Updating . .
IRS worker in San Francisco illegally leaked records of Trump fixer Michael Cohen, prosecutors say -- A San Francisco Internal Revenue Service analyst illegally accessed the financial records of Michael Cohen — President Trump’s former fixer — and leaked them to a Southern California attorney, who then passed on the documents to reporters for bombshell reports that revealed Cohen had set up an illegal shell company, federal prosecutors said Thursday. Gwendolyn Wu in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/21/19
Trump administration begins effort to strip work permits for immigrant spouses -- After nearly two years of delays, the Trump administration is moving ahead with its plan to stop granting work permits to the spouses of many high-skilled visa holders, an effort that could jeopardize tens of thousands of immigrants families in California alone. Tal Kopan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/21/19
Snow comes to L.A., with powder in Malibu, Pasadena, West Hollywood -- It was that kind of day in some parts of Southern California, which saw snow level plunge to extremely low levels and creating a winter wonderland, at least for a minutes. Snow fell in Malibu, Pasadena, West Hollywood, Northridge, San Bernardino and Thousand Oaks and other unexpected places. Hannah Fry in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/21/19
Can Gavin Newsom put California high-speed rail back on track? It may be up to Trump -- It’s survived cost overruns, lengthy delays and a public scolding from the new governor. Now California’s controversial high-speed rail project faces what may be its toughest test yet: presidential opposition. Tony Bizjak and Dale Kasler in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 2/21/19
Trump’s plan to take back $2.5 billion in California’s high-speed rail funding ‘unprecedented’ -- The Trump administration’s decision to cancel a $929-million grant to California’s troubled high-speed rail project and claw back $2.5 billion in funds already spent has thrust the federal government into uncharted legal territory and poses an existential threat to the state’s largest investment ever. Ralph Vartabedian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/21/19
Trump's War on California -- It's undoubtedly a blue-state bastion. But far from being a socialist hellhole, the Golden State is thriving after years of malaise. Michael Grunwald Politico -- 2/21/19
Trump’s EPA halts talks with Gavin Newsom administration on clean cars, climate change -- The Trump administration Thursday broke off negotiations with California over limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars, blaming state officials for failing to offer “a productive alternative” to the White House’s plans. Dale Kasler in the Sacramento Bee$ Timothy Puko and Alex Leary in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 2/21/19
Oakland teachers go on strike, demand pay raises -- Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday, part of an ongoing national wave of discontent by educators over classroom conditions, pay and other issues. Recent walkouts have taken place in West Virginia, Los Angeles and Denver. Jocelyn Gecker and Olga R. Rodriguez Associated Press Ali Tadayon, Jon Kawamoto, Joseph Geha, Annie Sciacca and Angela Ruggiero in the East Bay Times Ashley McBride in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/21/19
2020 Democrats Embrace Race-Conscious Policies, Including Reparations -- Last week, Senator Kamala Harris of California agreed with a radio host’s recent suggestion that government reparations for black Americans were necessary to address the legacies of slavery and discrimination. Ms. Harris later affirmed that support in a statement to The Times. Astead W. Herndon in the New York Times$ -- 2/21/19
California Democrats to Congress: Don’t bulldoze our privacy law -- Congressional efforts to pass a national data privacy law could face a major obstacle: California's powerful bloc of House Democrats. Cristiano Lima and John Hendel Politico -- 2/21/19
Facebook decided which users are interested in Nazis — and let advertisers target them directly -- Facebook makes money by charging advertisers to reach just the right audience for their message — even when that audience is made up of people interested in the perpetrators of the Holocaust or explicitly neo-Nazi music. Sam Dean in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/21/19
Embattled California DMV gets its third director in just 32 days -- The California Department of Motor Vehicles has gone through two directors in just over a month. The latest leadership shake-up came on Jan. 30, when acting director Kathleen Webb replaced acting director Bill Davidson, who had replaced permanent director Jean Shiomoto on Dec. 31, 2018. Bryan Anderson in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 2/21/19
You kill it, you grill it? New California bill would let drivers legally eat roadkill -- You’re driving down the road at night when, out of nowhere, a deer jumps in front of your car. It doesn’t survive. It’d be a shame to let all that meat go to waste, right? That’s the thinking behind Senate Bill 395, sponsored by Sen. Bob J. Archuleta, D-Montebello. Andrew Sheeler in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 2/21/19
Vallejo officer in Willie McCoy shooting killed another man in 2018 -- A Vallejo police officer involved in the Feb. 9 fatal shooting of Willie McCoy also shot and killed another man nearly a year earlier, according to public records. Gwendolyn Wu in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/21/19
Law center says 83 hate groups in California; US level highest in 2 decades -- The number of hate groups in the United States, particularly white nationalist groups, rose in 2018 for the fourth consecutive year, according to a report released Wednesday Feb. 20 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based civil rights watchdog group. Deepa Bharath in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/21/19
California 17-year-olds would get the vote under pair of state bills -- More high school students could be headed to the polls under a pair of bills that would clear the way for California 17-year-olds to vote. John Wildermuth in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/21/19
California Policy & Politics This Morning
Oakland diocese sat on secret of five priests’ abuse of kids for years -- When the Diocese of Oakland this week named 45 priests accused of sexually abusing children, the list mostly acknowledged clergymen already notorious through dozens of legal cases and news reports over the years. But five priests the diocese named Monday had never before been publicly linked to the child sex abuse scandal rocking the Roman Catholic church. John Woolfolk in the East Bay Times$ -- 2/21/19
Feds Battle With California Over Bullet Train Funding May Be Just Beginning -- A day after the Trump administration put California on notice that it would try to take back as much as $3.5 billion in federal funding for the state's high-speed rail project, just one thing is clear: The dispute is likely to take months to resolve and could well wind up in court. Dan Brekke, Scott Shafer KQED -- 2/21/19
Walters: It’s time to derail the train to nowhere -- Gov. Gavin Newsom came close this month to abandoning the state’s misbegotten bullet train project that’s already cost many billions of dollars and demonstrates no signs of becoming viable. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 2/21/19
Skelton: Newsom can thank Trump for saving him from his high-speed rail flub -- Gov. Gavin Newsom tripped on high-speed rail and fell flat. Then President Trump rode to the rescue and picked him up. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/21/19
Why cities, counties may turn to the state political watchdog to enforce local campaign finance issues -- A new law is modeled after an arrangement San Bernardino County has had with the state since 2013. Joe Nelson, Sandra Emerson in the Riverside Press Enterprise$ -- 2/21/19
Can progressives trust Xavier Becerra to police the police? -- In his two years on the job, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has crafted an image as a progressive warrior, suing the Trump Administration dozens of times and delivering the Democrats’ Spanish-language rebuttal to the President’s State of the Union speech. But there’s one major area where the Democrat isn’t allied with progressives: accountability for law enforcement. Laurel Rosenhall Calmatters -- 2/21/19
With the California GOP on Life-Support, Members Look to New Leadership -- What's left of the Republican Party in California is meeting in Sacramento this weekend to elect a new party chair, listen to speeches from former White House spokesman Sean Spicer and failed gubernatorial candidate John Cox — and party like it's 1994. Scott Shafer KQED -- 2/21/19
California could be first state to bar drug makers from paying competitors to delay release -- Legislation by Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) attempts to end a practice known as “pay for delay,” in which a drug company stalls the release of a generic drug that would cut into its profits by paying the competitor to slow research, marketing or the sale of lower-priced prescriptions. Melody Gutierrez in the in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/21/19
Bill would make clergy report abuse revealed in confessions -- A California lawmaker said Wednesday the state should require clergy members to report suspected child abuse or neglect even if they learn of it during confession. Kathleen Ronayne Associated Press -- 2/21/19
Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions
Yelp fired manager after he didn’t take calls, check email ’24/7/365′, lawsuit claims -- Mark Weathers’ path to termination at Yelp started with an email his boss sent him a few minutes before midnight on Good Friday. Weathers didn’t answer it, because he wasn’t checking his email a few minutes before midnight on Good Friday. Ethan Baron in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/21/19
Are LA's High-Rises Ready for the Big One? -- Like thousands of other buildings of all sizes across Southern California, these towers were built using a method known as welded steel moment-frame construction (WSMF), which was popular from the 1960s through the early 1990s. It was believed to be, as FEMA later noted, “earthquake-proof.” Then the Northridge quake hit. Jacob Margolis laist -- 2/21/19
Taxes, Fees, Rates, Tolls, Bonds
California Lawmakers Want To Tax Sugary Drinks And Regulate Soda Sizes -- How sodas are taxed, sold and marketed in California could change under a newly proposed package of bills. Five state lawmakers each introduced a bill on Wednesday aimed at reducing the amount of sugary drinks that are sold in California. The suite of bills is co-sponsored by the California medical and dental associations. Randol White Capital Public Radio Don Thompson Associated Press -- 2/21/19
San Diego restructuring utilities department after outcry over water bill errors -- San Diego announced Wednesday that it will significantly restructure management of its Public Utilities Department this April in response to public outcry last year over excessively high water bills that turned out to be inaccurate. David Garrick in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 2/21/19
Homeless
State Lawmakers Pursue One-Stop Shop for Homeless Funding -- A group of Democratic state lawmakers is pushing to consolidate the funding available for California cities to take on homelessness. They say California's current system of helping the homeless is a bureaucratic maze, and want $450 million in the state budget to create a one-stop shop for local governments to access funds for everything from rental assistance, to health services, to shelters. Guy Marzorati KQED -- 2/21/19
Housing
California lawmaker makes aggressive push against local development restrictions -- Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) has introduced new legislation that would block high-cost regions from imposing new prohibitions on housing construction or decreasing the number of homes allowed on certain pieces of land. Liam Dillon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/21/19
San Diego launches online tool to boost neighborhood feedback on housing projects -- San Diego is aiming to get more feedback on future housing and commercial projects by allowing residents to offer opinions and suggestions online, instead of attending community forums and local planning group meetings. David Garrick in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 2/21/19
Transit
How trains under the bay - not high-speed rail - may connect Sacramento and San Francisco -- For decades, train riders from Sacramento to San Francisco have been forced to get off in the East Bay and take a bus or BART into the city, adding time and hassle to what should ideally be a one-seat ride all the way. Tony Bizjak in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 2/21/19
Wildfire
Cannabis
Immigration, Border, Deportation
Central American migrants from Piedras Negras arrive in Tijuana -- A small group of Central American migrants arrived in Tijuana late Wednesday from Piedras Negras where riots erupted last week, according to Mexican federal police. The group is part of a larger caravan of 1,800 people who arrived last week at the U.S.-Mexico border across from Eagle Pass, Texas. Wendy Fry in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 2/21/19
Education
Oakland teachers to walk off the job Thursday -- Teachers in Oakland, California, will become the latest educators in the country to strike over pay and classroom conditions. Union officials representing 3,000 teachers confirmed a strike will start Thursday after last-minute negotiations with the school district fell apart Wednesday. Jocelyn Gecker Associated Press -- 2/21/19
Health
Guns
Environment
Climate activists call for San Diego Green New Deal, criticizing cities for not following through on climate-plan pledges -- Environmental activists blasted cities on Wednesday for not following through on pledges to rein in greenhouse gases — calling on elected officials, advocacy groups and business leaders to collaborate on a Green New Deal specifically for the San Diego region. Joshua Emerson Smith in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 2/21/19
California lawmakers propose phasing out plastic products that aren't recyclable -- With Californians already barred from getting plastic straws in many restaurants unless they request them and grocery stores not providing single-use plastic bags, state lawmakers are again proposing to ramp up efforts aimed at significantly reducing products that are not recyclable, including plastic cups, forks, spoons and packaging. Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/21/19
Sacramento Might Feel More Like Bakersfield By 2080 -- In six decades, you might wake up in Sacramento and feel like you're living in Bakersfield. And other cities such as Reno could be as hot as southern Utah. That will be the reality if emissions continue at their current rates, says Matt Fitzpatrick with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Ezra David Romero Capital Public Radio -- 2/21/19
Water
Feds announce initial Central Valley Project water allocation. Westlands isn’t pleased -- San Joaquin Valley farmers on the east side will be getting their full allocation of San Joaquin River water, while farmers on the west side will be getting only 35 percent to start, according to the 2019 initial water supply allocation released Wednesday by the federal Bureau of Reclamation. Lewis Griswold in the Fresno Bee$ -- 2/21/19
See all that water flowing into the ocean? Bill by Sen. Hertzberg aims to save it -- In stormy winters like this, residents of drought-prone Southern California fret about how much rainfall flows into the ocean, a reminder of the amounts of water the region is wasting instead of saving for good use. A new bill by a San Fernando Valley state senator aims to fix that. Kevin Modesti in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 2/21/19
Also . . .
Body cam seems to show driver fired at Napa deputy first in fatal shooting -- The Napa County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday released body-worn camera footage from a weekend police shooting that killed an armed motorist, and it appears to show that the motorist fired at the deputy first before she shot back and killed him. Gwendolyn Wu and Lauren Hernández in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/21/19
Eight girls make Boy Scouts history by joining East Bay’s Troop 224 -- A warm glow, and about 100 people, filled St. Perpetua Catholic Church in Lafayette on a recent evening as Troop 224 quietly made history during its winter Court of Honor, a traditional ceremony to recognize Boy Scouts who have earned new ranks or merit badges. Michael Cabanatuan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/21/19
‘Firefall’ is back, delighting Yosemite visitors with its lava-like flow -- It’s that time of the year, when nature blows your mind in the middle of Yosemite National Park. Patrick May in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/21/19
‘I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on earth’: A self-proclaimed white nationalist planned a mass terrorist attack, the government says -- A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist was arrested after federal investigators uncovered a cache of weapons and ammunition in his Maryland home that authorities say he stockpiled to launch a widespread domestic terrorist attack targeting politicians and journalists. Lynh Bui in the Washington Post$ -- 2/21/19
San Bernardino County to pay $1 million to LGBTQI inmates held in cells 23 hours a day, federal judge rules -- Last year, the ACLU and county Sheriff John McMahon agreed to settle a 2014 lawsuit over a so-called Alternative Lifestyle Tank at the West Valley Detention Center. Brian Whitehead in the San Bernardino Sun$ -- 2/21/19
More than 1,000 private entities have access to terrorism watch list, government says -- Muslims who have been put on the government’s secretive terrorism watch list are demanding to know more about the 1,441 private entities that have access. The number was revealed recently through litigation in Alexandria federal court, one of a half-dozen lawsuits related to the watch list filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Rachel Weiner in the Washington Post$ -- 2/21/19
POTUS 45
The Trump campaign loved NDAs. An ex-staffer wants to nullify them with a class action -- A former Trump campaign official filed a class-action claim on Wednesday seeking to nullify all nondisclosure agreements that the campaign had forced its staffers to sign, calling the documents “unenforceable” and “unconscionable.” Reis Thebault in the Washington Post$ -- 2/21/19
Beltway
‘Sustained and ongoing’ disinformation assault targets Dem presidential candidates -- A wide-ranging disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 candidates is already underway on social media, with signs that foreign state actors are driving at least some of the activity. Natasha Korecki Politico -- 2/21/19
Four Pinocchios: Stephen Miller’s claim that ‘thousand of Americans die year after year’ from illegal immigration -- But there is no evidence these claims are true. In fact, the available evidence suggests these claims are false. This is a good example about how a paucity of data allows political advocates to jump to conclusions. Glenn Kessler in the Washington Post$ -- 2/21/19
-- Wednesday Updates
Funding for West Coast SEALs and submarines at risk under Trump border plan, Democrats say -- California stands to be among the biggest losers of President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration if he succeeds in using his executive power to redirect funds from military construction projects to build a border wall. Emily Cadei in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 2/20/19
Top California Republican Senate finisher enters 2020 House race against Rouda -- California’s top GOP vote-getter from last year’s U.S. Senate primary election will try to unseat freshman Democratic Rep. Harley Rouda in the 2020 election, becoming the first Republican to formally enter what’s likely to be a competitive and expensive contest. James Bradley, a Laguna Niguel businessman, declared candidacy this month for the 48th Congressional District. Jordan Graham in the Orange County Register -- 2/20/19
Soured Pension Investments Spark Lawsuit Against Ex-Newspaper Owners -- Back in 2012, when California’s Orange County Register was struggling in the aftermath of a pass through bankruptcy, former greeting card executive Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz, now a leading light of California’s cannabis industry, had a plan for reviving the newspaper. Peg Brickley in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 2/20/19
Butte Strong Hires New Design Firm To Begin Rebuilding Paradise After Camp Fire -- Three months after the Camp Fire burned most of Paradise to the ground, baby steps are being taken to remake the town, including the hiring of a group to ask residents the best way to rebuild. Bob Moffitt Capital Public Radio -- 2/20/19
California wastes most of its rainwater, which simply goes down the drain -- In what has become a source of much concern in a state prone to droughts and water shortages, the vast majority of rainwater in urban areas flows into storm drains and is eventually lost to the Pacific Ocean. Hannah Fry and Alejandra Reyes-Velarde in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/20/19
California’s challenge to Trump’s border wall more likely to win on narrow grounds -- When a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s plan to build a border wall goes before a federal judge in San Francisco, California and 15 other states will argue that the administration’s decision to bypass Congress violates the U.S. Constitution. Maura Dolan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/20/19
Trump prevails as Mexican officials stop caravan at Texas border and ship migrants to other cities -- Last week, a caravan of 1,800 Central American migrants arrived in this isolated Mexican border city, where police ushered them into a makeshift government shelter at a shuttered factory surrounded by chain-link fence. Molly Hennessy-Fiske in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/20/19
Berkeley: Is Amazon too big to boycott? -- Berkeley’s efforts to distance itself from Immigration and Customs Enforcement may have run into a problem: Some tech giants may be too big to boycott. Leonardo Castañeda in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/20/19
Kensington: New records show more cops used confidential database to gather personal information on police board member -- In what a privacy expert called an “extremely egregious” example of police abusing their authority, Kensington officers accessed a highly confidential state law-enforcement database at least nine times to gather information on a now former elected official who was critical of their department. Thomas Peele in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/20/19
Lawsuit says San Diego 9-1-1 dispatchers blew off calls about teen who was shot -- A woman who suffered three gunshot wounds last spring that left her a quadriplegic is suing San Diego for gross negligence, contending that police dispatchers failed to take seriously multiple 9-1-1 calls from her mother. David Garrick in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 2/20/19
Lawsuit targets Becerra over police secrecy -- State Attorney General. Xavier Becerra, who has filed 40-plus lawsuits against the Trump Administration, has been a darling of many California Democrats. Now he finds himself in a court fight against some of his admirers. Chuck McFadden Capitol Weekly -- 2/20/19
Survey says half of Bay Area residents want to leave California -- Chicago-based public relations firm Edelman released its annual California Trust Barometer, which surveyed 1,500 California residents (including 500 from the Bay Area) about attitudes on technology, the economy, and the state of the state. Adam Brinklow Curbed San Francisco -- 2/20/19
Fox: SoCal Key to Democratic Nomination? -- By moving its primary to March 3, California could become a major player in determining the Democratic presidential nominee. At least, California U.S. Senator Kamala Harris hopes so. Other Democratic candidates wishing to derail Harris’s plans should concentrate their efforts in Southern California. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 2/20/19