Updating . .
State insurance commissioner accepted contributions and intervened in cases affecting donor, records show -- California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara intervened in at least four proceedings involving a company with ties to insurance executives and their spouses who donated tens of thousands of dollars to his re-election campaign, records show. Jeff McDonald in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 7/20/19
Targeting Bay Area gridlock, groups floating $100 billion tax measure -- From BART trains packed to capacity during the commute to freeways that jam well before dawn, the strain on the Bay Area’s transportation backbone is intensifying. Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/20/19
Bay Area chefs confront climate change, environmental impact -- Set on the first-floor of Salesforce Tower, Boutique Crenn will be a cafe and bakery, but the promise of zero waste means guests will need to bring their own coffee tumblers if they plan to take a drink off the premises, walk off with a croissant in hand instead of a paper bag and remember a tote bag if they want to bring a bunch of treats to co-workers. Janelle Bitker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/20/19
Bay Area unemployment rates stayed near rock bottom in June -- Bay Area counties posted eight of the 10 lowest unemployment rates in California in June, as employers continued to add jobs in most sectors except education, according to Employment Development Department reports issued Friday. Bay Area unemployment rates rose from May in most counties, but that was in part because schools shut down, Last month’s rates were still lower than June 2018. Kathleen Pender in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/20/19
A Walgreens in Bayview could become a pot store, and concerns grow -- Hardly anything remains on the shelves of the Walgreens in the Bayview Plaza shopping center. It’s closing Monday after 30 years, its tenure as old as the complex itself. A Seattle cannabis company wants to open a store in the location, and if it does, it will be the first cannabis retailer in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. Shwanika Narayan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/20/19
California leads the nation in naturalized citizens -- In 2017 in California, nearly twice as many people became naturalized citizens than in the state with the second most, New York. Of the more than 700,000 people that were naturalized that year, the median time spent as a lawful permanent resident was eight years. Kurt Snibbe in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/20/19
California Policy & Politics This Morning
‘Go back to your country’ and anti-Mexican epithets preceded tourist-bus driver’s violent attack on S.F. man: lawsuit -- The driver of an open-top sightseeing bus who was asked to make way for a motorist instead responded with racist abuse then got out of the coach and attacked the other driver, a lawsuit filed this week claims. Police arrested the bus driver on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs and possession of methamphetamine. Ethan Baron in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/20/19
Could Democrats own Orange County? This 2020 race is key -- For Democrat Josh Newman, reclaiming the Orange County state Senate seat he lost in a 2018 recall is a matter of simple justice. But for California Democratic leaders, it’s a chance to show that the party’s inroads into the state’s GOP heart last year were anything but a one-time fluke. John Wildermuth in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/20/19
Bankruptcy Watchdog Takes Aim at PG&E CEO’s Pay Package -- A federal bankruptcy watchdog is objecting to California utility PG&E Corp. ’s request for approval of a $3 million payment to new Chief Executive William Johnson, according to a court document. Soma Biswas in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 7/20/19
California utility customers sue over wildfire law -- Two Pacific Gas & Electric customers want the federal judge overseeing the company’s bankruptcy to strike down a new California law that Gov. Gavin Newsom has championed as a way of shoring up the state’s major electric utilities in the face of disastrous wildfires. Andrew Oxford Associated Press David Washburn KPBS -- 7/20/19
California must repay national mortgage settlement cash used to balance state budget -- Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration said Friday it would begin work on transferring $331 million back into a special fund designed to help California homeowners hit hard by the recession-era mortgage crisis, money that the courts have ruled was wrongly used to help balance the state budget. John Myers in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/20/19
Hunter appeals failed motion to dismiss charges to 9th Circuit -- A lawyer for Rep. Duncan D. Hunter filed notice on Friday that the Republican congressman from Alpine is appealing a judge’s ruling last week refusing to dismiss the criminal case against him. Jeff McDonald in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 7/20/19
Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s son was hired to be a deputy seven months after his father took office -- When Alex Villanueva appeared onstage in December to be sworn in as Los Angeles County sheriff, his son was standing nearby cheering him on. Now, 33-year-old Johannes Jared Villanueva is working for the department as a deputy sheriff trainee, on track to graduate from the academy in November. Maya Lau in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/20/19
Rialto police lack even the most basic state training requirements, audit finds -- A majority of Rialto police officers have not met even basic training requirements required by the state, according to an audit of the department’s training files. The audit, conducted in May by the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), scrutinized 95 officer training files, Rialto police Capt. Anthony Vega said. Joe Nelson in the Riverside Press Enterprise$ -- 7/20/19
L.A. police ticketed drivers on streets with expired speed limits, lawsuit says -- Police officers in Los Angeles wrongly ticketed motorists on streets with expired speed limits, violating a law that bans the use of speed traps in California cities, according to a lawsuit filed this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/20/19
Family of 17-year-old girl killed by Fullerton police files claim against city -- The family of a 17-year-old girl shot and killed by Fullerton police after a traffic stop in Anaheim earlier this month has filed a legal claim against the city. Alex Wigglesworth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/20/19
Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions
WGA’s fight with agents enters Act 2, but there’s no end in sight -- Like many of his peers, writer Rasheed Newson, a co-executive producer on the Showtime drama “The Chi,” was supportive of his union’s efforts to rein in some of the aggressive practices of talent agencies. Wendy Lee in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/20/19
Deputy union accuses O.C. Sheriff’s Department of disciplining employees solely for invoking 5th Amendment right -- Orange County Sheriff’s Department leaders have threatened to discipline deputies solely for invoking their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination, according to a federal lawsuit filed Friday seeking to halt the practice. Sean Emery and Tony Saavedra in the Orange County Register -- 7/20/19
Bakersfield, once the butt of jokes, is booming. So are many other inland California cities -- For this pass-through city, long a favorite target for jokes from late-night comedians, the small stuff turns out not to be small at all. Scott Wilson in the Washington Post$ -- 7/20/19
This Banker Gets to Drink Wine All Day -- Rob McMillan started his career in banking just like many others have, in a drab room with a calculator. Now he spends his working days sipping wine, visiting vineyards and studying trends in alcohol consumption. Rachel Louise Ensign in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 7/20/19
SF’s SPCA is ending dog training, and dog owners and trainers are barking mad -- The trainers are mostly contractors, not employees. The SPCA went to them with job offers in January, in response to a 2018 ruling in the California Supreme Court — a decision known as Dynamex — that makes it harder for employers, including nonprofits, to claim that workers are independent contractors. Customers sign up for classes through the SPCA, rather than directly through the trainers, a key consideration in the new standard. Melia Russell in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/20/19
Oakland Police Commission flexes muscle in ruling to fire five police officers -- In a watershed decision, the Oakland Police Commission ruled this month that five officers involved in a controversial 2018 shooting should be fired, marking the first time the 2-year-old civilian body has wielded this authority. Megan Cassidy in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/20/19
State Farm to close Irvine offices, laying off 156 workers -- In a June 26 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification sent to the state Employment Development Department, Employee Relations Manager Beth Stuckey said the layoffs will take place Aug. 31 and are expected to be permanent. Kevin Smith in the Orange County Register -- 7/20/19
Google Settles Job Seekers’ Age-Bias Claims for $11 Million -- Google agreed to pay $11 million to end a lawsuit accusing the internet giant of discriminating against older job applicants, a deal that amounts to an average payout of more than $35,000 for 227 people who joined the class action. Robert Burnson Bloomberg -- 7/20/19
Korean-American software engineer claims discrimination by Intel managers of Indian descent -- Hoseong Ryu’s trouble at Intel started even before he began working there, he claimed in a lawsuit filed this week. Ryu, 45, applied in 2014 for a software engineering job at Intel, and was interviewed by a three-man panel, according to his lawsuit filed in Northern California U.S. District Court. Ethan Baron in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/20/19
Taxes, Fees, Rates, Tolls, Bonds
California tax collections soared last year, giving the state an extra $1 billion -- California brought in $1 billion more than projected in its last financial year, the state’s Department of Finance announced Friday. It’s a sign the state’s unusually long period of economic growth is still going. Sophia Bollag in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/20/19
Education
California’s online community college plans to open in fall to limited group -- Opening day for California’s first online community college is 10 weeks away, but that doesn’t mean the public will be able to enroll — at least not this year. Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/20/19
Cannabis
47 tons of illegal marijuana seized in Perris area, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department says -- Riverside County sheriff’s deputies swarmed the Perris area Thursday, July 18, and said they confiscated 47 tons of illegal marijuana and made 49 arrests. It was the second big pot bust in six weeks in Riverside County as Sheriff Chad Bianco has made the eradication of illegal grows a priority. Brian Rokos in the Riverside Press Enterprise$ -- 7/20/19
Environment
Chevron Says Attempt to Seal Off Well May Have Triggered Big Kern County Oil Spill -- Chevron says that its crews' efforts to seal off a damaged and abandoned well in a Kern County oil field are believed to have started a chain of events that led to the unintentional release of an estimated 855,000 gallons of oil and water over the last two months. Dan Brekke, Ted Goldberg KQED -- 7/20/19
POTUS 45
In Another About-Face, Trump Refuses to Condemn ‘Send Her Back’ Chant -- President Trump on Friday demonstrated the limited influence of allies or advisers who try to steer him away from pre-election racial and cultural fights. He walked back his disavowal of a racially loaded chant at a campaign rally less than 24 hours after making it. Annie Karni in the New York Times$ -- 7/20/19
Trump’s Electoral College Edge Could Grow in 2020, Rewarding Polarizing Campaign -- President Trump’s approval ratings are under water in national polls. His position for re-election, on the other hand, might not be quite so bleak. His advantage in the Electoral College, relative to the national popular vote, may be even larger than it was in 2016, according to an Upshot analysis of election results and polling data. Nate Cohn in the New York Times$ -- 7/20/19
Beltway
Biden’s son Hunter makes his 1st 2020 campaign appearance -- Joe Biden’s son Hunter made his 2020 presidential campaign trail debut with his father Friday, two weeks after the former vice president praised him for battling through “tough times,” including years of drug and alcohol abuse. Thomas Beaumont and Kathleen Ronayne Associated Press -- 7/20/19
-- Friday Updates
White racial resentment is a winning Republican strategy, this UC Davis professor says -- If the latest back-and-forth between President Donald Trump and the so-called “Squad” — Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — tells us anything, it’s that this is just the beginning of a long, nasty 2020 election cycle. Andrew Sheeler in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/19/19
A whole generation of migrant kids is languishing at the U.S.-Mexico border -- For the two dozen migrant children living inside a small church on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, most days go like this: Breakfast at 8 a.m., dinner at 6 p.m., and hours of nothing in between. There is no school, and except for a handful of worn Bibles, there are no books. Dangers abound in the surrounding hills, so most haven’t left the razor-wire-ringed compound in weeks or even months. Kate Linthicum in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/19/19
LAPD informant infiltrated left-wing activists during Trump protests, records show -- The Los Angeles Police Department ordered a confidential informant to monitor and record meetings held by a political group that staged protests against President Trump in 2017, a move that has drawn concern and consternation from civil rights advocates. James Queally in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/19/19
Kamala Harris isn’t ‘electable’? It could be code for not being a white man -- Sen. Kamala Harris’ supporters were thrilled by a poll out this week showing she’s in a virtual dead heat with former Vice President Joe Biden in California, but the Quinnipiac University survey also contained a more troubling message for Harris. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/19/19
Trump Win on Health Plans Advances Effort to Undo Obamacare -- The Trump administration can expand the sale of short-term health insurance policies that don’t meet the standards of the Affordable Care Act, a federal judge ruled, advancing the government’s efforts to undo Obamacare. Andrew M Harris and John Tozzi Bloomberg -- 7/19/19
Oregon vowed not to become California — and passed sweeping housing crisis legislation -- When Oregon’s political leaders debated solutions to a housing crisis that was forcing renters from their homes and sending prices through the roof, they had a central goal in mind: avoid the fate of their neighbor to the south. Liam Dillon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/19/19
California payrolls surged in June, but the labor force shrank -- California hiring surged in June, powered by especially strong growth in residential and commercial building as mortgage rates continue to drop. Margot Roosevelt in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/19/19
Unemployment in Sacramento region, California ticks up in latest jobs report -- The greater Sacramento area’s economic expansion cooled off slightly this past month, as the regional unemployment rate climbed and job growth slowed down. Jaimie Ding in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/19/19
‘No confidence’: State adviser slammed Sac City Unified officials in fiscal crisis, emails show -- An independent fiscal adviser blasted the Sacramento City Unified School District this spring while it was calculating huge cuts to jobs and programs, saying he had “no confidence” in its business staff or their data. Sawsan Morrar in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/19/19
Why a school in one of Sacramento’s wealthiest neighborhoods is failing rapidly -- Bret Harte Elementary School is located in one of Sacramento’s more prosperous neighborhoods, Curtis Park. Homes with gardener-tended lawns and budding hydrangea bushes line the street across from the school. Range Rovers and BMWs sit on some of the driveways. Sawsan Morrar and Phillip Reese in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/19/19
With early childhood education on CA’s agenda, preschool teachers ask why ‘cashiers at McDonalds’ get better pay -- Gov. Gavin Newsom has ambitious plans to improve California's early childhood education, but experts say he's forgetting a key: preschool teacher salaries. Ricardo Cano Calmatters -- 7/19/19
Online video of apparent sex act in Santa Ana patrol car spurs investigation -- Santa Ana police launched an internal investigation after a video of what appears to be a sex act being performed inside a patrol car surfaced online, the department said Friday. Hannah Fry in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/19/19
Two riots in two days at California prison involve more than 200 inmates -- Thursday morning’s riot was the second in two days at Pleasant Valley State Prison, where 182 inmates rioted at noon Wednesday, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The two riots, which were in different facilities at the prison, were unrelated, said Lt. Jose Benavides, a corrections department spokesman. Wes Venteicher in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/19/19
Why are so many public agencies banning Roundup? -- The East Bay Regional Park District’s unanimous decision this week to stop using the weedkiller Roundup puts the nation’s largest regional park system among a growing list of public agencies shunning the widely used herbicide over concerns it may cause cancer. John Woolfolk in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/19/19
Trump administration backs off threat to audit California wildfire fighting agreement -- A growing dispute between the Trump administration and California firefighting agencies over millions of dollars in back pay has ended with both sides agreeing to maintain an existing cooperation agreement, according to officials. Joseph Serna in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/19/19
Prepare to be perplexed: New diverging diamond interchanges coming to California -- A new kind of freeway interchange is coming to California — possibly to Berkeley, in time — and it’s likely to make drivers scratch their heads in confusion. It’s called a diverging diamond. Michael Cabanatuan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/19/19
Images atop Salesforce Tower changing soon — and could feature a blurry you -- If you gaze at Salesforce Tower on a clear night — and really, how can you avoid it — you may wonder how Salesforce decides what electronic image to display on the tower’s top each evening. The answer may surprise you: No one at Salesforce has any sway. Melia Russell in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/19/19
In small win for the city, lawsuit over Navigation Center returned to SF -- A Sacramento Superior Court Judge declined a bid by opponents of the Embarcadero Navigation Center to stop the construction of the homeless shelter, and said the matter should instead be heard in San Francisco Superior Court. Trisha Thadani in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/19/19
Fox: RATS! -- It’s hard to believe in modern day California multiple stories of rats are making news. From the 15-pound rates in the Delta, to the rats inhabiting downtown Los Angeles—one expert told a Los Angeles news radio station there probably exist in the city the same number of rats as the human population, in other words in the millions–these rodents are getting attention. The rats’ impact could be enough to change government policy on dealing with the homeless. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 7/19/19