Good morning. It’s Wednesday, March 30.
• | Task force limits reparations to descendants of Black slaves. |
• | Second rock climber of 2022 falls to death in Joshua Tree. |
• | And 14 of the best affordable places to live on the West Coast. |
Statewide
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A reparations task force rejected a proposal to offer compensation to all Black Californians on Tuesday, opting instead to limit eligibility to descendants of free and enslaved Black people who were in the U.S. in the 19th century. The 5-4 vote came after an emotional debate as some members warned against excluding families who cannot demonstrate a link to slavery yet faced generations of discrimination. Kamilah Moore, the task force chair, countered that a race-based approach would be unworkable given how subjective claims to racial identity can be. S.F. Chronicle | A.P.
2
Protesters have called for Billy the elephant to be moved to a sanctuary.
Wally Skalij/L.A. Times via Getty Images
An animal rights group included zoos in Fresno and Los Angeles on its list of the 10 worst zoos for elephants in North America. In Defense of Animals, which relied on in-person assessments and other sources, said three elephants died at Fresno’s Chaffee Zoo between 2017 and 2019, all from zoo-related diseases or conditions. In Los Angeles, the lone male Asian elephant Billy endures a miserable life in cramped quarters, often bobbing his head in a sign of distress, the group said. Fresno Bee | FOX26
3
Legislation that would have required all California workers to be inoculated against Covid-19 was shelved by its sponsor. When she introduced the far-reaching bill in February, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks said that “workers deserve to be safe.” On Tuesday, she attributed her change of heart in part to union opposition, which she called disappointing. Critics of the proposed vaccine mandate said it would amount to medical bullying in the workplace. L.A. Times | S.F. Chronicle
4
Sacramento is known as the city of trees.
Adobe
A diverse city with a youthful vibe from two major universities. A San Francisco suburb with a thriving local arts scene near Diablo State Park. And a family-friendly desert town along Route 66 where typical homes go for around $400,000.
MarketWatch ranked 14 of the best and most affordable places to live on the West Coast.
Northern California
5
An image from a recent TurboTax ad, as it appears in a complaint by the Federal Trade Commission.
Screenshot by California Sun
The Federal Trade Commission asked a federal court on Monday to stop Intuit from claiming in ads that Americans can file for “free” using the company’s TurboTax software. A 2019 ProPublica investigation revealed how the Mountain View company has gone to disturbing lengths to trick customers into paying for a service they’re supposed to get for free, earning billions along the way. Intuit said it would “vigorously challenge” the complaint. ProPublica
6
A man holding a gun who was shot by police at a San Jose taqueria over the weekend had wrested the firearm away from someone during a brawl and was backing out the front door when he was shot, sources said. K’aun Green, 20, remained hospitalized on Tuesday. His lawyer described him as a hero who was trying to get to safety. San Jose’s police chief defended his officers, saying they gave orders to drop the gun and had no way of knowing the its origins. CBS SF | Mercury News
Bystander video showed police shooting Green as he turned around. 👉 KTVU
7
Last August, thieves ransacked a bike shop along San Francisco’s Market Street, making off with $100,000 worth of inventory. The owner, Kash, who goes by one name, said the saddest part was that waves of bystanders also helped themselves: “In a decent community, someone would see the gate open in the middle of the night and say, ‘Gosh that doesn’t look right,’ and call the police. Instead everybody and his brother came in here and took what they could get.” S.F. Chronicle
8
Gif created from video by Zenstratus.
There’s a gorgeous hidden beach and lagoon just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Tucked within the folds of the hilly Marin coast, Rodeo Beach is a darkly colored sand bar that backs up to a lagoon frequented by egrets and great blue herons. The outdoors writer Tom Stienstra recommended hiking up to a 1,000-foot lookout north of the beach for stunning panoramic views across the hills, coast, and sea. S.F. Chronicle | Outdoor Project
Southern California
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A state audit found that a rapid boom in hospices in Los Angeles County points to a large-scale organized effort to defraud federal end-of-life care programs. Medicare payments of as much as $1,400 a day have led to intense competition for new patients in the loosely regulated hospice industry. In one case, auditors found that a building in Van Nuys had more licensed hospice and home health agencies than the structure could physically hold. L.A. Times | A.P.
A 2020 L.A. Times investigation dug up shocking examples of hospice fraud. Martin Huff was 67 when he banged up his knee. Days later he found himself in hospice care, diagnosed as terminally ill.
10
Climbers are drawn by Joshua Tree’s magnificent boulders.
Kelly Van Dellen
“The desert isn’t kind to nylon.”
A rock climber fell to her death in Joshua Tree National Park last weekend, the second such death at the park this year. A witness said 51-year-old Tina Fiori, an experienced climber from Riverside County, had run her rope through weathered nylon webbing at the top of a climb then leaned back to rappel down a rock face. The webbing gave way and she fell 80 feet. Desert Sun
11
“The Los Angeles mayor could be toast.”
Multiple Democratic senators are now privately raising concerns over Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s handling of sexual assault and harassment accusations against a top adviser, putting his nomination to be ambassador to India further into doubt. Senate Democrats can confirm Garcetti without Republican votes, but only with full party unity. Politico
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A sign outside The Laugh Factory comedy club expressed support for Chris Rock in Hollywood on Tuesday.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
Dispatches from The Slap discourse:
• | Soraya Nadia McDonald in Andscape: “Violence committed in the name of defending a woman’s honor is rooted in sexism. It’s ugly. It’s coarse, and it does nothing to serve the people in whose name it is committed.” |
• | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on his blog: “With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community.” |
• | Robin Givhan in the Washington Post: “The culture has little patience for the damaged thug in a T-shirt and jeans who’s lucky if his power extends the length of a neighborhood block, but it has the stamina to dissect the psychic pain of a mogul in a made-to-measure Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo.” |
• | Wesley Morris in the New York Times: “To witness intense emotional and psychological frailty (call it narcissism if you must) is to be left with as many questions about who we are as about who, Sunday night, Will Smith became.” |
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