KQED's The California Report

The first suspect arrested in connection to Sunday's mass shooting in Sacramento, Dandrae Martin, made his first brief appearance in court on Tuesday. His brother has also been arrested and a third person was taken into custody, but police say as of now, he's not facing any charges related to the mass shooting.Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is joining victim and criminal justice reform advocates to demand that the state do more to stem violence. 19 community groups are calling on state leaders to invest $3 billion in local programs to support crime survivors and help interrupt cycles of violence. Reporter: Marisa Lagos, KQED One month ago, Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled an ambitious proposal to create mental health courts in California. These so-called "CARE Courts” would be places where homeless people with severe mental health disorders could get connected to the treatment they need. But more controversially, the courts would also have the authority to force some people into care if they didn't want to go, raising concerns about abuse and civil liberties.Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California ReportState senators voted on Tuesday to advance a gun control bill that would use the threat of lawsuits to fight the sale and manufacture of illegal firearms. Senate Bill 1327 would allow any California citizen to sue those who pay for, manufacture or distribute ghost guns.Reporter: Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, KQED  In recent years, a lot of people have become rideshare and delivery drivers to make some extra cash. But those drivers face a number of threats while on the road. A new report out Wednesday claims that the gig companies the drivers work for aren't doing enough to compensate the drivers when bad things do happen.Reporter: Adhiti Bandlamudi, KQED  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last night in downtown Sacramento people gathered for a candlelight vigil to honor the victims’ memories after a mass shooting there early Sunday morning. A variety of community leaders spoke, from Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg to community activist Barry Accius.Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, KQED57-year-old Melinda Davis was one of the victims of the shooting. She was unhoused and had lived on the streets of downtown Sacramento for much of the past decade.Reporter: Chris Nichols, CapRadioSacramento public school teachers have announced they are calling off a more than week-long strike. The pivot point might have been the aftermath of this weekend’s shootings. Reporter: Janelle Salanga, CapRadioAt the same time, teachers with Summit Charter School Network are threatening a strike if leadership doesn’t agree to a contract after more than a year of stalled negotiations.Reporter: Julia McEvoy, KQEDSan Diego City is proposing a moratorium on “No Fault” evictions until September 30th 2022 or 60 days after the end of the local state of emergency, whichever comes first.Reporter: Cristina Kim, KPBSMalibu's City Council has voted to move its homeless population outside of the city limits. The city’s homeless task force believes its solution will meet the needs of people willing to accept services while also making it easier for the sheriff’s department to enforce the city’s no camping policy.Reporter: Megan Jamerson, KCRWIn Los Angeles County, Sheriff Alex Villanueva will be forced to testify in court over long-running allegations that deputy gangs exist in his department.Reporter: Tara Atrian, KCRW Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A mass shooting happened in Sacramento around two a.m. Sunday morning in a crowded downtown business district, not far from the state capitol building, a district filled with bars and restaurants which were closing for the night.Host Saul Gonzalez spoke with Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester, Mayor Darrell Steinberg, Councilmember Katie Valenzuela, State Assemblymember Kevin McCarty and Sacramento residents in the aftermath of the shooting. Now that pandemic rental relief has been extended thanks to a bill signed late last week the state Attorney General’s Office is putting some landlord attorneys on notice after receiving reports that their clients are using false claims in order to evict tenants.Reporter: Erin Baldassari, KQEDFor weeks new COVID cases in LA County had been steadily falling, but they have now plateaued. KPCC Senior Health Reporter Jackie Fortier says lifting mandatory mask rules and the spread of another highly transmissible variant are to blame.Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KPCC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The FTC is suing Intuit over its TurboTax software. The agency says the California-based company is misleading consumers by marketing the product as free.Guest: Justin Elliot, ProPublicaA new push for mental health warnings on legal cannabis products.Reporter: April Dembosky  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California’s private homecare industry is in bad shape, with overwhelmed employers and underpaid workers. That’s from a new report out of UCLA’s Labor Center.Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQEDCalifornia lawmakers are expected to vote today on a bill to extend eviction protections for tenants still waiting on rent relief. More than 500-thousand have applied for that assistance.Guest: Erin Baldassari, Housing Reporter, KQEDA six month-long investigation commissioned by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has found that LA county’s homelessness services are “under tremendous strain” and in need of sweeping reform.  Reporter: Danielle Chiriguayo, KCRWSoon you’ll no longer have to show proof of Covid vaccination to get inside many businesses in Los Angeles.Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KPCC Exotic dancers at a North Hollywood bar have been on a strike for more than a week to demand safer working conditions.Reporter: Robin Estrin, KCRWMore than seven years after its passage, Proposition 47 has saved California 600 million dollars in prison costs according to a new report by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After hours of debate on Tuesday, California’s Reparations Task Force cast a historic vote deciding who will be eligible to receive compensation. .Reporter: Cristina Kim, KPBS COVID-19 numbers in California have improved drastically since the beginning of the omicron wave here in the state. But there are some concerns that a highly transmissable variant could bring more cases in the coming weeks and months.Guest: Lesley McClurg, KQED Health CorrespondentA proposal to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for California workers will not move forward this year in the state legislature. It was dropped without a vote.Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQED Wastewater data in the South Bay Area this week hints at the first signs of a sustained rise in COVID-19 because of the BA.2 omicron subvariant. But it’s nothing compared to the last surge. Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQEDA California congressman is introducing a new bill aimed at helping provide some relief for drivers from rising gas prices. It would send relief checks to taxpayers.Reporter: Keith Mizuguchi, The California ReportA new report on safety inspections at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County has found failures by inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to appropriately identify several issues at the facility.Reporter: Rachel Showalter, KCBX Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered water districts to increase water restrictions. But are statewide mandatory water cutbacks coming?Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQEDA new report out of UCLA shows that a year after a sweep of homeless camps around Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles, most of the unhoused who were uprooted have not found permanent housing. Even more concerning, many have fallen off the map of the city's homeless department, and are no longer being tracked. Guest: Ananya Roy, Professor of Urban Planning and Chair of UCLA's Luskin Institute on Inequality and DemocracyThe state Assembly has voted to extend pandemic eviction protections for tenants still waiting on rent relief. How big is the problem? Well fewer than half of the nearly 500,000 people who’ve applied for rental assistance have yet to receive a payout. Reporter: Erin Baldassari, KQEDThe COVID-19 pandemic has taken the lives of nearly 10,000 nursing home residents and staff in California. To honor them, and to press for better working conditions, several dozen unionized long-term care workers held a vigil Monday in Sacramento.Reporter: Sara Hossaini, KQEDA federal judge in Santa Ana is ordering a controversial Southern California legal scholar to turn over documents to the House Committee investigating the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite bargaining this weekend, there’s no new deal as a teacher’s strike continues in the Sacramento City Unified School District. That means campuses will remain closed, and that's taking a toll on families.Reporter: Pauline Bartolone, CapRadioStudent debt is a crushing financial burden for millions of people, including health professionals who’ve worked hard treating COVID-19 patients during the pandemic. Now, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla of California has introduced a bill to help get rid of student loans for frontline healthcare workers. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Talks aimed at ending a strike by hundreds of unionized workers at Chevron's refinery in the city of Richmond are restarting Monday morning.  It's the first bargaining session since the workers walked off the job a week ago over pay, health benefits and worker safety concerns. Reporter: Ted Goldberg, KQED After years of scrutiny and criticism of how the Bakersfield Police Department does its job, an agreement between the department and the California Department of Justice may force the department to make changes. That includes how Bakersfield PD officers respond to calls involving people with mental health issues.Reporter: Soreath Hok, KVPR If you’re looking for a house to buy in California, this won’t surprise you. Home ownership became even more unreachable for the great majority of Californians last year. And housing affordability was worse for prospective Black and Latino buyers.Reporter: Alex Emslie, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

State lawmakers have introduced a bill to extend protections for tenants waiting on rent relief from the state. But it won't extend the deadline to apply for rent relief, which expires at the end of March.Reporter: Molly Solomon, KQEDThe race to be Los Angeles' next mayor has kicked off, and the leading candidates are all promising to tackle one major issue if elected -- homelessness. But many are questioning whether their proposed solutions will actually help with the issue.Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California ReportYet another guard at the federal women's prison in the city of Dublin has been charged with sexual abuse. The lockup has been nicknamed "the Rape Club" by people incarcerated there.Reporter: Alex Emslie, KQEDThree Muslim Americans are suing the Department of Homeland Security, over what they say is unconstitutional treatment at Los Angeles International Airport.Reporter: Tara Atrian, KCRWA new rule just published by the Biden administration will overhaul the way asylum claims made at the border are decided. It could speed up the process for tens of thousands of asylum seekers.Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing to spend $9 billion on tax refunds, to help California motorists at the pump. Newsom wants to use the state's windfall of tax revenue to send drivers a $400 debit card -- one each for up to two vehicles. Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQED Hundreds of Eastern European migrants are arriving in Tijuana, fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and increasingly repressive governments in Russia itself and its ally Belarus. The migrants coming to Tijuana dream of crossing the border and getting asylum in the U.S. Reporter: Max Rivlin-Nadler In Sacramento, classes are canceled again on Thursday, after thousands of teachers and staff at the Sacramento City Unified School District walked off the job.Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadioNavigating through the pandemic and drought conditions has been a major challenge for California's farming industry. With more dry conditions ahead, and costs increasing and the global supply chain still an issue, it could be another tough year.Guest: Ryan Jacobsen, CEO of the Fresno County Farm BureauAs many as half of the people serving life in prison without possibility of parole in California were convicted under a law critics say perpetuates gender and racial disparities. That’s according to a national report out this week by advocacy organizations calling for an end to the practice.Reporter: Alex Emslie, KQED  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices