The following our headlines discussed during the WTF California podcast for the week of March 8-12 where Kenny and Mike discuss. All of these articles were talked about during this weeks shows. If you want to listen, be sure to subscribe.
March 8, 2021
- SF Homeless Department Stuns Budget Committee With $16.1 Million Tent Program Revelation
Earlier this week during a San Francisco budget committee meeting, it was revealed that the city’s “Safe Sleeping Villages” homeless tent program was costing $16.1 million a year, or around $5,000 per person per month. - RecallGavin2020 Campaign Announces 1,950,000 Signatures
The grassroots campaign to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Sunday that they have successfully collected 1.950,000 million signatures, with 1.6 million of those signatures collected entirely by volunteers. - See giant Gavin Newsom cutout on I-5 near Harris Ranch? Animal rights activists make demands
Protesters with the animals rights network Direct Action Everywhere displayed a 50-foot “No More Factory Farms” banner, as well as a giant cutout of Gov. Gavin Newsom accompanied with the words “I support factory farms.” - Arrested 22 times as a youth, Antioch councilwoman now crusades for police oversight in East Bay
The friction seems most obvious in Antioch’s ongoing dialogue about policing. At the center is Torres-Walker, 38, a mother of two who spent the early part of her life in and out of foster care. Raised in Richmond during an era of intense poverty and gun violence, Torres-Walker said she was arrested 22 times, all for minor offenses, by the age of 18. In 2009 she was convicted for setting fire to an apartment building, and managed to enter a treatment program for alcoholism after spending a year in the West County Detention Facility. - San Jose Police Investigate City’s 8th Homicide Of The Year
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) — Detectives were investigating San Jose’s 8th homicide of the year Sunday after a man died from wounds suffered in a shooting near an east San Jose elementary school. - Illegal Oakland Sideshow Takes Over Corner Near Police Headquarters
OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Another weekend, another rowdy sideshow in Oakland. It didn’t take long for the police to get to the scene since it happened a mile away from police headquarters. - CA legislature set to vote on whether to reinstate measures requiring most businesses to offer 2-weeks paid leave for COVID-19
With the virus continuing to infect thousands of Californians every week and dangerous variants spreading, the Legislature is set to vote in the coming weeks on whether to reinstate the two-week obligation. That follows weeks of debate in Sacramento that has drawn worker advocates and business groups into unusually broad coalitions, for and against. - California counties don’t want Blue Shield’s vaccine program
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Counties across California are increasingly asking to opt out of the state’s centralized vaccination program run by Blue Shield, further complicating Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to smooth out what has been a confusing and disjointed rollout of coronavirus vaccines. - VP Kamala Harris’ Berkeley childhood home to be considered as historic landmark
BERKELEY, Calif. – Berkeley city leaders are expected to consider a resolution next week to distinguish the childhood home of Vice President Kamala Harris as a historic landmark. - Woman Arrested For Anti-Asian Attacks In Mountain View
MOUNTAIN VIEW (CBS SF) – A woman has been arrested Friday in connection with two crimes targeting Asians in Mountain View last month, amid an ongoing rise in anti-Asian attacks in the Bay Area and across the country. - Bay Area school district among first to announce plans for summer school
West Contra Costa Unified, in the East Bay, announced that it will also offer in-person summer school this year in an effort to combat widespread learning loss.
March 9, 2021
- Derick Almena Sentenced to 12 Years Prison
Oakland, CA- Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley today announced Derick Almena was sentenced to serve a 12-year split prison sentence for his role in the deaths of 36 individuals from a massive fire that occurred at an Oakland warehouse on December 2, 2016. On January 22, 2021, Mr. Almena pled guilty as charged to all 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter. - Packers’ Aaron Rodgers Rips CA Gov. Newsom for Crippling Lockdowns on Small Businesses
Green Bay Packers star Aaron Rodgers took a swipe Thursday at the business-destroying coronavirus rules slammed onto California’s small businesses by Gov. Gavin Newsom. - Senator Rubio Bill Targets Bias Against People of Color In Housing Practices
Senate Bill 263 adds a 2-hour course on implicit bias training for real estate licenses. The bill requires that the training include actionable steps that licensees can take to recognize and address their own implicit biases and also requires licensees to participate in an interactive training component where they can experience role play situations as both a consumer and a licensee. - CDC: Fully-vaccinated people can gather without masks, should still cover face in public
WASHINGTON – Fully vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing, according to long-awaited guidance from federal health officials. The recommendations also say that vaccinated people can come together in the same way with people considered at low-risk for severe disease, such as in the case of vaccinated grandparents visiting healthy children and grandchildren. - Only five countries in the world have administered more COVID-19 vaccines than California
Gov. Gavin Newsom cited that statistic in a tweet Sunday where he compared California’s vaccine rollout to that of the most populated nations in the world, including China and India. If the state were its own nation, it would rank sixth in distribution, behind the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom and the entirety of the European Union, the tweet says. California only recently surpassed all of Brazil. - Third stimulus check calculator: See how much money you could receive from Biden’s relief bill
The cash payments included in the nearly $2 trillion stimulus bill are the largest yet, with individuals earning $75,000 or less eligible to receive the fully promised $1,400. Couples earning $150,000 or less will receive a check worth $2,800. Households will receive an additional $1,400 for each dependent child claimed on their most-recent tax filings.
March 10, 2021
- California governor sees ‘brighter days’ ahead amid pandemic
LOS ANGELES — Addressing a state exhausted after a year of lockdowns, wildfires, disease and death, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday urged residents of the nation’s most populous state to “dream of brighter days ahead” while acknowledging mistakes that have put his political future on the line. - Fact Check: Governor Newsom Skips Details On Pandemic Handling
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom painted a positive picture of California’s response to the pandemic and the state’s plans to come out on the other side during his annual State of the State address Tuesday night from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Some of his statements lacked key context or twisted the facts - San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin recall campaign approved
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – A petition to recall San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin has been approved, according to elected officials. - Lafayette officially asks state to step in during Trump protests
LAFAYETTE — It’s on the record: Lafayette wants more law enforcement around the El Curtola overpass, where demonstrators routinely gather to support former President Trump as motorists drive below on Highway 24. - Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon Served With Notice of Intention to Circulate Recall Petition
LOS ANGELES, CA – Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon has officially been served with a notice of intention to circulate a recall petition. The formal service triggers the final steps leading up to the approval and public circulation of official recall petitions. Once the recall petition is approved, proponents will have 160 days to collect 580,000 signatures from registered voters in Los Angeles County. - Sacramento City Council approves plan to open warming shelters year-round despite weather
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A $3 million plan to keep overnight shelters open year-round regardless of the temperature outside passed unanimously Tuesday by the Sacramento City Council. - Great Wolf Lodge postponing opening of Manteca location again
The Great Wolf Lodge is delaying its opening in Manteca once again due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Great Wolf Lodge announced it is postponing its grand opening until further notice, but will begin accepting bookings after June 15, 2021, according to a statement from the lodge. - UC Davis Offers Students $75 To Not Travel On Spring Break
DAVIS (CBS13) — UC Davis is enticing students to stay in town for Spring Break with cash. Some students said it’s been a trying year, to say the least. - ‘Silence is complicity’: Sacramento City Council condemns anti-Asian hate, discrimination
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento City Council unanimously voted on Tuesday to condemn hate and discrimination against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, following a rise in reported hate incidents across the country and in California. - Council OKs new fund to help disadvantaged communities adapt to climate change
SAN DIEGO (CNS) – San Diego City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to create a Climate Equity Fund, an an easier mechanism for disadvantaged neighborhoods to secure city funding for climate-related infrastructure projects. - Judge rules Vanessa Bryant can get names of L.A. County deputies accused of sharing Kobe Bryant crash site photos
A federal judge in California has ruled that Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, can obtain the names of four Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who allegedly shared graphic photos from the site of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, their daughter Gianna and seven others. - Elderly man attacked in Oakland strong-arm robbery while he was on morning walk
OAKLAND, Calif. – A 75-year-old man was attacked and robbed in Oakland Tuesday morning while on his routine morning walk. Police say they now have a person in custody. - VIDEO: Maskless Uber passenger coughs on driver then attacks him
SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) – A shocking confrontation that unfolded inside an Uber in San Francisco made its rounds on social media. - S.F’s budget will be saved from painful cuts thanks to federal stimulus. What about in the next one?
The federal stimulus package likely to be signed by President Biden this week will erase the majority of San Francisco’s projected $650 million budget deficit over the next two years, saving City Hall from having to make painful service cuts and layoffs — for now. - Sen. Bernie Sanders and National Democratic Party Leaders Denounce California Recall
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Democratic leaders spoke out against the recall of California Governor Gavin Newsom following the recall campaign’s Sunday announcement of collecting nearly 2 million signatures. - ‘Local Control’ in Reopening Debate Puts Scrutiny on Elected School Boards
When Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 86 into law on Friday, he marshaled the state’s mighty resources to facilitate a return to classroom learning in thousands of public schools.
March 11, 2021
- First hour is our interview with former Mayor Don Freitas.
- 3 ‘struggling’ Ralphs, Food 4 Less stores in L.A. to close following passage of ‘hero pay’ bump
Two Los Angeles Ralphs stores and a Food 4 Less store described by officials as “long-struggling” will close in mid-May following the city’s passage of a $5 “hero pay” bump for grocery workers. - Los Angeles expected to receive $1.35 billion from federal stimulus bill
On Wednesday, Mayor Eric Garcetti and other city leaders received an unmistakably positive sign of a turnaround, with passage of a massive federal relief package that’s expected to send $1.35 billion directly to Los Angeles. - California economy will recover from pandemic faster than U.S., UCLA forecast says
The U.S. and California economies will experience near-record growth this year thanks to widespread vaccinations for COVID-19 and massive federal relief for struggling workers and businesses, UCLA forecasters predict. - Another back-to-school hurdle: Students of color don’t want to go back
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — As schools prepare to reopen, Asian American, Black and Hispanic families are opting to keep their children in distance learning at disproportionately high rates. The reason? Many students live in multigenerational households and are concerned they may infect others in the home, like their grandparents or another elderly relative. - San Diego Unified changes name of Junipero Serra High School, removes conquistador mascot
San Diego Unified’s Junipero Serra High School will now be called Canyon Hills High School after students successfully petitioned for the name change, saying that the name of the founder of California’s mission system is offensive to indigenous peoples whose ancestors were subjected to its doctrine. - Oakland police announce arrest in attack, robbery of elderly Asian-American man
OAKLAND, Calif. – Police announced an arrest in the attack and robbery of a 75-year-old Asian man in Oakland on Tuesday. Those in touch with the victim’s family said it does not look good. The violent attack happened Tuesday morning at Jayne Avenue and Perkins Street
March 12, 2021
- UPDATE: 75-Year-Old Asian Man Critically Injured In Oakland Assault Dies; Suspect Faces Murder Charge’
OAKLAND (CBS SF) — The 75-year-old Asian man who was left brain dead from an Oakland assault and robbery earlier this week has died and the suspect in the case now faces a special circumstances murder charge and additional felony charges, according to authorities. - Elderly man attacked in Oakland robbery dies, suspect charged with murder
OAKLAND, Calif. – A 75-year-old man who was attacked in an Oakland strongarm robbery in the Adams Point neighborhood this week has died. Alameda County District Attorney’s office will charge the suspect with special circumstance murder for shoving Pak Chung Ho, 75. - S.F. supe’s car was broken into outside City Hall – as he discussed crime inside
Supervisor Ahsha Safai, who represents District 11, which includes the Excelsior and Outer Mission Districts, posted a photo on Twitter Thursday morning showing the right rear window of his red Chevy Volt smashed, and he said it happened on Tuesday in front of City Hall. - Santa Ana’s Crime Surge Prompts Taskforce
Police and city officials in Santa Ana are launching a multifaceted crime-fighting initiative in response to a rise in homicides and other violent crimes. “The increase in violent crime, unfortunately, is consistent with patterns, both in small and large cities across the country throughout 2020,” Santa Ana Chief of Police David Valentin said during a March 11 press conference. - Police officers shoot and wound a man in Danville
DANVILLE, Calif. – Authorities responded to a police shooting in Danville Thursday afternoon. The shooting happened just after noon at Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon between Brookside Drive and San Ramon Valley Boulevard - Breweries, Wineries, Distilleries Get New Reopening Guidelines From California
Today, the State of California announced updated guidance that will allow for outdoor breweries, wineries and distilleries to operate without having to serve food. - Moffett Field eyed as possible site to house migrant children
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – A NASA site in Mountain View is being considered as a potential location to house thousands of unaccompanied migrant minors. Officials are considering Moffett Field as a place to house them, NASA officials confirmed. Authorities with the US Department of Health and Human Services and NASA’s Ames Research Center are checking the vacant property at the former Navy base to see if facilities there could be used as a temporary shelter for the children. - (56:54) Kenny closes the show with a monologue blasting Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe while addressing Councilwoman Monica Wilson and Tamisha Torres-Walker
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