The top California stories of 2022

WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official introduced.

CRUSHED BY CANNABIS — “​​Dying for your high: The untold exploitation and misery in America’s weed industry,” by the Los Angeles Instances’ Paige St. John and Marisa Gerber: “For thousands and thousands of shoppers, the legalization of hashish has introduced a multibillion greenback business out of the shadows and into brightly lit neighborhood dispensaries. However California, birthplace of each the farm labor motion and counterculture pot, has largely ignored the immigrant staff who develop, harvest and trim America’s weed.”

IT’S HERE — Extremists at the vanguard of a siege: The Jan. 6 panel’s last word, by POLITICO’s Nicholas Wu and Kyle Cheney: The primary wave of rioters to enter the Capitol through the siege, in line with the Jan. 6 choose committee’s remaining report launched Thursday evening, was disproportionately comprised of members of the Proud Boys, Three Percenters, QAnon fanatics and so-called “Groypers” loyal to Nick Fuentes, the previous president’s racist and antisemitic current Mar-a-Lago dinner visitor.

RECOUNT RESERVES — “California recounts should not depend on candidate wealth,” Opine the Mercury Information and East Bay Instances Editorial Boards: “In final month’s election, a Metropolis Council race in Richmond resulted in a tie. One other in Sunnyvale was determined by one vote. And one in Antioch was decided by a three-vote margin. There are recounts ongoing in all three races. There must be. However the candidates and their backers have needed to pay to verify the outcomes are proper. That’s morally fallacious.”

POPULATION DROP — New figures from the U.S. Census Bureau present California misplaced 343,230 residents as a result of home migration final yr, the most important of any state. Florida, in the meantime, gained 318,855 residents in internet home migration.

AFTER THE QUAKE — “It will be a red-tagged Christmas for those whose homes were wrecked in 6.4 quake,” by the Los Angeles Instances’ Mackenzie Mays, Susanne Rust and Jessica Garrison: “Sooner or later after a 6.4 earthquake rocked these rural, redwood-canopied cities, leaving two lifeless and at the least 17 injured, it was clear that Mcniece’s group of Rio Dell, a lumber city constructed upon the cliffs of the Eel River, had taken the brunt of the harm.”

AFTER THE TAPE — “Racist audio leak raises a tough question: Why don’t Latinos vote more in L.A.?” by the Los Angeles Instances’ Brittny Mejia: “Practically one million Angelenos turned out to vote in the newest mayoral election, a big improve from the roughly 401,000 who forged ballots in 2013 when Eric Garcetti was first elected mayor. However whereas the full variety of voters elevated considerably throughout all demographic teams, the share of the voters that was Latino didn’t.”

HOLD UP — “UC graduate worker unions forge tentative deals that could end the strike — but not all workers are celebrating,” by CapRadio’s Janelle Salanga: “The agreements had been introduced Dec. 16, 4 days after union and UC bargaining groups introduced in Sacramento mayor Darrell Steinberg to mediate negotiations. However the brand new contracts haven’t been unanimously celebrated. Each bargaining groups break up the vote for the tentative agreements.”

— “Even in Bay Area, Jewish residents face ‘drumbeat’ of antisemitism,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Joshua Sharpe: “In response to a first-ever survey carried out for the Jewish Group Relations Council Bay Space, almost a 3rd of the 828 respondents skilled or witnessed antisemitism up to now three years and think about their atmosphere earlier than publicly figuring out as Jewish.”

PUMPING PRESSURE — “​​California gas prices are plummeting. What does it mean for Newsom’s penalty on Big Oil?” by the Sacramento Bee’s Maggie Angst and Lindsey Holden: “Fuel costs within the Golden State are plummeting and inflation could also be easing, however Democratic lawmakers and different political professionals imagine it’s going to have little impact on the state’s push to take oil firms to activity for allegedly price-gouging drivers on the pump.”

— “Fentanyl on campus: DA says alleged dealer nicknamed ‘Madman’ targeted Los Gatos High students,” by the Mercury Information’ Scooty Nickerson: “A 23 year-old alleged fentanyl peddler was arrested on Thursday and charged with promoting fentanyl-laced tablets to youngsters in downtown Los Gatos, together with at a car parking zone and church close to Los Gatos Excessive.”

DRY DREAD — “‘Full on crisis’: Groundwater in California’s Central Valley disappearing at alarming rate,” by the Los Angeles Instances’ Ian James: “Scientists have found that the tempo of groundwater depletion in California’s Central Valley has accelerated dramatically through the drought as heavy agricultural pumping has drawn down aquifer ranges to new lows and now threatens to devastate the underground water reserves.”

— “California university apologizes for prisoner experiments,” by the AP: “A outstanding California medical college has apologized for conducting dozens of unethical medical experiments on at the least 2,600 incarcerated males within the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies, together with placing pesticides and herbicides on the boys’s pores and skin and injecting it into their veins.”

OFFICE ORDERS — “Here’s what new California labor laws mean for you in 2023, from minimum wage to family leave,” by the Sacramento Bee’s Maya Miller: “Job hunters will have the ability to understand how a lot a place pays earlier than making use of. Public employers discovered to be interfering with union exercise pays sizable fines. Household depart advantages will enhance. These are a number of the modifications coming for California staff and companies because the calendar flips to 2023.”

— “Long-sought pregnancy protections are on the verge of becoming law,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bob Egelko: “Pregnant staff will probably be entitled to locations the place they’ll sit, limits on how a lot they’ve to hold and different cheap lodging from their employer below long-fought federal laws co-sponsored by Bay Space Rep. Jackie Speier that’s about to turn out to be regulation.”

— “‘Dickensian’ Conditions At LA County Jail Amid Shortage Of Psychiatric Staff,” by LAist’s Robert Garrova: “The L.A. County Jail system is going through a stark scarcity of psychiatric staffers amid what specialists and officers say is an exploding inhabitants of incarcerated individuals dwelling with a psychological sickness.”

MORE ON J6… Trump acknowledged his election loss to McCarthy before Jan. 6, Hutchinson testified, by POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu: Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy instructed then-White Home aide Cassidy Hutchinson within the days earlier than Jan. 6, 2021, that Donald Trump had privately acknowledged dropping the 2020 election, in line with a newly disclosed interview Hutchinson gave to the Jan. 6 choose committee.

… AND MORE — “Jan. 6 Panel Issues Final Report, Placing Blame for Capitol Riot on ‘One Man,’” by the New York Instances’ Luke Broadwater and Maggie Haberman: “Declaring that the central explanation for the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol was ‘one man,’ the Home committee investigating the assault delivered its remaining report on Thursday, describing in intensive element how former President Donald J. Trump had carried out what it referred to as ‘a multipart plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election’ and providing suggestions for steps to guarantee nothing prefer it may occur once more.”

— “Congress has a $1.7 trillion bill to fund the government. Here’s what’s in it,” by the Washington Submit’s Tony Romm: “Congressional lawmakers hope on Thursday to finalize a bipartisan, roughly $1.7 trillion invoice that enhances home and protection spending via most of 2023, funding the federal government and averting a catastrophic shutdown within the waning hours of the yr.”

CRYPTO CHARGES — Former Alameda Analysis government Caroline Ellison pleaded guilty to criminal charges associated to an enormous alleged fraud yesterday; Ellison was the responsible officer for $12 million Alameda Analysis channeled towards a pandemic prevention initiative. In the meantime, FTX founder Samuel Bankman-Fried has been released to his mother and father’ Palo Alto residence as he awaits trial.

THE CALIFORNIA CRUMBLE — “Dream jobs brought them to Silicon Valley. Now they’re laid off and in an ‘impossible’ situation,” by the Guardian’s Johana Bhuiyan: “Over the previous couple of months the tech business has been in a interval of upheaval. In an obvious retrenchment, firms have carried out mass layoffs after pouring their warfare chest of funding and sources into chasing the Covid pandemic’s explosive however fleeting progress in demand.”

ELON’S BIRD APP — “This Is What It Looks Like When Twitter Falls Apart,” by the Atlantic’s Caroline Mimbs Nyce: “In simply eight weeks, Musk has laid off massive chunks of the workforce, requested those that remained to decide to being ‘extraordinarily hardcore,’ unbanned beforehand suspended accounts, prompted advertisers to flee the platform, kicked numerous journalists off the platform after which reinstated them, and polled customers about whether or not or not he ought to proceed as CEO (a majority voted no).”

DUELING TRENDS — “L.A. students’ grades are rising, but test scores are falling. Why the big disconnect?” by the Los Angeles Instances’ Paloma Esquivel.

— “Twitter seeks dismissal of disability bias lawsuit over job cuts,” by Reuters’ Daniel Wiessner.

HOLIDAY HEADACHE — “Wave of canceled flights across US causing Christmas travel headaches at SMF, LAX, SFO,” by the Sacramento Bee’s Jacqueline Pinedo.

— “Arbitration of California Labor Law Claims Still Varies, for Now,” by Bloomberg’s Robert Iafolla.

— “It will be the biggest navigation center in Northern California. Can it end homelessness in this Bay Area county?” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Kevin Fagan.

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