 3/20/17

Skelton: Here's an idea for legislators: Figure out how to pay for a spending bill before proposing it -- You’d think from reading some promoted legislation that the Capitol was a candy store handing out free goodies. A lot of appealing items are on display. The cost? Oh, that. We’ll worry about it later. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/20/17

Walters: Jerry Brown would undermine a spending limit he sponsored -- California voters shocked the state’s political figures by passing Proposition 13 in 1978, and none more so than Jerry Brown, who was seeking his second term as governor. Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 3/20/17

Carlsbad to photograph every car entering city -- The $1 million Police Department project — which will add stationary cameras at 14 key Carlsbad intersections, creating a virtual gateway at the city’s borders — was approved by the City Council last week, sparking outrage over privacy rights and government control from several residents and one council member. Phil Diehl in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 3/20/17

Two sheriffs elected as reformers end up destroyed by corruption scandals -- They swept away an old guard to lead the two of the largest sheriff’s departments in the nation, promising reforms — treating drug offenders in jail, reaching out to long-neglected minority communities, training officers in a gentler approach with the homeless and mentally ill. They both left in disgrace. Joe Mozingo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/20/17

Part of San Fernando Valley’s storied space race history vanishes -- Heavy machinery has just about leveled the old Rocketdyne office and rocket engine manufacturing complex on Canoga Avenue in the West Valley. Greg Wilcox in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 3/20/17

Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions 

UC paper argues full pension funding not needed -- A paper issued by Stanford graduates seven years ago helped shift public focus to what critics call a “hidden” pension debt. Now a paper issued by UC Berkeley’s Haas Institute last month argues that full pension funding is not needed and may even be harmful. Ed Mendel Calpensions.com -- 3/20/17

This visa program connected foreign investors to dozens of real estate projects. Is it doomed under Trump? -- The program allows foreign investors and their wives and unmarried children under 21 to obtain a green card and eventually become U.S. citizens in exchange for a $500,000 or $1 million investment in a commercial enterprise creating at least 10 jobs. Kevin Smith in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 3/20/17

Ivanka Trump brand sued by San Francisco fashion retailer over unfair competition -- San Francisco fashion boutique Modern Appealing Clothing has sued Ivanka Trump's company over unfair competition. The class action lawsuit was filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Thursday. Peter Hockaday in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 3/20/17

Will Oakland Become First U.S. City To Ditch Wall Street And Establish A Public Bank? -- Oakland is now considering establishing one of the first city-owned banks in the country. Officials argue that the bank could provide affordable financing for city initiatives, small businesses, and low-income residents. Oakland’s bank could also accept the billions of dollars in capital from California’s cannabis industry, which cannot deposit money at commercial banks due to pressure from the feds. Gabrielle Canon in the East Bay Times -- 3/20/17

Volvo taps Monrovia-based AeroVironment to create global electric vehicle charging stations -- The wall-mounted charger will enable drivers to charge their vehicles up to three times faster than is possible with a standard cordset. AV’s new charger will be aligned with the Volvo XC90 and a growing line of Volvo Cars’ plug-in hybrid vehicles. Kevin Smith in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 3/20/17

Education 

Two-decade old legal battle over special education oversight nears resolution, brings major changes -- The California Department of Education said last week that it will comply with a federal court order to improve significantly its system for monitoring special education, after years of legal maneuvering to block the changes. Jane Meredith Adams EdSource -- 3/20/17

To retain teachers, lawmakers push to exempt them from state income tax -- Teachers on the job for at least five years would be exempt from paying state income taxes under a bill that aims to increase the number of teachers entering and staying in the profession. Fermin Leal EdSource -- 3/20/17

Also . . . 

A pilot crashed his plane and walked off uninjured. Now the FAA wants to know what exactly happened -- The first indication that a plane was down came Saturday afternoon when the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida picked up a signal from an emergency locator beacon transmitting from somewhere in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Doug Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/20/17

POTUS 45  

White House installs political aides at Cabinet agencies to be Trump’s eyes and ears -- The political appointee charged with keeping watch over Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and his aides has offered unsolicited advice so often that after just four weeks on the job, Pruitt has shut him out of many staff meetings, according to two senior administration officials. Lisa Rein and Juliet Eilperin in the Washington Post$ -- 3/20/17

Tracking the special treatment media get when they play nice with the White House -- Introducing “Access Watch,” in which we follow how positive coverage of the Trump administration is rewarded with advantages such as phone calls or plane seats. Margaret Sullivan in the Washington Post$ -- 3/20/17

Beltway 

Russia Inquiries Overlap in a Tangle of Secrets and Sniping -- Russia’s campaign to disrupt last year’s presidential election has spawned a tangle of inquiries with competing agendas and timetables, and with little agreement on the most important things that should be investigated. Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman and Matthew Rosenberg in the New York Times$ -- 3/20/17

 

-- Sunday Updates 

Will California farms find enough workers amid Trump’s immigration crackdown? -- As the spring picking season approaches, farmworkers are convinced the fields will be raided by federal agents intent on rounding up undocumented immigrants and shipping them back to Mexico or Central America. With many fearing the authorities will also set up checkpoints on the highways, the United Farm Workers union said the labor flow has already been cut in half at some farms. Ryan Lillis and Jose Luis Villegas in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 3/19/17

Will defense gains offset budget cuts to science, technology in San Diego? -- In a region largely shaped and driven for more than a century by federal spending on the military, President Donald Trump’s first budget proposal last week triggered cheers from defense hawks and cries from researchers, academic leaders and others concerned about funding cuts to San Diego County’s scientific, medical and high-tech industries. Carl Prine in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 3/19/17

Big Sur is once again coping with natural disaster and looming economic catastrophe -- I want to tell you about how awful things have been for hundreds of people in Big Sur, trapped now for more than a month by a broken bridge to the north and various mud and rock slides to the south. Robin Abcarian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 3/19/17

California’s bumpy path to road repairs -- California’s already poor roads deteriorated to a whole new level of disrepair this winter. Sinkholes have popped up throughout the state and major roads have closed because of damage. Lisa Renner Capitol Weekly -- 3/19/17

Grassley and Feinstein: The Pair Who Will Lead Gorsuch’s Senate Hearings -- She is a female trailblazer in a Senate where women remain a minority, a formal and wealthy institutionalist from one of the nation’s most liberal states whose partisanship is at times eclipsed by propriety. Jennifer Steinhauer in the New York Times$ -- 3/19/17

Jimmy Breslin, legendary New York City columnist, dies at 88 -- Jimmy Breslin, the street-savvy, Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist whose two-fisted prose championing the little guy and pillorying those who betrayed the public trust made him a New York City institution for more than 40 years, died Sunday. He was 88. Dennis McLellan in the Los Angeles Times$ Verena Dobnik Associated Press Dan Barry in the New York Times$ Paul Duggan in the Washington Post$ -- 3/19/17

San Francisco library workers may get training to save heroin addicts’ lives -- In addition to checking out and re-shelving books, San Francisco library staffers may soon be trained to give lifesaving medication to reverse overdoses among the growing number of heroin users mixing in with the homeless in and around the Main Library. Matier & Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 3/19/17

Republican Congressman Faces Hostile Crowd at Nevada County Town Hall -- Republican Congressman Doug LaMalfa drew more than 1,400 people to a town hall at the Nevada County Fairgrounds about an hour north of Sacramento Saturday. The crowd peppered LaMalfa with questions on the environment and immigration. LaMalfa backed the idea of building a wall along the border with Mexico, saying the country has to defend its borders. Katie Orr KQED -- 3/19/17

Next step for Trump resistance: Get organized, fight burnout -- Even though it is only a few months old, the fledgling resistance to President Trump is realizing it needs to address three big questions: How do we keep people from burning out? With so many new groups addressing the same issues, how do we keep from duplicating our efforts? Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 3/19/17

Why our health care costs so much — and why fixes aren't likely -- Practically everyone knows health care in the United States is expensive — the most expensive in the world by seemingly every measure. But judging by the raging debate over the Affordable Care Act, few really understand why. Paul Sisson in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 3/19/17