Updating . .   

‘Home school charters’ let families use state dollars to buy Disneyland tickets, horseback riding lessons and more --In California, there’s a way parents can use money from the government to buy multi-day Disneyland Park Hopper passes, San Diego Zoo family memberships, tickets to Medieval Times and dolphin encounters at SeaWorld. Parents can enroll their children in a “home school charter.” Kristen Taketa in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/16/19

Costco shooting: Police say officer holding child was attacked and opened fire -- Police agencies in Los Angeles and Corona are investigating the circumstance of a shooting inside a Costco Friday night by an off-duty LAPD officer who said he was assaulted while holding his young child. The shooting — which sent scores of panicked shoppers running and prompted a huge police response — left one man dead and two of the man’s relatives in critical condition, authorities said. Dakota Smith, Tony Barboza and James Queally in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/16/19

H-1B visa: Congressman seeks to kill OPT work permit for foreign students -- An Arizona Congressman plans to introduce a bill to end a federal government program — widely used as a pathway to the H-1B visa — that lets foreign students and graduates of U.S. schools work in this country for up to three years. Ethan Baron in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/16/19

Bay Area churches are building housing in God’s backyard -- Congregations in the Bay Area and beyond are taking steps to build affordable housing on their properties to shelter some of the many local residents who can’t pay the region’s sky-high rents. Marisa Kendall in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/16/19

SF Mayor London Breed struggles to build consensus with supervisors on housing plan -- With stratospheric rents and home prices threatening to exile all but the most affluent from San Francisco, officials and advocacy groups agree on one thing: creating affordable housing for low- and middle-income residents is critical. Dominic Fracassa in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/16/19

Mexicans have a special route to the US job market. Trade wars could close it off -- For a quarter century, skilled Mexican citizens have been able to get three-year work permits under a provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement. But President Trump recently threatened to rip up that pact in negotiations with Mexico over border security. Melia Russell in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/16/19

UC vs. UT: Why have spending and tuition grown so much faster at the University of California? -- Texas and California are natural rivals when it comes to everything from their culture and influence to their economies. But when it comes to the two states’ vaunted public university systems, the Lone Star State may have a better handle on a major concern in higher education over the last decade: costs and tuition. John Woolfolk in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/16/19

That $52,000 SUV wrecked by the Inglewood mayor? He used the city-owned vehicle 24/7, even though no law authorized it -- An Inglewood-owned Chevy Tahoe involved in an accident at USC that badly injured a motorcycle officer was a $52,000 lease provided for unlimited use by Mayor James T. Butts Jr., according to public records and city officials. Jason Henry in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 6/16/19

What are Helium founders breathing? A cheaper, longer-range wireless network -- Imagine small, cheap, low-power sensors attached to all sorts of stuff people want to monitor: dog collars, rental scooters, irrigation devices, air-quality sensors, even water coolers. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/16/19

Landlords rip out escalators and walls to attract tenants like Google and Netflix -- Google’s January announcement that it would take over much of the failed Westside Pavilion shopping center, which is becoming offices, showed technology disrupting retail in the most concrete of ways. Roger Vincent in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/16/19

Tesla is denied relief from tariffs on Chinese parts used in Model 3 cars -- The Trump administration has refused to spare Tesla Inc. from tariffs of 25% levied on the China-made computer “brain” and large center screen used in Tesla’s Model 3 electric car. Associated Press via in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/16/19

Eric Swalwell says White House bid is aimed at mending ‘a broken promise’ -- East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell said Friday that he’s running for president to represent a generation the country has failed. John Wildermuth in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/16/19

Margaret Hunter’s guilty plea could complicate Rep. Duncan Hunter’s defense, experts say -- Legal experts say Margaret Hunter’s guilty plea to a single felony count of conspiracy erodes any spousal-privilege claim asserted by the congressman, who maintains he did nothing illegal. Morgan Cook, Jeff McDonald in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/16/19

South L.A. post office renamed in honor of the late soul singer Marvin Gaye -- “Marvin Gaye's music has transcended generations and gave the ’70s and ’80s a sound,'' said Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), who introduced legislation to name the post office at 3585 S. Vermont Ave., adjacent to USC, as the Marvin Gaye Post Office. The item is in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/16/19

Trump says supporters might ‘demand’ that he serve more than two terms as president -- President Trump on Sunday floated the possibility of staying in office longer than two terms, suggesting in a morning tweet that his supporters might “demand that I stay longer.” The president, who will kick off his reelection campaign on Tuesday with an event in Orlando, has previously joked about serving more than two terms, including at an event in April, when he told a crowd that he might remain in the Oval Office “at least for 10 or 14 years.” Felicia Sonmez in the Washington Post$ -- 6/16/19

Trump Designs On Revamped Air Force One May Not Take Off -- A House Democrat added a provision to the annual defense policy bill to put a stop to the president's patriotic design project. It will keep two new versions of the Boeing 747 aircraft within the projected spending target by banning certain paint jobs and other extras. Claudia Grisales NPR -- 6/16/19

 

California Policy & Politics This Morning  

Threats of mass shooting at synagogue lead to arrest of Concord man -- A 23-year-old Concord man in possession of Nazi writings and an illegal semiautomatic rifle is in jail after being arrested for online threats to commit a mass shooting at a synagogue, authorities said. The arrest of Ross Farca at his home followed a tip relayed by the FBI, according to a statement released Friday evening by the Concord Police Department. John King in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/16/19

Vallejo city attorney says media has it in for the city -- With her comments to the Libertarian magazine Reason, Quintana joins members of the city’s police and other officials who have pushed back against growing criticism of the police department over the death of Willie McCoy, 20, shot by six officers outside a local Taco Bell last February. John Glidden and Nate Gartrell in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/16/19

Walters: Big caveats in new state budget -- California’s political leaders, Democrats all, are touting a new state budget that expands spending on services for the state’s poor while building reserves. That’s true, as far as it goes. However, there are some very big caveats in the $213 billion 2019-20 budget, the first by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 6/16/19

Juneteenth event celebrates Redlands’ history, unity and the end of slavery -- With the theme “everyone matters in the community,” the second annual Juneteenth event was held again at a park named after Israel Beal, a former slave and early pioneer in the area who helped the city’s founders grade the streets and bring water to the area. Event co-chair Mario Saucedo said the celebration is about highlighting the lesser-known contributions of local communities including Asian Americans, Dutch and Portuguese. Jennifer Iyer in the Riverside Press Enterprise$ -- 6/16/19

Overdose and suicide among top causes of death for new moms in California, study finds -- Professor Sidra Goldman-Mellor of UC Merced and Professor Claire Margerison of Michigan State University found that drug overdoses were the second-leading cause of postpartum death and suicide was the seventh in California. Both constitute around 20% of all California postpartum deaths from 2010-2012. The first was obstetric-related, or physical, causes. Elizabeth Shwe in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/16/19

Update: Police say off-duty LAPD officer was only shooter at Corona Costco; fired gun after he was assaulted -- An off-duty Los Angeles police officer shot and fatally injured a man, and injured two of the man’s relatives, after the man assaulted the officer in a crowded Costco on Friday night, Corona police said Saturday. Brian Rokos and Nathaniel Percy in the San Bernardino Sun$ -- 6/16/19

For not recognizing Armenian Genocide, Valley reps push for bill to divest California pension funds from the Turkish government -- The bill would require the $360 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System to halt new investments in the Republic of Turkey and abandon existing ones if the U.S. government imposes sanctions on the country for failing to recognize the systematic killing of about 1.5 million Armenians starting in 1915, known as the Armenian Genocide. Ariella Plachta in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 6/16/19

Education 

Cal trails Stanford as most affordable university in the Bay Area -- Students who graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree had the lowest debt burden in the Bay Area and the fourth lowest in California. The average Stanford student’s total debt of almost $13,700 was less than several public universities that have far lower tuition fees. Leonardo Castañeda in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/16/19

Actor Martin Sheen channels ‘West Wing’ president Josiah Bartlet in Santa Clara graduation speech -- Sheen captivated the class and their family members with a whirlwind address that challenged the stadium’s closed captioning to keep up. In just under 15 minutes, he read poetry from Rabindranath Tagore and Emma Lazarus, endorsed a unionization drive by Santa Clara University’s adjunct faculty and lecturers, recounted an Irish story about Saint Peter at the gates of heaven and quoted Robert F. Kennedy and Josiah Bartlet, the fictional president Sheen played on “The West Wing.” Nico Savidge in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/16/19

Madeleine Albright derides nationalism during keynote speech at UC San Diego commencement -- UC San Diego’s commencement ceremony took on a political tone Saturday as former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright derided the forces of nationalism in a keynote address that clearly referred to policies of the Trump administration. Gary Robbins in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/16/19

Also . . . 

LGBTQ pride flag is stolen from O.C. fairgrounds in Costa Mesa -- Three days after it was first hoisted, the LGBTQ rainbow flag flown at the Orange County Fair & Event Center was stolen. The theft occurred Tuesday and was reported to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, according to a statement issued by the fairgrounds this week. Lilly Nguyen in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/16/19

O.J. Simpson’s first tweet: A video of him saying, ‘I got a little getting even to do’ -- The video starts with a shot of O.J. Simpson’s open-mouthed grin. As he wanders through a yard, the camera trained a few inches from his face, Simpson begins his narration. “Hey, Twitter world,” the former football star says, “this is yours truly.” Marisa Gerber in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/16/19

POTUS 45  

Trump slams NYT report on U.S. cyber attacks against Russia -- President Donald Trump lashed out at The New York Times on Saturday for a report that the United States has been increasing its cyber intrusions into Russia, escalating tensions between the two countries. Matthew Choi Politico -- 6/16/19

Beltway 

GOP in disarray as budget impasse threatens shutdown, deep cuts — and default -- Senate Republicans and the Trump administration are struggling to reach an agreement on a path forward on critical budget and spending issues, threatening not only another government shutdown and deep spending cuts but a federal default that could hit the economy hard. Erica Werner and Seung Min Kim in the Washington Post$ -- 6/16/19

Internal Emails Made Public Show Census Bureau Official Communicated With GOP on Citizenship Question -- The Trump administration left behind a long paper trail as it pushed to get a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Hansi Lo Wang KQED -- 6/16/19

 

-- Saturday Updates 

California idea to study phasing out gas-powered cars wins new life -- California is on the verge of spending $1.5 million to study what it would take to “significantly reduce” emissions from vehicles — including phasing out new gasoline-powered cars — after a San Francisco legislator used a budget maneuver to bring the idea back from the dead. Dustin Gardiner in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/15/19

UCLA failed to warn the public about gynecologist accused of sexual battery -- In June 2017, a married mother of four experiencing severe pelvic pain went to see a UCLA gynecologist. Dr. James Mason Heaps, she alleged, improperly touched her genitals, fondled her breast and buttock and made sexual remarks during the exam. She reported the conduct to UCLA in December of that year. Teresa Watanabe and Jaclyn Cosgrove in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/15/19

Lopez: Garcetti is trying to face the challenge of homelessness, but he's falling short -- One afternoon last week, on my way to watch the mayor tackle the humanitarian crisis of our time, I passed a dazed, barefoot man less than a block from City Hall. The temperature was in the mid-90s, the sidewalk was a skillet, and I wondered how much longer this poor soul would survive. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/15/19

Sacramento County’s safety net is failing Medi-Cal and uninsured patients, report says -- Sacramento County has “historically lagged” in providing health care services for its Medi-Cal recipients and its poor and uninsured populations, according to a new report by California Health Access. Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/15/19

SFO Airline Catering Workers Vote 'Yes' to Authorize Strike -- Representatives for Unite Here Local 2, the hotel and restaurant workers’ union of San Francisco and San Mateo counties, announced Saturday morning that 99 percent of their members voted in favor of authorizing a walkout. The union represents nearly 1,600 members who work for Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet. The two contractors provide food and beverages to several airlines. Ted Goldberg KQED -- 6/15/19

Politics Report: A New Tax Is on the Table -- The San Diego Housing Commission is looking to combat the region’s housing crisis by taxing owners of vacant apartments. At a Friday meeting of the agency’s board of directors, Stefanie Benvenuto, the board’s chairwoman, asked staff to study a potential vacancy tax. Andrew Keatts and Scott Lewis Voiceofsandiego.org -- 6/15/19

Kamala Harris would lean on presidential power, not Congress, for big plans -- Kamala Harris has unveiled an ambitious set of policies as part of her presidential campaign that have a common theme: going it alone. The California senator is proposing action on long-held Democratic values — legalizing undocumented immigrants, combatting gun violence and ensuring women are paid the same as men for equal work. Tal Kopan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/15/19

Kamala Harris drops in the polls as Democratic rivals grab the spotlight -- Sen. Kamala Harris started her presidential campaign with a bang, filling the streets of downtown Oakland with 20,000 fans and commanding national attention. But in the almost five months since, Harris’ poll numbers have fallen and the media spotlight shifted to other contenders. Casey Tolan in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/15/19

Willie Brown: Of course Trump would consider using foreign-supplied dirt. Who wouldn’t? -- For once, President Trump finds himself guilty of telling the truth. Willie Brown in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/15/19

Rallies aimed at impeaching Trump being held around Southern California today -- More than 140 rallies were planned throughout the country, with at least 16 of those planned for Southern California. Counter-protests in support of the president were also scheduled. Hayley Munguia in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 6/15/19

Answers to an SAT subject exam were leaked from overseas, watchdog group says -- Answers to a recent SAT college admissions exam were circulating on the internet for more than half a day before the test was administered, according to a watchdog group that received a copy. Sawsan Morrar in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/15/19

Raul Ruiz, journalist and activist for the Chicano movement in L.A., dies at 78 -- When Raul Ruiz took to the podium last year at Self-Help Graphics for a history symposium, many in the packed house were at first perplexed. The longtime reporter, activist, and professor was there to talk about his role in the Chicano moratorium, the 1970 antiwar march in East Los Angeles that ended with law enforcement indiscriminately assaulting protesters and killing former Los Angeles Times columnist Ruben Salazar. Gustavo Arellano in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/15/19

Federal election official accused of undermining his own agency -- Brian Newby, the executive director of the Election Assistance Commission, has blocked important work on election security, micromanaged employees’ interactions with partners outside the agency and routinely ignored staff questions, according to former election officials, former federal employees and others who regularly work with the agency. Eric Geller Politico -- 6/15/19

Trump said it’s OK to take campaign dirt from foreign powers. Is it legal? -- After three years of scandal over Russia’s interference in America’s 2016 election, President Trump drew a storm of criticism for saying he would not tell the FBI if a foreign country offered him dirt on an opponent. Melissa Gomez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/15/19

Trump campaign zeroes in on a new threat: Elizabeth Warren -- The president's team is about to go after a candidate he had left for dead. Alex Isenstadt Politico -- 6/15/19