Trump says He Expects to Be Arrested on Tuesday, Calls for Protests

March 19, 2023 By Luc Cohen and Karen Freifeld 9 Comments

NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said he expects to be arrested on Tuesday as New York prosecutors consider charges over a hush money payment to a porn star, and called on his supporters to protest.

“Illegal leaks from a corrupt & highly political Manhattan district attorney’s office … indicate that, with no crime being able to be proven … the far & away leading Republican candidate & former president of the United States of America, will be arrested on Tuesday of next week,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

A spokesman for Trump said the former president had not been notified of any arrest. Trump provided no evidence of leaks from the district attorney’s office and did not discuss the possible charges in his post.

“Protest, take our nation back!” said Trump, whose supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat.

The probe comes as Trump seeks the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024.

No U.S. president – while in office or afterward – has faced criminal charges. Trump has said he will continue campaigning even if he is charged with a crime.

A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office has been investigating a $130,000 hush payment Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn actor Stormy Daniels, declined to comment.

Sources have said Bragg’s office has been presenting evidence to a grand jury about the payment, which came in the waning days of Trump’s 2016 campaign in exchange for Daniels’ silence about an affair she said she had with Trump a decade earlier.

Trump has denied the affair happened and called the investigation by Bragg, a Democrat, a witch hunt.

An additional witness is expected to appear before the grand jury on Monday, at the request of Trump’s lawyers, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

Trump’s statement that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday is based on news reports that Bragg’s office is going to be meeting with law enforcement to prepare for a possible indictment, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, on Saturday decried the investigation.

“Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump,” McCarthy said on Twitter.

‘RECKLESS’

McCarthy’s predecessor as speaker, Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi, who like McCarthy was present at the Capitol when hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the building, battling with police, denounced Trump’s call.

“The former president’s announcement this morning is reckless: doing so to keep himself in the news and to foment unrest among his supporters,” Pelosi said in a statement. “He cannot hide from his violations of the law, disrespect for our elections and incitements to violence.”

Trump’s former vice president Mike Pence told ABC News Trump’s possible indictment “just feels like a politically charged prosecution here.” Asked about Trump’s call for people to protest if he is indicted, Pence said he thinks protesters will understand “they need to do so peacefully and in a lawful manner.”

Bragg’s office earlier this month invited Trump to testify before the grand jury probing the payment, which legal experts said was a sign that an indictment was close. Trump declined the offer, the person familiar with the matter said.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal campaign finance violations tied to his arranging payments to Daniels and another woman in exchange for their silence about affairs they said they’d had with Trump, among other crimes. He has said Trump directed him to make the payments. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan did not charge Trump with a crime.

The probe is one of several legal woes Trump faces as he seeks the Republican nomination for the presidency.

Trump is also confronting a state-level criminal probe in Georgia over efforts to overturn the 2020 results in that state.

A special counsel named by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is currently investigating Trump’s handling of classified government documents after leaving office, as well as his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

Bragg’s office last year won the conviction of the Trump Organization on tax fraud charges. But Bragg declined to charge Trump himself with financial crimes related to his business practices, prompting two prosecutors who worked on the probe to resign.

Trump, who was in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday and attended the NCAA wrestling championships, leads his early rivals for his party’s nomination. He had the support of 43% of Republicans in a February Reuters/Ipsos poll, compared with 31% for his nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has not yet announced his candidacy.

Trump in 2018 initially disputed knowing anything about the payment to Daniels. He later acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment, which he called a “simple private transaction.”

Cohen, who served time in prison after pleading guilty, testified before the grand jury this week. Grand jury proceedings are not public. Outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan, he told reporters he did not testify out of a desire for revenge against Trump.

“This is all about accountability,” he said. “He needs to be held accountable for his dirty deeds.”

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, spoke with prosecutors last week, according to her lawyer.

Trump founded his Truth Social media platform after being banned by Twitter, Facebook and YouTube following the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. He has since regained his accounts on those services, though he limited his Saturday statement to Truth.

Click here to read the full article in Reuters

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California Bill to Protect Doctors Who Mail Abortion Pills

March 18, 2023 By Adam Beam 4 Comments

Doctors in California who mail abortion pills to people in other states would be protected from prosecution under a new bill announced Friday in the state Legislature.

The bill would not let California extradite doctors who are facing charges in another state for providing abortion medication. It would also shield doctors from having to pay fines. And it would let California doctors sue anyone who tries to stop them from providing abortions.

The bill would only protect doctors who are in California. If a doctor left California to provide an abortion to someone in another state, that doctor would not be protected. It also would not protect patients in other states who receive the medication.

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat from Berkeley and the author of the bill, said her intent is to make sure California residents who are traveling in other states or living there temporarily — like college students — can still have access to medication that’s legal in their home state. But she acknowledged the bill would also apply to California doctors who treat patients who live in other states.

“This is essential health care,” Skinner said. “Our health care practitioners should be protected for treating their patients regardless of where their patients are geographically.”

Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Maryland and Vermont have proposed or passed similar laws, according to Skinner’s office. Connecticut’s law, among other things, blocks criminal summonses from other states related to reproductive health care services that are legal in Connecticut while also blocking extradition — unless the person fled from a state requesting them.

“Obviously, if a provider is engaging in telehealth services with someone, even if they do inquire about where they are, they kind of have to take it on faith,” said Connecticut state Rep. Matt Blumenthal, a Democrat and co-chair of the General Assembly’s Reproductive Rights Caucus. “We don’t want to make providers their police for their patients. And we don’t want to make them have to do an investigation every time they perform telehealth.”

Other states have tried to block the distribution of the abortion pill, known as mifepristone. Attorneys general in 20 states, mostly with Republican governors, have warned some of the nation’s largest pharmacy companies they could face legal consequences if they distribute the pill within their states.

Most abortions are outlawed in Idaho, including medication abortions. Blaine Conzatti, president of the Idaho Family Policy Center — a group that opposes abortion rights — said California has a responsibility to extradite physicians who break Idaho laws.

“The arrogance of such a proposal is astounding,” Conzatti said of Skinner’s bill. “It flaunts the traditional relationship between states and would upend our federal system altogether.”

Skinner’s bill goes beyond abortions. It would also protect doctors for mailing contraceptives and transgender-related medications.

California already has laws that prevents courts from enforcing out-of-state judgments on abortion providers and volunteers. That law was aimed at protecting doctors who provide abortions to people who travel to California from other states. Abortion opponents say laws like that are illegal because they violate a clause in the U.S. Constitution that says states must give “full faith and credit” to the laws of other states.

Federal courts have recognized an exception to that clause, including laws in one state that violate the “public policy” of another state. Skinner’s law declares it is the public policy of California that doctors should not be charged for providing abortion medication.

“We’re very careful,” Skinner said.

Abortion pills have been legal in the U.S. for more than two decades and can be used up to the 10th week of pregnancy. It’s now the most common abortion method in the U.S. A federal judge in Texas is weighing whether to revoke or suspend the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug, a decision that would apply to all states and not just the ones who have outlawed abortions.

Click here to read the full article at AP News

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Storms end Southern California Water Restrictions for 7M

March 17, 2023 By John Antczak 4 Comments

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s 11th atmospheric river left the storm-soaked state with a bang Wednesday, bringing flooded roadways, landslides and toppled trees to the southern part of the state as well as drought-busting rainfall that meant the end of water restrictions for nearly 7 million people.

Even as residents struggled to clean up before the next round of winter arrives in the coming days — with some 27,000 people still under evacuation orders statewide Wednesday — the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s decision brought relief amid the state’s historic drought.

The district supplies water for 19 million people in six counties. The board imposed the restrictions, which included limiting outdoor watering to one day a week, in parts of Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties last year during a severe shortage of state water supplies.

But weather woes remained Wednesday, as an additional 61,000 people remained under evacuation warnings and emergency shelters housed more than 650 people, according to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

Meanwhile in Arizona, the city of Sedona urged people in a dozen areas to immediately evacuate Wednesday evening because of predicted flooding of Oak Creek. The churning waters had submerged a roadway near a mobile home park and forecasters said it could rise to 15 feet (4.6 meters), a foot above flood stage.

In Southern California, flooding also closed several miles of the Pacific Coast Highway through Huntington Beach, south of Los Angeles on the Orange County coast, and potholes disabled more than 30 cars on one Southern California freeway. More than 144,000 utility customers statewide remained without power Wednesday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us.

Some Southern California beaches were closed as heavy rain overwhelmed sewage systems and sent thousands of gallons of raw sewage to the sea.

In Los Angeles, a man who clung to a concrete wall of the rushing, rain-swollen Los Angeles River was saved from being swept away when a Fire Department rescuer, dangling from a helicopter, reached him and he was hauled up to safety.

Gov. Gavin Newsom surveyed flood damage in an agricultural region on the central coast, noting that California could potentially see a 12th atmospheric river next week. Officials have not yet determined the extent of the winter storms’ damage, both structurally and financially.

“Look back — last few years in this state, it’s been fire to ice with no warm bath in between,” the Democrat said, describing “weather whiplash” in a state that has quickly gone from extreme drought and wildfires to overwhelming snow and rain.

“If anyone has any doubt about Mother Nature and her fury, if anyone has any doubt about what this is all about in terms of what’s happening to the climate and the changes that we are experiencing, come to California,” the governor said.

California’s latest atmospheric river was one of two storm systems that bookended the U.S. this week. Parts of New England and New York were digging out of a nor’easter Wednesday that caused tens of thousands of power outages, numerous school cancellations and whiteout conditions on roads.

Remaining showers across Southern California were expected to decrease through Wednesday evening as the storm headed toward parts of the Great Basin. The weather service said California will see minor precipitation this weekend, followed by another substantial storm next week.

Three clifftop apartment buildings were evacuated Wednesday morning when earth slid away from their backyards in coastal San Clemente, the Orange County Fire Authority said. Residents were also cleared out of a nearby building as the severity of the slide was studied.

Orange County had already declared a local emergency when a similar hillside collapsed March 3 in Newport Beach, leaving a house uninhabitable and endangering others.

For downtown Los Angeles, the National Weather Service said just under two feet of rain (61 centimeters) has been recorded so far this water year — making this the 14th wettest in more than 140 years of records.

An overnight mudslide onto a road in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles County trapped two cars, KNBC-TV reported. Another hillside in the neighborhood also gave way, threatening the foundation of a hilltop home.

Weather in the northern and central sections of the state had dried out earlier, following Tuesday’s heavy rain and fierce winds that blew out windows on a San Francisco high-rise and gusted to 74 mph (119 kph) at the city’s airport.

Forty-three of the state’s 58 counties have been under states of emergency due to the storms.

Despite California’s rains winding down, flood warnings remain in effect on the central coast for the Salinas and Pajaro rivers in Monterey County and other rivers in the Central Valley as water runs off land that has been saturated by storms since late December.

Runoff from a powerful atmospheric river last week burst a levee on the Pajaro River, triggering evacuations as water flooded farmland and agricultural communities. Nearly half of the people under evacuation orders were in Monterey County. Closed sections of the Pacific Coast Highway in the area were expected to reopen Wednesday night.

The first phase of repairs on the 400-foot (120-meter) levee breach was completed Tuesday afternoon, and crews were working to raise the section to full height, county officials said.

Damage continued to emerge elsewhere in the state. In the Sequoia National Forest, the Alta Sierra Ski Resort said it would be closed for at least two weeks because of extensive flooding and infrastructure damage, citing the U.S. Forest Service. There is also “massive slide potential” on the highway serving the resort, the resort tweeted.

California was deep in drought before an unexpected series of atmospheric rivers barreled into the state from late December through mid-January, causing flooding while building a staggering snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.

Storms powered by arctic air followed in February, creating blizzard conditions that buried mountain communities under so much snow that structures began collapsing.

The water content of the Sierra snowpack is now more than 200% of the April 1 average, when it normally peaks, according to the state Department of Water Resources.

Michael McNutt, a spokesperson for the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, said the end of the Southern California restrictions is good news but cautioned people to continue to conserve water even in non-drought years.

“We all know that the next drought is just around the corner,” he said Wednesday. “We’ve got to treat the water coming out of our taps as the liquid gold that it is.”

Click here to read the full article in AP News

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Bill Would Force California Schools to Tell Parents If Their Child Is Transgender

March 16, 2023 By Pasquale Talarico 5 Comments

AB 1314 would protect parents’ rights, its sponsor Bill Essayli says, but LGBTQ groups say it would hurt vulnerable youths


A new bill would require California schools to tell parents that their child is transgender in the name of bolstering parents’ rights and helping children.

But critics argue the legislation would threaten LGBTQ students’ safety.

AB 1314, sponsored by Republican Assemblymember Bill Essayli, would give school districts three days to notify parents in writing once a school employee learns a student is identifying as a gender that doesn’t align with their birth certificate or other official records. This could include asking to be identified by a different gender or participating in sports of the opposite gender.

“Public policy should never presume that a parent does not have the best interests for that child,” Essayli, who represents parts of western Riverside County, said at a Monday, March 13, news conference.

“ … Concealing information from parents is not only wrong, it’s dangerous and harmful to the emotional and physical safety of trans minors.”

Parents, Essayli said, “play a critical role in nurturing and supporting children and they cannot be removed from the equation.”

The news conference took place outside Jurupa Valley High School. In recent weeks, conservative media have picked up the story of Jessica Tapia, a teacher who said she was fired from the school for refusing to withhold information about students’ gender identity from parents.

Tapia said she asked school administrators “‘Are you asking me to lie?’ And they said ‘Yes. It’s the law. And it’s for the students’ privacy.’”

In an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Tapia said the school district was forcing her to violate her Christian beliefs. She is represented by the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative legal defense organization.

Jurupa Unified School District Superintendent Trenton Hansen said via email: “The district’s actions related to Ms. Tapia were based on its obligations under current state and federal law which protects student privacy and requires the district to provide a discrimination-free learning environment to students.”

The district did not indicate whether Tapia was fired.

State and federal law, Hansen said, protects students’ rights “to use facilities consistent with their gender identity, regardless of the gender listed on their records … all students and staff enjoy the right to privacy under the constitutions of the United States and California.”

Essayli, a first-term assemblymember, told The Sacramento Bee that the California Family Council, which describes itself as “advancing God’s design for life, family and liberty through California’s church, capitol and culture,” approached him about sponsoring the bill.

In that interview, Essayli cited a study from the Society for Research in Child Development that concluded LGBTQ youths with parental support were less likely to show depression symptoms.

The LGBTQ civil rights group Equality California and the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus issued a joint statement condemning AB 1314.

Legislation “that aims to ‘out’ transgender and non-binary students against their will does not protect them — it puts them in potentially life-threatening danger, subjecting them to trauma and violence,” the caucus said.

While LGBTQ students should feel safe talking about their gender and sexuality, “AB 1314 ignores the reality that not all trans youth have that option,” Equality California wrote.

“Trans people are more likely to face family rejection and even abuse at home based on their gender identity … For many trans kids, school is the only place they feel safe to be their true, authentic selves. Forced ‘outing’ bills like AB 1314 seek to strip that sense of safety and dignity away.”

In a February 2022 report on homelessness among LGBTQ young people, The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth outreach group, found that “mistreatment or fear of mistreatment related to their LGBTQ identity” was a factor for 40% of LGBTQ youths who had been kicked out of their homes and 55% who said they had run away or been abandoned.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who is gay, tweeted that AB 1314 would force schools to tell parents if their child is transgender “even if the kid isn’t ready to come out to their parents. Even if ratting the kid out risks violence at home.”

Essayli replied on Twitter: “My bill is aimed at supporting trans minors, not hurting them. The notification requirement is only triggered when a minor is already publicly identifying by a different gender at school.”

Click here to read the full article in the OC Register

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California Court Rules for Uber, Lyft in Ride-Hailing Case

March 15, 2023 By Adam Beam 3 Comments

App-based ride hailing and delivery companies like Uber and Lyft can continue to treat their California drivers as independent contractors, a state appeals court ruled Monday, allowing the tech giants to bypass other state laws requiring worker protections and benefits.

The ruling mostly upholds a voter-approved law, called Proposition 22, that said drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft are independent contractors and are not entitled to benefits like paid sick leave and unemployment insurance. A lower court ruling in 2021 had said Proposition 22 was illegal, but Monday’s ruling reversed that decision.

“Today’s ruling is a victory for app-based workers and the millions of Californians who voted for Prop 22,” said Tony West, Uber’s chief legal officer. ”We’re pleased that the court respected the will of the people.”

The ruling is a defeat for labor unions and their allies in the state Legislature who passed a law in 2019 requiring companies like Uber and Lyft to treat their drivers as employees.

“Today the Appeals Court chose to stand with powerful corporations over working people, allowing companies to buy their way out of our state’s labor laws and undermine our state constitution,” said Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, leader of the California Labor Federation and a former state assemblywoman who authored the 2019 law. “Our system is broken. It would be an understatement to say we are disappointed by this decision.”

The ruling wasn’t a complete defeat for labor unions, as the court ruled the companies could not stop their drivers from joining a labor union and collectively bargain for better working conditions, said Mike Robinson, one of the drivers who filed the lawsuit challenging Proposition 22.

“Our right to join together and bargain collectively creates a clear path for drivers and delivery workers to hold giant gig corporations accountable,” he said. “But make no mistake, we still believe Prop 22 — in its entirety — is an unconstitutional attack on our basic rights.”

The California Legislature passed a law in 2019 that changed the rules of who is an employee and who is an independent contractor. It’s an important distinction for companies because employees are covered by a broad range of labor laws that guarantee them certain benefits while independent contractors are not.

While the law applied to lots of industries, it had the biggest impact on app-based ride hailing and delivery companies. Their business relies on contracting with people to use their own cars to give people rides and make deliveries. Under the 2019 law, companies would have to treat those drivers as employees and provide certain benefits that would greatly increase the businesses’ expenses.

In November 2020, voters agreed to exempt app-based ride hailing and delivery companies from the 2019 law by approving a ballot proposition. The proposition included “alternative benefits” for drivers, including a guaranteed minimum wage and subsidies for health insurance if they average 25 hours of work a week. Companies like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash spent $200 million on a campaign to make sure it would pass.

Three drivers and the Service Employees International Union sued, arguing the ballot proposition was illegal in part because it limited the state Legislature’s authority to change the law or pass laws about workers’ compensation programs. In 2021, a state judge agreed with them and ruled companies like Uber and Lyft were not exempt.

Monday, a state appeals court reversed that decision, allowing the companies to continue to treat their drivers as independent contractors.

The ruling might not be the final decision. The Service Employees International Union could still appeal the decision to the California Supreme Court, which could decide to hear the case.

Click here to read the full article in AP News

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Silicon Valley Bank Employees Received Bonuses Hours Before Government Takeover

March 14, 2023 By Hugh Son 5 Comments

Silicon Valley Bank employees received their annual bonuses Friday just hours before regulators seized the failing bank, according to people with knowledge of the payments.

The Santa Clara, California-based bank has historically paid employee bonuses on the second Friday of March, said the people, who declined to be identified speaking about the awards. The payments were for work done in 2022 and had been in process days before the bank’s collapse, the sources said.

This year, bonus day happened to fall on SVB’s final day of independence. The institution, in the throes of a bank run triggered by panicked venture capital investors and startup founders, was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) around midday Friday.

On Friday, SVB CEO Greg Becker addressed workers in a two-minute video in which he said that he no longer made decisions at the 40-year-old bank, according to the people.

The size of the payouts couldn’t be determined, but SVB bonuses range from about $12,000 for associates to $140,000 for managing directors, according to Glassdoor.com.

SVB was the highest-paying publicly traded bank in 2018, with employees getting an average of $250,683 for that year, according to Bloomberg.

Click here to read the full article in CNBC

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President Biden Declares California Storm Emergency Following Request From Governor

March 13, 2023 By Evan Symon Leave a Comment

President Joe Biden approved a California Emergency Declaration on Friday, giving federal assistance to both state and local response and relief efforts following large storms that caused flooding, mudslides, blizzards, and landslides in Counties across the state.

Since the beginning of March, Governor Newsom has already declared two storm-related states of emergency in California. The first was due to the San Bernardino County storm incident last week that caused over 100 inches of snow to fall in some areas of the County and has, as of  Friday, killed 13 people. Another storm system reaching California earlier this week primarily in Northern California then prompted a second state of emergency declaration from the Governor, adding another 21 Counties being put under a state of emergency in addition to the 13 declared the previous week in Southern California.

“The state is working around the clock with local partners to deploy life-saving equipment and first responders to communities across California,” said Governor Newsom on Wednesday. “With more dangerous storms on the horizon, we’ll continue to mobilize every available resource to protect Californians.”

However, with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol, CAL FIRE, the California National Guard, and local services being stretched, from digging out roads in the San Bernardino Mountains to setting up flood zones in Northern California, many called for additional federal help. On Thursday, Governor Newsom requested a Presidential Emergency Declaration to authorize federal assistance to support state and local response.

“California is deploying every tool we have to protect communities from the relentless and deadly storms battering our state,” Newsom announced Thursday. “In these dangerous and challenging conditions, it is crucial that Californians remain vigilant and follow all guidance from local emergency responders.”

In less than 24 hours, President Biden agreed to send federal assistance to California. In a press release on Friday, the White House noted that  “The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the counties of Amador, Butte, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Lake, Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, San Mateo, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne, and Yuba.

“Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.  Emergency protective measures (Category B), limited to direct Federal assistance, under the Public Assistance program will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.”

While more assistance is now coming, many in the affected areas, especially in San Bernardino County, have said that they believed that state and federal help came too late.

First responders respond to emergency assistance delays

“We’ve been plowing like crazy and assisting in any way that we can,” explained Matt Hanna, a first responder in San Bernardino County who has been assisting local residents for over a week, to the Globe on Friday. “But relief for us has been slow. A big part of emergency orders is that things we need are rushed to us and that government red tape is cut because lives are at risk. But it has not been happening fast enough.

“Some of the guys here have had to go out in snowshoes for help. Out in Crestline, at a food store that became sort of a focal point for assistance, the roof collapsed. There are roads out there that have taken days to get to. Part of this was that we just weren’t fully prepared for a storm of this magnitude, but again, localities can only do so much during an emergency that goes beyond our limits. We got some immediate help. I mean, the CHP guys here were helping out as fast as anyone. But we needed a lot more from the state, but we just didn’t get it in time. And now over a dozen people are dead because of it.”

State officials have countered that storms have battered the entire state with many happening at once, causing equipment and resources to not move as quickly as hoped.

“The unique and challenging part of this storm was that it hit so many parts of our state simultaneously, so you’re unable to move equipment from other parts of the state that are trying to keep their lifeline roads open,” explained Cal OES spokesman Brian Ferguson in a statement. “The storms that hit San Bernardino’s highest elevations are unprecedented and particularly challenging to respond to. It really is a street fight — street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood.”

However, despite the explanation, many first responders aren’t buying it.

“We have people here who have felt like they have been abandoned in their time of need,” added a first responder who wished to only be known as “Margo” to the Globe. “Localities, like cities, they haven’t been blaming too much because a lot of these places are generally smaller towns. Also, a lot of local residents have helped pick up the slack on plowing and have voluntarily helped clear roads here. Like the other day, this high up road was cleared, letting a family drive out for the first time in a week. The guy plowing it cleared the street and the family gave him a thermos of hot chocolate or coffee as thanks. Some are being rescued after spending a week trapped in their car. There’s these moments of humanity everywhere out there.

Click here to read the full article in the California Globe

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Legislator Proposes California Law to Protect Renters from Becoming Homeless

March 12, 2023 By Linh Tat 13 Comments

Sen. Durazo’s SB 567 would boost safeguards for renters under the Tenant Protection Act of 2019

Hoping to build on California’s Tenant Protection Act of 2019, a state lawmaker from Los Angeles is working on a bill to prevent even more tenants from falling into homelessness in a state that continues to rank first in the number of unhoused people.

Sen. María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) on Friday, March 10, kicked off a campaign to promote Senate Bill 567, also known as the Homelessness Prevention Act, which aims to further protect tenants from unjust evictions and excessive rent hikes.

Inflation, combined with the end of COVID-19 pandemic-related eviction protections, have put many renters at risk of not being able to pay their rent and losing their homes, backers of SB 567 say.

“This is an urgent humanitarian crisis,” Durazo said during a news conference at the Aliso-Pico Recreation Center in Boyle Heights. “As we drive around Los Angeles, we see tents under the freeways, on the sidewalks and the storefronts. It’s become part of the city.”

Details of Durazo’s proposed legislation are being finalized, so a text of the bill is not yet available.

But in an interview after the news conference, the senator said she wants to further lower the cap that landlords can raise rent by, though what that number will be is still being ironed out. Under the existing Tenant Protection Act, rent hikes are capped at either 5% plus the local inflation rate, or 10%, whichever amount is lower.

“We’re open to something that’s reasonable, but clearly 10%, in this day and age with inflation, is far too much, and it’s a principal reason why people can’t pay and they end up on the streets,” Durazo said. “Even with the jobs that they have, they cannot afford to pay these kinds of 10% increases every year.”

She also wants to extend protections to tenants who are renting mobile homes or single-family homes.

In Los Angeles, the city council recently adopted additional tenant protections, including for the renters of single-family homes.

Supporters of SB 567 cite a 2020 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office which found that a median rent increase of $100 resulted in a 9% increase in homelessness nationwide.

California is home to more than 160,000 unhoused residents.

“This is immoral – the idea that in the richest subnational economy in the world, that we have over 160,000 people sleeping every day on the street,” said Christina Livingston, executive director of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment.

Proponents of Durazo’s bill say SB 567 would close loopholes to prevent no-fault evictions, expand the pool of renters with tenant protections, limit annual rent increases, and allow for accountability and enforcement.

Joseph Tomás McKellar, executive director of PICO California, a sponsor of the bill, said one family is evicted every minute in California. In L.A. County, one person is evicted every nine minutes, he said, adding that most of them are people of color and immigrants.

Click here to read the full article in the OC Register

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California Housing Laws Prompt Dueling Housing Lawsuits

March 11, 2023 By Amy Taxin and Adam Beam 5 Comments

California’s attempts at forcing its wealthy coastal cities to build more affordable housing spawned two lawsuits on Thursday, showcasing tensions around solving a crisis that has contributed to a surge in the homeless population in the nation’s most populous state.

Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Huntington Beach on Thursday morning, accusing the seaside city known for its surf culture and iconic pier of ignoring state laws requiring it to approve more affordable housing and to build more than 13,000 new homes over the next eight years.

State housing officials say California needs an additional 2.5 million homes by 2030 in order to keep up with demand. But the state currently builds about 125,000 houses each year, which leaves California well short of that goal. California has about 170,000 homeless people on any given night, accounting for nearly one-third of the nation’s unsheltered population, according to federal data.

Bonta’s lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, asks a judge to order the city to comply with the law and to impose a fine.

“This is the colossal challenge that California is confronting,” Bonta said. “The message we’re sending to the city of Huntington Beach is simple: Act in good faith, follow the law and do your part to increase the housing supply. If you don’t, our office will hold you accountable.”

Hours later, defiant city officials announced their own lawsuit, asking a federal judge to block the state from forcing them to build a wave of new homes they said would transform the suburban community into an urban one.

“I am committed to defend the city and its wonderful property owners who enjoy this quiet suburban beach town,” Huntington Beach Mayor Tony Strickland said.

Huntington Beach, dubbed “Surf City USA,” has a largely suburban feel with residential neighborhoods of single-family homes flanked by busy main roads linked with strip malls and office buildings.

Last year, four new councilmembers won election with a politically conservative bent. Since taking office, the four-member council majority has taken on state housing mandates and limited the flying of flags on city property, including removing the LGBT rainbow flag that has flown in the city the past two years.

The dispute with the state centers on the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, a process that requires cities to formulate a plan every eight years on how they will meet housing demands — demand that is set by the state.

California has told Huntington Beach it must built 13,368 new homes over the next eight years. The city is supposed to come up with a plan on how they will do that, and that plan that must be approved by the state.

The state punishes cities that don’t have state-approved housing plans by letting developers come in and build affordable apartment buildings without asking for local permission — a penalty known as the “builder’s remedy.” The Huntington Beach City Council is considering an ordinance at its next meeting that would exempt the city from this penalty, an ordinance state officials say is illegal.

A state law, passed in 2019, says a state judge can impose fines starting at $10,000 per month for cities that refuse to comply. The law also says the court can appoint someone “with all the powers necessary” to force the city into compliance.

This is the second time California officials have sued Huntington Beach for not following state housing laws. The city settled the first lawsuit back in 2020.

California’s housing and homelessness issues have worsened each year despite Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democratic-controlled state Legislature spending billions of dollars in taxpayer money on the problem. Nearly all of that money has gone to local governments, which have their own housing and homelessness policies.

State leaders have repeatedly tried to shape those local policies through state laws and regulations.

Newsom, who won reelection in November and is seen as a potential presidential candidate one day, has aggressively challenged local governments to comply with state standards. Last year, he delayed $1 billion in homelessness funding for local governments because he said their plans to spend the money weren’t good enough.

Newsom later released the money after a closed-door meeting with local officials.

Click here to read the full article in AP News

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Suspect Dead After Allegedly Shooting 3 LAPD Officers in Lincoln Heights

March 10, 2023 By Richard Winton, Christian Martinez and 4 Comments

Three Los Angeles Police Department officers were shot Wednesday night and a suspect was dead following a confrontation in the city’s Lincoln Heights neighborhood, police officials said.

The incident occurred around 6 p.m. on North Broadway at Mission Road. All three officers were expected to survive.

Officers with the Hollenbeck station were called around 3:50 p.m. to the 3800 block of Broadway on Wednesday afternoon to search for a parolee at large, LAPD Assistant Chief Al Labrada said Wednesday night at a news conference held outside L.A. County-USC Medical Center.

Officers found the suspect, who they said refused to comply with commands, and a K-9 unit was requested from the Metropolitan Division.

Officers used gas on the suspect, who still did not comply with their commands, Labrada said.

“At one point during the search,” he said, “the suspect exited and fired at the officers, wounding three … who are now listed in stable condition here just behind me.”

All of the officers who were shot were part of the Metropolitan Division’s K-9 unit.

After they were hit, other officers pulled them from the line of fire, law enforcement sources said. They were taken to the hospital by ambulances.

One officer was shot in the arm, another in the leg and a third was hit in the torso but his body armor likely deflected the round leaving him with shrapnel injuries, according to law enforcement sources.

Labrada said all three of the officers were able to speak and that their families were at the hospital.

At some point during the incident, an unknown number of officers fired at the suspect, Labrada said.

The suspect was confirmed dead Wednesday night by police officials several hours after the officers were shot. He was identified by authorities on Thursday as Jonathan Magana.

The cause and manner of his death were not disclosed.

The LAPD’s force investigation division is investigating the shooting by police, Labrada said, while the Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating the shooting that injured the officers.

“I deeply appreciate their service, and let them know that their city stands with them,” Mayor Karen Bass said at the news conference. “And I very much look forward to their recovery. My heart goes out to the officers’ families who tonight got the phone call, or the knock on the door, that they dread every day that their loved ones go on duty.”

Magana had a lengthy criminal record and in January was charged with battery on a police officer and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person in connection with an incident late last year, according to court records and law enforcement sources.

In February 2020, Magana was convicted of two felony counts of robbery connected to incidents that occurred in 2019. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison for the first count and a year in county jail for the second count. In 2014, he was convicted for selling methamphetamines.

In the aftermath of the shooting, officers, including those in full tactical gear, swarmed the Lincoln Heights site, where blockades had been erected.

A helicopter was broadcasting to residents to remain inside and lock their doors. A special weapons and tactics team with armored vehicles arrived at the scene shortly before 8 p.m.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore said on Twitter that he was monitoring the night’s events.

Sets of drones and helicopters swirled around an empty Lincoln Park Recreation Center as officers shut down parts of Valley Boulevard near the active crime scene.

A handful of joggers still ran and worked out in sweats near a children’s playground that was closed for remodeling.

One runner said she was turned around by police and told to head to the easternmost end of the park.

Click here to read the full article in the LA Times

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