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Bay Area U.S. citizen says he was held for hours at SFO for no stated reason -- Thirty years ago, Mourad Ben Rached gave up his Tunisian citizenship to become American. Early this month, arriving at San Francisco International Airport after visiting family in Tunisia, he said, he was detained for more than three hours by U.S. Customs and Border Protection with no water or bathroom access. Ethan Baron in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/8/19

In Bay Area housing shortage, fees can hinder projects big and small -- Property manager and new developer Jeff Zell wanted to convert a rec room into two studios in a San Jose apartment building he owns. But a project he thought would take a few months and $75,000 has turned into a two-year, nearly $200,000 odyssey of frustration, fees and false starts. City charges almost killed the project, Zell said. Louis Hansen in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/8/19

USC considers deep cuts at social work school after revelations of gaping deficit -- USC’s social work school, the largest in the world and one of the oldest in the nation, might be forced to lay off nearly half its staff and eliminate the vast majority of its part-time teaching positions following the revelations of severe budget problems that began under a former dean. Harriet Ryan and Matt Hamilton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/8/19

Sacramento City Unified to lay off more than 170 staff members amid budget crisis -- District spokesman Alex Barrios on Wednesday said 178 certificated staff positions will be eliminated. About half of the staffers losing their jobs are teachers, according to David Fisher, president of the teachers union. Sawsan Morrar in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/8/19

Lori Loughlin feels wronged in college admissions scandal, looking to fight charges, source says -- Actress Lori Loughlin has lost acting gigs and been the subject of public wrath after being charged in the college admissions scandal. Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/8/19

Mercury Insurance must pay $27.5 million in fines, Calif. appeals court rules -- A state appeals court reinstated $27.5 million in state penalties against Mercury Insurance Co. on Tuesday for charging illegal broker fees in more than 180,000 transactions with auto insurance customers from 1999 to 2004. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/8/19

California fire official: ‘It’s no longer a fire season, we’re now calling it a fire year’ -- With the backdrop of last year’s destructive wave of record-breaking fires that swept through California, fire officials on Tuesday talked about preparing for the future. Bottom line: Now, they say, the threat of a big wildfire is a year-round concern instead of a seasonal one like in the past. Jonah Valdez in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/8/19

Rio Vista police officer body slams woman in confrontation after traffic stop, bodycam video shows -- Rio Vista police have released body camera footage from a traffic stop incident Sunday evening in which a woman was apparently body slammed, after cellphone video posted to social media earlier this week quickly gained viral attention. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/8/19

Nipsey Hussle had a plan to beat gentrification — in South L.A. and across the U.S. -- Hussle was part of an investment group that was planning to use a tax incentive carved out in a recent federal law to revive not only his neighborhood, but other forgotten, low-income communities in 11 cities, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Angel Jennings in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/8/19

School nurses on front line against anti-vaxxers, measles outbreaks -- There’s something missing in many schools that could help forestall an outbreak of diseases like measles and improve vaccination rates among children. A school nurse. But nearly half of California’s school districts don’t have an adequate number of school nurses on campus, a Sacramento Bee analysis of state data shows. And many districts that do have them often fail to employ enough. Michael Finch II in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/8/19

Uber and Lyft Drivers are Striking, Calling on Passengers to Boycott -- Ahead of Uber's initial public offering, drivers for Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing companies plan to strike, turning off the apps as they flex their collective muscles to say: What about us? Laurel Wamsley NPR -- 5/8/19

In Oakland, money intended to be used for this being used for that so lights stay on -- At a time when Oakland is trying to cure its pothole epidemic, the city is planning to use $2.9 million in state gas tax money to keep its streetlights on, then use what it saves of its own money to stave off cuts in parks and recreation. It’s a bit of a financial loop-de-loop, but money is money. Phil Matier in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/8/19

Orange County supervisors lean toward plan to add new JWA general aviation terminal while capping number of private jets -- The Orange County Board of Supervisors is trying to compromise on potential changes to general aviation infrastructure at John Wayne Airport by melding amenities attractive to owners of business jets with limited jet activity amenable to noise-sensitive neighbors while preserving storage capacity for smaller planes. Hillary Davis in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/8/19

Four years after California’s largest dam removal project, how are the fish doing? -- Four years ago, construction crews with huge jackhammers tore apart a 10-story concrete dam in the wooded canyons of the Carmel River, between the Big Sur hills and the beach front town of Carmel. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/8/19

Three women report possibly being drugged while drinking at Davis bars, police say -- Police said Monday they have received three reports in the past week from women who experienced symptoms indicating they may have been drugged while drinking at bars in downtown Davis. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/8/19

Camp Fire coroner: Inside the effort to identify victims of a historic disaster -- The 2018 Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history and became a massive body collection and identification operation. Positive identifications often came down to a single bone fragment or tissue sample. Lizzie Johnson in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/8/19

Fox: Kamala Harris, Teachers and the NAACP CA Chapters Revolt -- Attempting to connect certain dots in the political/policy world can be a shaky proposition, but I think the recent stand by three California chapters of the NAACP civil rights group could signal complications for Sen. Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign strategy. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 5/8/19

 

California Policy & Politics This Morning  

More parental leave, tax breaks for tampons and diapers backed by Newsom -- Californians could take an additional two weeks of paid leave to care for a new baby or sick family member and could buy diapers and menstrual products tax-free under the revised budget plan that Gov. Gavin Newsom will unveil this week. Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Marisa Lagos KQED Laurel Rosenhall Calmatters Sophia Bollag in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/8/19

Caltrans manager commuted from San Diego to Sacramento for 2 years. Taxpayers paid the bill -- The manager, who isn’t named in the audit, was reimbursed for about $30,000 in airfare and car rentals plus $12,000 for meals, lodging and other costs from 2016 through 2018, according to the audit. Wes Venteicher in the Sacramento Bee$ Lauryn Schroeder in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 5/8/19

Oakland considers banning facial-recognition technology for city departments -- Oakland is considering banning the use of facial recognition software by city departments, including police, a move that could make it one of the first cities in the country to issue a prohibition on the technology. Sarah Ravani in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/8/19

Walters: Newsom is shrinking Brown’s pet projects -- When Jerry Brown began his first governorship in 1975, he quickly set himself apart from his father, former Gov. Pat Brown. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 5/8/19

Deleted texts and ‘show stopper defects’: California tech official raced to launch Motor Voter -- The California government technology officials who developed an automatic voter registration program for the Department of Motor Vehicles last year raced to the finish line even though they acknowledged they should have slowed down. Bryan Anderson in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/8/19

San Francisco filmmaker Kevin Epps arrested on a murder charge in 2016 shooting -- Police arrested Epps, 51, after prosecutors brought criminal charges against him in the Oct. 24, 2016 fatal shooting of 45-year-old Marcus Polk that happened inside the home on the 100 block of Addison Street. Evan Sernoffsky in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/8/19

Ghost Ship trial: Prosecutors take aim at defense’s arson theory -- that he helped collect money for the warehouse’s music show the night of Dec. 2, 2016, when a fire ripped through the space and killed 36 people. During his examination, prosecutor Autrey James asked O’Keefe if he ever heard or saw evidence of anyone throwing a Molotov cocktail in the building, as defense attorney Tony Serra had previously suggested. Megan Cassidy in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/8/19

Ghost Ship Trial Witness Testifies About 'Explosive' Spread of Deadly Fire -- A man who volunteered as a greeter and oversaw donations the night of a 2016 electronic music party at an Oakland warehouse that caught fire, killing 36, testified Tuesday that the blaze spread quickly, forcing him and others to flee. Don Clyde KQED -- 5/8/19

Census offices are being cut across the country — and California is losing 24 -- The Sacramento region hosted four census offices the last time the decennial Census was conducted. For the 2020 Census, which will be conducted a little less than a year from now, it will have just one. Emily Cadei in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/8/19

L.A. County Sheriff plans to revive highway drug team that stopped Latino drivers on I-5 -- Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Tuesday that he will revive a drug team that was sharply criticized for disproportionately stopping Latino drivers on the 5 Freeway but said the unit would follow strict constitutional guidelines to prevent racial profiling. Ben Poston and Maya Lau in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/8/19

Bill aims to fix sex-offender list’s inequity toward gay men -- If a 19-year-old man is convicted of having sex with his 17-year-old boyfriend in California, he must register as a sex offender. But that may not be the case for a 24-year-old man who gets a 15-year-old girl pregnant — he can avoid that penalty if a judge decides it’s unnecessary. Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/8/19

How Ted Lieu became Trump’s top Twitter critic -- Rep. Ted Lieu didn’t come to Congress in 2015 intending to be a social media star or go viral for his questioning of witnesses in congressional hearings. In fact, the Southern California Democrat thought he could make a difference on cybersecurity and the environment. Then the 2016 election happened. Tal Kopan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/8/19

Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions  

Uber protest planned Wednesday — and drivers are hoping you’ll notice -- Discontent among Uber and Lyft drivers is boiling over against the backdrop of the companies’ Wall Street debuts. Uber is expected to go public on Friday in the biggest tech initial public offering since Facebook. Lyft went public last month. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/8/19

Valero Restarts Benicia Refinery, Further Easing Statewide Gas Price Spike -- Valero is restarting its Benicia refinery more than 40 days after a major malfunction and pollution release forced the energy giant to shut down the facility, contributing to the state's recent spike in fuel costs. Ted Goldberg KQED -- 5/8/19

Report: Tree-cutting error may have caused firefighter death -- A firefighter who was struck and killed by a falling tree during a California wildfire last year had finished a 32-hour shift two days earlier and may have misjudged which way the tree would fall when cut, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Park Service. Robert Jablon Associated Press -- 5/8/19

One Woman's Endless Wait for State-Subsidized Child Care -- Finding child care in California can be tough for everyone. It’s even more difficult for families living paycheck to paycheck — families who make too much for welfare, but not enough to pay for care comfortably. Many of those families apply to receive subsidized child care through the state. But the slots are limited and the wait can last for years. Katie Orr KQED -- 5/8/19

In San Francisco, cash isn’t dead as supervisors say stores must accept it -- The idea behind the ordinance was that banning cash transactions at stores could shut out low-income residents who don’t have access to a credit card or smartphone. Trisha Thadani in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/8/19

Taxes, Fees, Rates, Tolls, Bonds 

California governor wants to end tax on tampons, diapers -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, unveiled Tuesday what they call a “parents’ agenda,” including proposals to end the sales tax on tampons and diapers and to use revenue from legal marijuana sales to expand child care programs. Kathleen Ronayne Associated Press -- 5/8/19

L.A. school board votes to exempt garages from education tax -- Los Angeles school officials would like the discussion over a proposed property tax to be about benefits to students, but the debate Tuesday was over parking garages. Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/8/19

Transit  

Muni officials say railcar-linking issue on new fleet is bigger than they thought -- Between 25 and 30 train car couplers are damaged on the new Siemens cars — the red-and-silver vehicles that enthralled riders when the agency debuted them last year. Fifty-two of the vehicles have passed safety inspections, and each has two couplers to link cars together. That means nearly a third of the 104 couplers have some type of defect. Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/8/19

Housing  

Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Costa Mesa home sales tumble 27% to start 2019 -- Not only did CoreLogic stats show the lowest countywide sales count for any first three months of a year since the Great Recession, it was the third-slowest-selling first quarter in the real estate tracker’s database that dates to 1988. Jonathan Lansner in the Orange County Register -- 5/8/19

Education 

This Chinese billionaire’s ‘gift’ got his daughter into Stanford. She says it was ‘hard work’ -- A former Stanford University student whose parents paid $6.5 million to secure her admission to the prestigious school has not been charged with a crime in the college admissions scandal. Max Lu and Matthew Ormseth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/8/19

L.A. exec who paid $400,000 to label son a tennis recruit pleads guilty in college scam -- A Los Angeles executive who paid $400,000 to secure his son’s spot at Georgetown as a tennis recruit pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraud charges as part of a sweeping college admissions scandal that has ensnared dozens of wealthy parents and sent shock waves through some of the country’s most elite educational institutions. Hannah Fry in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/8/19

Oakland Unified offers critical view of charter schools to state task force -- Against the backdrop of greater scrutiny of charter school operations across California, officials at the Oakland Unified School District have drawn up a sweepingly critical portrait of the impact of charters on their district. Louis Freedberg and Theresa Harrington EdSource -- 5/8/19

Immigration / Border 

Appeals court: Trump can make asylum seekers wait in Mexico -- A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration can make asylum seekers wait in Mexico for immigration court hearings while the policy is challenged in court, handing the president a major victory, even if it proves only temporary. Brian Melley and Elliot Spagat Associated Press -- 5/8/19

Health 

Proposed tobacco ban sparks fiery debate in Beverly Hills -- A fiery debate is breaking out across Beverly Hills as people at tony hair salons, gas stations and stores weigh in on whether the city of the rich and famous should become the first in the U.S. to outlaw the sale of tobacco products everywhere except a few cigar lounges. John Rogers Associated Press -- 5/8/19

Environment 

Dead whale on Ocean Beach was hit by a ship -- A whale that washed up dead on Ocean Beach on Monday had several fractures to its skull and other injuries to indicate it was hit by a ship, officials for The Marine Mammal Center said. Rick Hurd in the San Jose Mercury$ $ -- 5/8/19

Plan to widen Hwy. 101 too risky for giant redwoods on North Coast, court tells Caltrans -- A controversial Caltrans plan to widen a stretch of Highway 101 through a popular state park on California’s North Coast and home to ancient stands of old-growth redwoods was blocked again by a federal judge last week who said the project would threaten the mighty trees. Darrell Smith in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/8/19

POTUS 45  

Decade in the Red: Trump Tax Figures Show Over $1 Billion in Business Losses --By the time his master-of-the-universe memoir “Trump: The Art of the Deal” hit bookstores in 1987, Donald J. Trump was already in deep financial distress, losing tens of millions of dollars on troubled business deals, according to previously unrevealed figures from his federal income tax returns. Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig in the New York Times$ -- 5/8/19

FBI chief: No evidence of illegal spying on Trump campaign -- FBI Director Chris Wray said Tuesday that he does not consider court-approved FBI surveillance to be “spying” and said he has no evidence the FBI illegally monitored President Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election. Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo Associated Press -- 5/8/19

 

-- Tuesday Updates 

Federal judge tells PG&E board to tour wildfire-ravaged Paradise -- U.S. District Judge William Alsup made the decision at a sentencing hearing he held for the utility regarding a violation of its probation arising from the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion. Alsup previously found the utility did not properly report a settlement it reached with Butte County regarding its involvement in a 2017 fire. J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/7/19

In Trump vs. California, the state is winning nearly all its environmental cases -- More than two years into the Trump presidency, California has embraced its role as chief antagonist — already suing the administration more times than Texas took President Obama to court during eight years in office. It’s having an effect. Anna M. Phillips in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/7/19

LAPD officers may have been exposed to highly infectious MRSA bacteria -- Several Los Angeles police officers at the department’s West Valley station in Reseda may have been exposed to MRSA, a type of staph bacteria that causes a highly contagious infection resistant to many antibiotics, officials said Tuesday. Hannah Fry in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/7/19

No more sales taxes on diapers and tampons under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget -- Embracing an idea advocates say will help struggling California women and families, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday proposed eliminating sales taxes on purchases of diapers and menstrual products — proposals that his predecessor rejected. John Myers in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/7/19

Gavin Newsom’s $209 billion budget calls for new taxes -- Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed new taxes and fees to fund health care subsidies, clean drinking water and tax credits for low-income families. But state revenue outpacing even his most optimistic predictions could present a challenge for him as he attempts to raise taxes. Sophia Bollag in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/7/19

San Francisco supervisors change tune on Big Tech: City is ‘not just a place to be mined’ -- A stern attitude toward the tech industry has emerged on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors — the most progressive in recent history — as some members look to tax an industry for problems they say it helped cause. Trisha Thadani in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/7/19

Knight: Cancer-stricken teacher charged for sub’s wages -- Now, a second-grade teacher at the school is on leave for at least the rest of the school year as she battles cancer. Parents were shocked when they discovered the school district is charging her for her own substitute. Heather Knight in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/7/19

A Little-Known Company Is Quietly Making Massive Water Deals -- In the past several years, Los Angeles-based Renewable Resources Group has helped sell 33,000 acres of land to California’s most powerful water agency, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Documents obtained by VOSD raise fresh questions about those deals. Now, Renewable may be working on another deal that could rearrange the distribution of water in California forever. Ry Rivard Voice of San Diego -- 5/7/19

California prison manager watched thousands of YouTube videos at work -- An administrator at the Valley State Prison in Chowchilla watched thousands of YouTube videos while on the clock, according to a new report from the California State Auditor. Andrew Sheeler in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/7/19

A war is brewing over lithium mining at the edge of Death Valley -- Recently, the Australia-based firm Battery Mineral Resources Ltd. asked the federal government for permission to drill four exploratory wells to see if the hot, salty brine beneath the valley floor contains economically viable concentrations of lithium. The soft, silvery-white metal is a key component of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and is crucial to the production of electric and hybrid vehicles. Louis Sahagun in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/7/19

Lazarus: A former corn-syrup lobbyist is drafting new federal dietary rules (seriously) -- The swamp isn’t just getting deeper. It’s being ladled out for supper. Federal dietary rules are required by law to be updated every five years. Under previous administrations, this task was performed mainly by nutritional experts focused on improving public health. David Lazarus in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/7/19