Category: Northern California

California’s Plan to Ban Police Dogs for Crowd Control, Arrests Stalls in Assembly

California’s proposal to ban police canines was shelved in the Assembly on May 31 but is expected to return next year for consideration. Assembly Bill 742, authored by Assemblyman Corey Jackson (D-Perris) and Assemblyman Ah Kalra (D-San Jose), was introduced in February to end what they said was the deeply racialized and harmful practice of…


San Francisco Man Convicted of Murder for Beating Roommate During Zoom Call and Burning Her Alive

SAN FRANCISCO—A jury has convicted a San Francisco man of killing his 79-year-old roommate by beating her with a baseball bat and lighting her on fire. The attack was partially captured on Zoom. Min Jian Guan, 63, was found guilty of first-degree murder on May 30 for the June 14, 2020, death of Yu Quin…


16 Illegal Immigrants Who Entered US Through Texas Flown to California

Sixteen Venezuelan and Colombian migrants who entered the country through Texas were flown to California by chartered plane and dropped off outside a church in Sacramento, Gov. Gavin Newsom and migrant rights advocates said Saturday. The young men and women were dropped off Friday outside the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento with only a backpack’s…


Office Vacancy Rates at Historic Highs in San Francisco, Potentially 40 Percent: Experts

Office vacancy rates in San Francisco continue to climb, with new records being set monthly as businesses continue to flee and office workers resist a return to the city, according to experts. Vacancy rates reportedly surpassed 31 percent in May, the highest ever recorded in the city—historically known as an attractive location for businesses, ranking…


America Needs a Transfusion – Part II

Commentary In Part I, I said China should not wake a sleeping elephant, that democracies are slow to react, but once aroused, their citizens united, those who attack them, Germany and Japan during WW II, soon wish they hadn’t. To this day the Persians wish they hadn’t attacked the Greeks at the plain of Marathon in 490 BC. Fearful…


California Lawmakers Deny Newsom’s Proposals to Reform Environmental Laws to Speed up Big Projects

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent attempt to bypass environmental rules to speed up construction for certain projects was denied by the Senate Budget Committee 3–0 on May 25. “The only way to achieve California’s world-leading climate goals is to build, build, build—faster,” Newsom said in a press release on May 19 announcing his plan. “This…


California Bill Requiring Schools to Provide Free Condoms to Middle and High Schoolers Advances

A state Senate bill that would require schools to provide free condoms to all 7th to 12th grade California students passed the state Senate floor on a 31–9 vote on May 31. State Sen. Caroline Menjivar (D-San Fernando Valley) introduced Senate Bill 541 in February to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections among youth. The…


California Education Leaders Should Copy the ‘Mississippi Miracle’

Commentary “‘Mississippi miracle’: Kids’ reading scores have soared in Gulf South states,” AP just reported. It noted educators in other states with low test scores no longer can say, “Thank God for Mississippi.” That’s a cliché also in California, where journalists are wont to say of low test scores, “California is nearly as bad as…


California Should Copy the ‘Mississippi Miracle’ in Education

Commentary “‘Mississippi miracle’: Kids’ reading scores have soared in Gulf South states,” AP just reported. It noted educators in other states with low test scores no longer can say, “Thank God for Mississippi.” That’s a cliché also in California, where journalists are wont to say of low test scores, “California is nearly as bad as…


Pianist Combines Music With Nature in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Pianist Hunter Noak brings music to the outdoors. His nonprofit, IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild, unites the general public with both nature and classical music. Instead of playing in a concert hall, Noak brings his nine-foot Steinway grand piano to an outdoor landscape. Attendees listen to his performance through wireless headphones that…