Updating . .
Fentanyl rising as killer in San Francisco — 57 dead in a year -- Fentanyl, the synthetic painkiller that is up to 100 times more potent than morphine and has ravaged drug users on the East Coast, appears now to be fully embedded on San Francisco’s streets, surpassing prescription pills and heroin as the leading cause of opioid overdose deaths in the city. Erin Allday in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/23/19
Treat workers as employees? Uber, Lyft and others are scrambling for a compromise -- Faced with a looming threat to their way of doing business, Uber, Lyft and other major on-demand companies are trying something they’ve historically been reluctant to do: seeking compromise. Johana Bhuiyan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/23/19
Nipsey Hussle’s death unified Crips and Bloods in grief. Now, peace talks carry on his call -- The men arrived in twos and threes, Crips and Bloods, young and middle-aged, gathering around a picnic table in a Compton park to confront their sworn enemies. After two hours of negotiations on a chilly, overcast Saturday in April, they came to an agreement — not a truce, exactly, but a tentative cease-fire. Nicole Santa Cruz and Cindy Chang in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/23/19
Trump keeps the threat of ICE raids and restates his demands. It’s a familiar tactic -- “I’m tired. I’m done,” said Carmen, an undocumented 17-year-old living in Los Angeles. “What else is he gonna tweet? Tomorrow is he gonna say, ‘Just kidding, we’re starting the raids again’?” Eli Stokols, Jennifer Haberkorn and Matt Hamilton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/23/19
Dehesa School District profited by cultivating charter schools -- The duty to watchdog multiple charter schools involved in a recent alleged charter school scam lay on the shoulders of Dehesa School District, a tiny district that consists of a single elementary school with 138 students in the hills of east San Diego County. Kristen Taketa in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/23/19
PG&E fire-safety shutdowns: ‘We’re all freaking out about it’ -- In a large office overlooking the San Francisco Bay Bridge, PG&E’s wildfire-safety analysts keep watch 24/7, monitoring streams of images and data from satellites, weather stations, forest cameras and emergency responders. Ethan Baron in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/23/19
As tech takes over city, SF Chamber of Commerce seeks to adapt -- Dusting figures in a wax museum isn’t a typical starting job for business leaders. But that was how Rodney Fong, the new CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, spent his early years. Melia Russell in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/23/19
Kaiser’s partnership deal for Warriors arena plaza could hit $295 million -- Kaiser Permanente isn’t saying how much it’s paying the Golden State Warriors to call the area around the team’s new San Francisco arena Thrive City for the next 20 years — but according to an internal document obtained by The Chronicle, the total for the naming rights and other costs could hit $295 million. Phil Matier in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/23/19
California’s high court walks high wire on initiatives, 2 ex-justices say -- California voters will decide next year whether to keep requiring cash bail for release from jail before trial. Voters may also decide whether to ease the state’s restriction on local rent control and whether to impose a five-year limit on alimony payments. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/23/19
Westside theater and restaurant patrons may have been exposed to measles, officials say -- Two people with measles who visited a Brentwood restaurant and a Westwood theater earlier this month may have exposed others to the contagious disease, Los Angeles County health officials warned this weekend. Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/23/19
Who is Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris? -- Harris is the biracial daughter of immigrants who met at the University of California, Berkeley, and were active in the civil rights movement. “I was raised by parents who spent full time marching and shouting about this thing called justice and fighting for equality,” she said at a recent forum on poverty in Washington, D.C. Emily Cadei in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/23/19
Border apprehensions: Looking to the past to understand the current spike in illegal crossings -- In May, the number of people caught by Border Patrol while crossing the southwest border reached a high not seen in 13 years, since March 2006. Kate Morrissey in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/23/19
California Policy & Politics This Morning
Anger and confusion after Trump orders — then delays — immigration crackdown -- “I think it is so cruel what he is doing,” said Angelica Salas, the executive director of the nonprofit Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, or CHIRLA. “It’s clear that he has no sense of how this impacts real human beings.” Matt Hamilton and Maya Lau in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/23/19
ICE raids: Time for immigration reform, San Jose, Oakland mayors say -- The mayors of San Jose and Oakland, responding Saturday to President Donald Trump’s decision to delay a planned set of ICE raids and deportations of illegal immigrants, called for comprehensive immigration reform and an end to what the two city leaders described as scare and terror tactics. George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/23/19
Trump delays immigration sweeps. Here’s why California police say they won’t take part -- Many California law enforcement agencies said they will not be cooperating with the Trump administration’s immigration sweeps. The sweeps were supposed to occur Sunday, but Trump announced Saturday he was postponing them for two weeks. Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/23/19
PG&E found problems with lines after cutting power to 22,000 during hot June windstorm -- The hot, dry winds that forced PG&E to cut power earlier this month to about 22,000 customers in high-risk fire areas damaged a handful of electric lines in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the utility reported. John Wildermuth in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Jeremy Siegel KQED -- 6/23/19
Willie Brown: Joe Biden goes south -- Former Vice President Joe Biden ignored my warning to stay out of sight for the first six months of the presidential primary campaign, and instead has stepped into the spotlight. And stepped in it as well. Willie Brown in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/23/19
Legendary Bay Area trainer banned after latest horse death at Santa Anita -- Legendary Bay Area trainer Jerry Hollendorfer was banned Saturday from Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields hours after he lost the fourth thoroughbred of the season at the famed Southern California racetrack. Elliott Almond and David DeBolt in the San Jose Mercury$ Art Wilson in the Riverside Press Enterprise$ -- 6/23/19
Dr. Bob Sears, critic of vaccine laws, again accused of improper vaccination exemptions -- A Southern California pediatrician who is a vocal critic of mandatory vaccine laws faces a new complaint from the state medical board saying he wrote invalid vaccination exemption letters for children. Maya Lau in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/23/19
Walters: Does spending more on schools pay off? -- As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first budget was being wrought, the perennial issue of spending on K-12 education was thrashed out once again. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 6/23/19
How a trip on magic mushrooms helped decriminalize psychedelic plants in a California city -- Carlos Plazola locked himself in a bedroom while his cousin stood guard. For five hours, he tripped on magic mushrooms, nibbling the fungi and sipping them in tea. He ingested 5 grams — a heady amount that connoisseurs call the “heroic dose.” Hailey Branson-Potts in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/23/19
‘Stephon Clark will never die’: Three-story-high mural honors his memory in Sacramento -- More than a year has passed since Stephon Clark’s death. The Clark family honored his memory by visiting the nearly-complete mural of him at Sacramento’s Wide Open Walls Festival exhibit in Meadowview on Thursday. Clark’s portrait now covers a wall three stories high and a block wide on Improv Alley, between Seventh and Eighth streets. Caroline Ghisolfi in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/23/19
Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions
Deliv switching California couriers to employees — ‘start of a wave’ -- San Jose resident Lynne Richardson drives her Volkswagen Jetta around the South Bay to pick up cupcakes, flowers, wine, electronics and clothes from stores and bring them to consumers via Deliv, a Menlo Park startup that works with stores to get goods to people the same day they buy them. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/23/19
'Centers of Insurrection': Central Valley Farmers Reckon With Climate Change -- On an average day on the Burroughs farm outside of Denair, about an hour’s drive southeast of Modesto, one might witness the surprising sight of cows wandering amidst the almond trees. Chickens might peck their way by. And most definitely there will be plenty of free-spirited birds and bees and insects flickering across the scene, not to mention flowers and grasses unbound on the ground, making for a thick undermat amidst the rows of trees. Mark Schapiro KQED -- 6/23/19
The Disrupters Meet the Disruption: How Tech Aims to Save Big Ag From Climate Change -- The disrupters of Silicon Valley and its tributaries have finally trained their GPS on the most fundamental of all human needs—food. In San Francisco recently, 1,300 venture capitalists, gene scientists, bio-tech visionaries and startup aspirants gathered to probe what they consider to be the nearly digitally virgin terrain of agriculture. It’s a terrain that’s being profoundly transformed by the biggest disrupter of all: climate change. Mark Schapiro KQED -- 6/23/19
Grocery strike rocked Southern California 16 years ago. It may happen again soon -- Early next week, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union in Southern and Central California plan to vote on whether to authorize another strike, this time by 46,000 unionized workers. Negotiations have stalled on a new contract with Albertsons — which now owns Vons and Pavilions — and Ralphs. James F. Peltz and Hailey Mensik in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/23/19
Silicon Valley foundation’s crypto assets plunged, but donations rose in 2018 -- The Silicon Valley Community Foundation saw the market value of its cryptocurrency holdings, which propelled it into one of the nation’s largest foundations in 2017, fall by $3.6 billion, or 82%, last year as prices collapsed, according to its newly released 2018 financial statements. Kathleen Pender in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/23/19
Riverside congressman’s bill could mean benefits for Vietnam veterans who were stationed offshore -- He couldn’t taste it. He couldn’t smell it. He couldn’t even see it. But when Riverside-area resident George Swift, a Vietnam veteran and President of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 47, saw Inland chapter members develop Parkinson’s Disease, cancers and more, he realized Agent Orange was around him during the Vietnam War — though he never stepped foot in the country. Matt Kristoffersen in the Riverside Press Enterprise$ -- 6/23/19
Homeless
BART’s end of the line surges with homeless as misery plays out each night -- As homelessness surges across the Bay Area, signs of abject poverty are becoming visible on transit systems — especially BART, where commuters mingle uneasily with transients seeking shelter on the trains. Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/23/19
Here’s the $600,000 plan to ease the homeless crisis in Redlands -- With a $600,000 state homeless grant likely landing in Redlands in July, the city is moving forward with plans to ease a shelter crisis declared in November. Jennifer Iyer in the Riverside Press Enterprise$ -- 6/23/19
Housing
Deals getting more and more complex as seller’s market ends -- Multiple offers to purchase the same house, many over the asking price, happen when we are in a strong seller’s market. Now that we are in a slight seller’s market, just on the tipping point to a balanced market, multiple offers are scarce. Today, you are more likely to be dealing with contingent offers if you’re buying or selling. Leslie Sargent Eskildsen in the Orange County Register -- 6/23/19
Lopez: Evictions loom for Chinatown residents who can’t find affordable housing -- They are just weeks away from being evicted or having to pay far higher rent, as are dozens of their other neighbors. In a region with an affordable housing crisis and armies of people living in vehicles, shanties and tent villages, the future looks alarming. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/23/19
Education
UC Santa Cruz removes historic bell deemed 'symbol of racism' from campus -- UC Santa Cruz removed a bell from campus Friday since a Native American group deemed it "a symbol of racism and dehumanization of their ancestors." Eric Ting in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/23/19
Immigration / Border
Japanese internment camp survivors protest Ft. Sill migrant detention center -- With the Trump administration planning to move 1,400 migrant children to this fortified Army post later this summer, a small group of Japanese American World War II internment camp survivors came to the gates Saturday to make their opposition known. Molly Hennessy-Fiske in the Los Angeles Times$ Ben Fenwick in the New York Times$ -- 6/23/19
‘There Is a Stench’: No Soap and Overcrowding in Detention Centers for Migrant Children -- A chaotic scene of sickness and filth is unfolding in an overcrowded border station in Clint, Tex., where hundreds of young people who have recently crossed the border are being held, according to lawyers who visited the facility this week. Some of the children have been there for nearly a month. Caitlin Dickerson in the New York Times$ -- 6/23/19
Report: Vast Majority of Asylum-Seeking Families in S.F. Immigration Court Attend All Hearings -- A new analysis of immigration court records show that the overwhelming majority -- close to 98 percent -- of asylum-seeking families in San Francisco’s immigration court attended every hearing, the highest rate in the country. For those with legal representation, almost 100 percent made it to court for every hearing. Tyche Hendricks KQED -- 6/23/19
Health
Treatment for psychosis—and other mental illness—differs drastically by county -- FitzGibbon and her husband, Taylor, rushed their 20-year-old son to a hospital in Sonoma County, where they live. An acquaintance told them about a promising program for young people experiencing early psychosis. But the family quickly discovered a problem: the program didn’t exist in their county. Jocelyn Wiener Calmatters -- 6/23/19
Also . . .
He’s the ‘DNA of R&B.’ Now Sacramento is naming city park after Robert Brookins -- Sacramento will name a park after the late Robert Brookins, a singer, songwriter, producer and former musical director and keyboardist for the band Earth, Wind & Fire, officials decided last Tuesday. Jaimie Ding in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/23/19
POTUS 45
'The only one that matters is me': Trump backs Bolton amid Iran tensions -- President Donald Trump on Saturday praised national security adviser John Bolton after the U.S. this week backed away from a potentially deadly confrontation with Iran. "Yeah, I do," Trump said when asked by reporters if he has confidence in Bolton, adding that as president, he ultimately makes the final decisions on defense and foreign policy. Christian Vasquez Politico -- 6/23/19
Beltway
Promising to cure cancer is easy politics. The science is much more difficult -- Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have promised to cure cancer while out on the campaign trail. Scientists say that will be easier said than done. Shefali Luthra in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/23/19