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Second noose in two weeks found at Port of Oakland terminal -- Thursday’s episode was the second noose found at the port in the past two weeks, and prompted SSA Marine workers at the Oakland International Container Terminal to walk off the job for several hours in the morning, said Derrick Muhammad, secretary-treasurer of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10. Evan Sernoffsky in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/25/17

Trump promised a ‘big beautiful door’ in his border wall. California farmers are ready and waiting -- If growers have their way, they will get even more workers under the visa program known as H-2A and face fewer barriers, delays and regulations. Geoffrey Mohan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

Lawmakers scrap effort to make it easier to pass local transportation taxes -- An effort to boost the chances of local ballot measures raising taxes for transportation needs was quietly killed Thursday in the state Capitol. John Myers in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

Volkswagen's clean car plan falls short in low-income neighborhoods, California regulators say -- State regulators have asked Volkswagen to revise its plan to invest in zero emission technology in California, a victory for critics who said the automaker wasn't doing enough in disadvantaged communities. Chris Megerian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

As norovirus spreads through Yolo, school programs to close in Davis -- A preschool and adult living skills program in Davis will be closed Friday as Yolo County continues to battle the rapid spread of norovirus, an illness that triggers vomiting and diarrhea, officials said Thursday. Loretta Kalb in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/25/17

Sex offenders will not be banned without exception from school grounds after state bill is shelved -- The state Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday shelved a bill that would have banned all registered sex offenders from school campuses without exception. Jazmine Ulloa in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

Measure to help California students refinance private loans is shelved -- The measure by state Sen. Benjamin Allen (D-Santa Monica) was touted as a way for the state to coax private lenders to offer more favorable interest. The proposal would have carried a $25-million price tag. Melanie Mason in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

Where bills go to die: Lawmakers begin clearing the 'suspense file' with hundreds of measures in limbo -- From a sales tax exemption on tampons to healthcare rules and marijuana regulation, a massive stack of proposed laws faces a major deadline Friday morning at the state Capitol. John Myers in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

After years of controversy, 710 Freeway tunnel is dead -- After decades of study and controversy, the Metro board of directors unanimously withdrew its support Thursday for the proposed 710 Freeway tunnel, and voted to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on local street improvements and other transportation options for the San Gabriel Valley. Dan Weikel in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

ICE arrests nearly 190 immigrants in Southern California, including convicted rapist -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested nearly 190 people in Southern California in a five-day operation that targeted “public safety threats,” including criminal foreign nationals, illegal re-entrants and immigration fugitives, authorities announced Thursday. Brenda Gazzar in the Los Angeles Daily News Sarah Parvini and Joel Rubin in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

Rep. Duncan Hunter says Gia nforte's alleged assault was wrong, unless 'unless the reporter deserved it' -- California Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) had an interesting take on the alleged assault on a Guardian reporter by the Republican front-runner in Montana's special election, Greg Gianforte. Sarah D. Wire in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

Appeals court rules against Trump travel ban -- A federal appeals court has ruled against President Trump's travel ban, upholding a nationwide injunction barring the administration from enforcing the executive order. David Lauter in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

What Trump food stamp cuts mean for California -- Republicans have called the SNAP program a recession-era safety net and argue that maintaining it in a stable economy only encourages the 44 million people who depend on it nationally to stay impoverished. Nemec said she uses it to simply get by day to day. Sammy Caiola in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/25/17

Hiltzik: The University of California wins a jury verdict in strawberry case, then gets blasted by the judge -- The University of California secured a resounding victory Thursday from a federal court jury in a lawsuit claiming that two former professors had infringed on its strawberry patents. Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

A devastating cycle of fire, record rain and huge landslides batters California's Central Coast -- “We’ve had a cascade of events that have gone from bad to worse,” said Stan Russell, executive director for Big Sur Chamber of Commerce. “Let’s hope this is it.” Joseph Serna in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

Westside San Franciscans are none too happy about new water mix -- San Franciscans take pride in drinking pristine water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which they treasure as among the purest in the nation. So a recent move by the Public Utilities Commission to introduce ground water gradually into the city’s drinking supply prompted anxiety and suspicion. Rachel Swan and J.K. Dineen in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/25/17

Homeless say San Jose dumps possessions; city calls it trash -- In a nondescript warehouse about 1,000 feet from Coyote Creek in North San Jose, 10 studio-sized rooms store the sum of what’s been collected by the city during recent sweeps of homeless camps. Eric Kurhi in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/25/17

 

California Policy & Politics This Morning  

Jerry Brown on Trump and the Pope: ‘Don’t underestimate the power of the Holy Father’ -- Gov. Jerry Brown, who met with Pope Francis two years ago and spent his formative years as a Jesuit seminarian, has criticized President Donald Trump’s lack of environmental conviction – calling Trump’s remarks about climate change being a Chinese hoax “so stupid” that it takes his breath away. Christopher Cadelago in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/25/17

Gov. Brown Optimistic on Climate Change, Trump -- Gov. Jerry Brown was optimistic about the state of climate change policy at a San Francisco conference on Wednesday, saying he was glad to see President Trump meet with Pope Francis this week. Marisa Lagos KQED -- 5/25/17

Brown: Trump will come around on climate change -- California Gov. Jerry Brown, one of the Democratic Party’s most outspoken critics of Republican climate change policy, said Wednesday he now believes that President Donald Trump is a political “realist” who will likely listen to what Pope Francis, China and other world leaders are saying on the key issue – and that progress under his administration may be “not as disastrous as we thought a few months ago.” Carla Marinucci Politico -- 5/25/17

Lawmakers may wait on Gov. Brown’s ambitious pension plan – one he wants now -- As Sacramento kicks off its yearly scramble to pass a state budget, lawmakers have yet to agree whether one controversial provision will make the cut: an untested $6 billion scheme that the governor says could save the state billions more but that some analysts warn has received too little scrutiny. Ben Christopher Calmatters.org -- 5/25/17

Skelton: Single-payer healthcare in California? Time to take a cold shower and return to the real world -- A state-run universal healthcare system? California only? It’s fantasy. Current legislation in Sacramento is fatally flawed and foolhardy. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

Breitbart, but not Huffington Post? Fresno students want more access to news -- Edison High School students Richard McCoy and Duncan Wanless were doing research for a school project on campus when they realized the Huffington Post was blocked. Mackenzie Mays in the Fresno Bee -- 5/25/17

Darrell Issa plans a town hall meeting, but gives select crowd special access -- After facing hundreds of upset constituents at town hall meetings in March, Rep. Darrell Issa is giving a select group of constituents early invites to an upcoming , and a head start to claim one of the limited seats to the event. Joshua Stewart in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 5/25/17

The Russia investigation thrust Devin Nunes into the spotlight. Now that he's the one under scrutiny, what has he been up to? -- When the House Select Intelligence Committee opened its most recent hearing on Russian interference in the 2016 election, committee Chairman Devin Nunes was notably absent from the dais. Sarah D. Wire in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

DA’s report on San Bernardino terrorist attack highlights police bravery in gun battle -- San Bernardino terrorist attack survivors and victims’ relatives will get a chance Thursday, May 25, to ask questions about a report released this week detailing how police officers took down the assailants on Dec. 2, 2015. Suzanne Hurt in the Orange County Register -- 5/25/17

Nearly 1 in 4 San Franciscans struggle with hunger -- The number is a striking amount, and much higher than the city’s homeless population, which the city said was 6,886 in 2015 (though others estimate it to be much higher), making it less than 1 percent of the population. Tara Duggan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/25/17

A brief history of the not-so-brief battle over the 710 Freeway extension, which may be coming to a close -- Few Southern California transportation projects have a longer or more tortured legacy than the 710 Freeway. Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

State Democrats Have New Leverage in Effort to Curb Greenhouse Gases -- When Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown launched California toward a new goal of reducing greenhouse gases last year, they did so without addressing one of the state’s key mechanisms for reaching the goal: the cap-and-trade program. Guy Marzorati KQED -- 5/25/17

California sees a rebound in cap-and-trade auction, bolstering key climate change program -- State regulators announced strong results from California's cap-and-trade program on Wednesday, spurring analysts and supporters to say the system remains solid despite questions about its political future. Chris Megerian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

Sei Fujii was denied a law license because of his race. California's top court has granted him one, 63 years after his death -- A Japanese immigrant who graduated from USC law school but could not practice because of his race received a license posthumously Wednesday from the California Supreme Court. Maura Dolan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

Housing  

Judge hits bad San Francisco landlord with extra $400k penalty -- The penalties faced by embattled San Francisco landlord Anne Kihagi just got steeper. J.K. Dineen in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/25/17

Some ‘likely being priced out’ of tight housing market in Sacramento County -- Low inventory and relatively strong buyer demand for those homes that are available pushed Sacramento County home prices higher in April. Mark Glover in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/25/17

Marin’s median home price returns to $1.2M peak -- The benchmark for April matched the peak reached last May and June, according to Irvine-based CoreLogic. The new median price was a 14.3 percent increase over April 2016. Gary Klien in the Marin Independent Journal -- 5/25/17

Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions 

Why are Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Aldi succeeding in SoCal where others failed? -- Southern California’s supermarket industry is notoriously competitive, a reality that has prompted some newcomers to pare back their operations and others to pull out of the region completely. Kevin Smith in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 5/25/17

Water   

You won’t be able to cool off this spring in the Kings River -- Sheriff Margaret Mims Wednesday ordered the Fresno County portion of the Kings River closed for the Memorial Day weekend and indefinitely after that because of surging, ice-cold water roaring out of Pine Flat Dam. Jim Guy in the Fresno Bee -- 5/25/17

Education 

Judy Burton dies at 69; led school reform efforts inside and outside L.A. Unified -- It was widely presumed that Judy Burton someday would become superintendent of the L.A. Unified School District, given that she rose from star teacher to star principal to leader of internal reform efforts. But timing and a near-fatal illness worked against her and instead she became the founding leader of the region’s largest network of charter schools. Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

California’s next election will be a tug-of-war on education -- The future of public education in California has become a tug-of-war between different camps within the Democratic Party. Democrats aligned with organized labor – who dominated local and legislative races for many years – are now facing formidable challenges from Democrats who see overhauling some union rules as a key to improving education. Laurel Rosenhall Calmatters.org -- 5/25/17

UC Berkeley fires instructor following sexual harassment claims -- UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks fired an assistant professor Wednesday, two years after the university upheld a student’s complaint that he sexually harassed her by talking about strip clubs and drugs, touching her inappropriately, and seeking her out in the campus offices. Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/25/17

In strawberry lawsuit, jury sides with UC Davis over former professor -- Jurors have sided with a California research university in its dispute with a renowned plant scientist credited with developing tasty strawberries as a professor there. Associated Press -- 5/25/17

Election aftermath: Don't expect to see big increases in LA charter schools -- Despite a successful push by charter school advocates to win a majority of seats on the Los Angeles Unified school board, it’s is unlikely that there will be a major expansion of charter schools in the state’s largest school district within the foreseeable future. Louis Freedberg and Mikhail Zinshteyn Edsource -- 5/25/17

Cannabis 

DA files charges against medical pot business owner -- Two weeks after she was ordered to return $100,000 seized from a medical marijuana entrepreneur and his family, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis filed a sweeping criminal complaint against the business owner, four employees and his lawyer. Jeff McDonald in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 5/25/17

Immigration / Border 

Immigration records detail DUI crash suspect’s many deportations -- An unauthorized immigrant charged with DUI and hit and run in a crash that seriously injured a 6-year-old San Ysidro boy was deported or allowed to voluntarily return to Mexico 17 times over the past 14 years without facing criminal charges, according to Department of Homeland Security immigration records released Wednesday. Kristina Davis in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 5/25/17

Environment 

Here’s why Southern California’s spring already seems so smoggy -- If our air seems terrible, well, it is. Smog season 2017 has arrived with a vengeance. So far this year, Southern California has endured 27 days with unhealthful levels of ozone, the hallmark pollutant of smog, making this spring the worst start of a smog season since 2008, according to state data. David Danelski in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 5/25/17

Health 

One Fresno hospital rates worse than average for heart bypass surgery deaths -- Community Regional Medical Center was one of two hospitals in California with a death rate from heart bypass surgery that was worse than average, according to a state report released this week. Barbara Anderson in the Fresno Bee -- 5/25/17

Also . . . 

McEwen: Foster keeps his $93,000 annual police pension despite his drug-dealing conviction -- It’s bad enough that Keith Foster shamed his badge and reneged on his sworn promise to uphold the law by dealing heroin and marijuana while receiving nearly $15,000 a month from taxpayers to be Fresno’s deputy police chief. Bill McEwen in the Fresno Bee -- 5/25/17

Roger Boesche, Oxy professor who sparked Obama's interest in politics, dies at 69 -- Roger Boesche, a beloved Occidental College professor of four decades whom President Barack Obama cited as sparking his interest in politics, died Tuesday. He was 69. Victoria Kim in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/25/17

POTUS 45  

Trump reveals location of 2 nuclear submarines to Philippines' president -- President Trump praised the Philippines' president for an "unbelievable job" in a fight against illegal drugs that has left thousands dead and drawn condemnation from American lawmakers, according to a leaked transcript of their telephone conversation last month. Associated Press -- 5/25/17

Top Russian Officials Discussed How to Influence Trump Aides Last Summer -- American spies collected information last summer revealing that senior Russian intelligence and political officials were discussing how to exert influence over Donald J. Trump through his advisers, according to three current and former American officials familiar with the intelligence. Matthew Rosenberg, Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo in the New York Times$ -- 5/25/17

How a dubious Russian document influenced the FBI’s handling of the Clinton probe -- A secret document that officials say played a key role in then-FBI Director James B. Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation has long been viewed within the FBI as unreliable and possibly a fake, according to people familiar with its contents. Karoun Demirjian and Devlin Barrett in the Washington Post$ -- 5/25/17

Beltway 

Ben Carson calls poverty ‘a state of mind’ during interview -- In an interview released Wednesday, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said that a "certain mindset" contributes to people living in poverty, pointing to habits and a "state of mind" that children take from their parents at a young age. Jose A. DelReal in the Washington Post$ -- 5/25/17

Peril for Republicans if they push forward with Obamacare repeal -- Obamacare repeal is in trouble in the Senate, and a nonpartisan analysis of the House’s repeal legislation issued Wednesday only reinforced that reality. Paul Demko and Jennifer Haberkorn Politico -- 5/25/17

 

-- Wednesday Updates 

Deputies sue former high-ranking sheriff's official and former prosecutor, alleging vendetta -- Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies say they were framed for lying about a drug bust and that prosecutors knowingly withheld evidence that would have spared them a trial, lost wages and public humiliation, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Maya Lau in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/24/17

Pioneering media mogul and L.A. philanthropist Jerry Perenchio dies at age 86 -- Andrew Jerrold Perenchio, the man behind the curtain who deftly pulled the levers of power to create cultural defining media events, propel political candidates, collect masterpiece artworks and become one of the richest men in Los Angeles, has died. He was 86. Meg James in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/24/17

GOP health bill would raise deductibles, lessen coverage and leave 23 million more uninsured, CBO says -- The Republican healthcare bill that passed the House earlier this month would nearly double the number of people in the U.S. without health insurance over the next decade, according to a new analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Noam N. Levey in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/24/17 

Xavier Becerra: The Golden State Warrior? -- State Attorney General Xavier Becerra is leading California’s increasingly tense challenge to the policies of Donald Trump’s administration. It’s a role that gives him high visibility — and headaches. Michael Warren Mott Capitol Weekly -- 5/24/17

California climate change program has struggled. Why did it suddenly rebound? -- California’s market-based program for fighting climate change had struggled badly over the past year. On Wednesday, it bounced back sharply. Industrial companies spent more than $1 billion in the latest state-run auction of carbon-pollution credits, state officials announced Wednesday. Dale Kasler in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/24/17

The Big One is going to happen, no matter how much you want to deny it, California scientists say -- Fear of earthquakes is part of life in California. But people experience this anxiety in different ways. For some, the fear prompts them to take steps to protect themselves: strapping down heavy furniture, securing kitchen cabinets and retrofitting homes and apartments. Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/24/17

Oroville Dam update: Demolition of spillway begins -- More than three months after a near disaster forced the emergency evacuation of thousands of downstream residents, California officials announced Wednesday that permanent repairs have begun on the dam’s damaged flood control spillways. Dale Kasler in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/24/17

Trump's 'fossil-fuel fetish' doesn't make economic sense, legislator says -- While leaders of the U.S. wind industry sounded a diplomatic tone Tuesday about dealing with the Trump administration, the keynote speaker at the industry’s biggest conference did not hold back. “President Trump’s fossil-fuel fetish, economically, does not make any sense,” California state Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) told a few hundred of the estimated 7,000 attendees at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) WindPower 2017 Conference and Exhibition at the Anaheim Convention Center. Rob Nikolewski in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 5/24/17

This California county will see its school population dwindle the most, state predicts -- Schools in the El Dorado County community of Georgetown thrived a decade ago, with close to 2,000 students enrolled in classes. Today, barely 1,250 students attend Georgetown schools – a number that will likely continue to fall. Phillip Reese in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/24/17

Fox: End Run Around Spending Limit Likely Headed for the Courts -- The state’s nearly 40-year-old spending limit law is on the fast track to a date in court. While the state senate budget committee yesterday agreed with the governor’s framework for the budget, which excludes $22 billion from the spending limit, a number of lawyers have concerns or outright disagree. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 5/24/17

San Diego DROP pensioners return for more city pay -- San Diego has brought back hundreds of retired city employees in recent years to receive part-time paychecks on top of their pensions — and it turns out the workers are often the same ones who took part in the much-maligned DROP program. Lauryn Schroeder in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 5/24/17

Trump official in charge of food stamps departs from Trump’s plan to gut the program -- Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is departing from the president’s plan to overhaul U.S. food aid, reaffirming on Wednesday that he still does not believe the food stamp system is “broken” or requires any fundamental change. Caitlin Dewey in the Washington Post$ -- 5/24/17

Report: Tesla factory suffers higher injury rate than average -- Tesla’s Fremont factory in recent years recorded far higher injury rates than the automotive industry’s average, according to a report released Wednesday by workplace safety group. David R. Baker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/24/17

Bay Area home price reach record highs, but sales tumble -- For the first time ever, median prices for a previously owned single-family home in the Bay Area climbed to $800,000 — an all-time high — and eclipsed the prior record of $752,000 that was set in June 2016, the CoreLogic real estate information service stated in a new report about the sky-high residential realty sector in the nine-county region. George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/24/17

Homeless ‘war zone’: Oakland officials under fire to solve crisis -- Magnitude of encampments, and the dangers that go with them, alarms activists. Tammerlin Drummond in the East Bay Times -- 5/24/17

San Francisco mayor ups money for homeless as new Navigation Center opens -- A long-anticipated Navigation Center opens Wednesday in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood, one in a string of projects that Mayor Ed Lee is rolling out as he pushes for big investments to solve the homeless crisis. Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/24/17

Here’s why your BART train is extra-crowded this week -- If your BART commute is taking longer and feels more crowded this week, it’s because the system is short 43 cars systemwide. That’s roughly four 10-car trains, each capable of holding up to 1,000 commuters. Matier & Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/24/17

Blame ‘Amazon Effect’ for proposed bump in San Francisco garbage bills -- The increase in cardboard and other forms of packaging — cellophane, polystyrene, clamshell containers, puffy plastic shipping pillows — is part of what’s driving Recology to seek a 14 percent hike in the city’s garbage rates in July, which already has approval from Public Works. Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/24/17

Lopez: ‘Does everything have to be a Starbucks?’ A quirky L.A. landmark fights to survive gentrification -- Nick Metropolis went to court Monday with $6,000 in his pocket and everything on the line. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/24/17

Hoping to climb Yosemite's Half Dome? You'll have to wait until June, thanks to lingering snow -- Park officials have delayed installing the Half Dome cables until at least June 2 because of the heavy snowpack and other hazardous conditions on the trail. The cables were originally slated for installment Friday. Sarah Parvini in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/24/17