Candidate for governor: Pot users shold be hospitalized
From the Union-Tribune's JOSHUA STEWART: "Businessman John Cox of Rancho Santa Fe, a Republican running for California governor, says that marijuana users should be hospitalized.":
"He said that California should implement a system akin to the one in Portugal, where people who are found with small amounts of drugs can receive mandatory medical treatment but aren’t charged with a crime."
"“I’m suggesting that people who are addicted to substances, substance abuse, should get treated, they should not be incarcerated,” he said Monday in an interview with editors and reporters at The San Diego Union-Tribune."
"He said that marijuana users should be put into a treatment facility because they might later begin using harder drugs."
With money tied up in court, California lawmakers try again with new plan to spend $2 billion on homeless housing
LA Times's LIAM DILLON: "A measure to spend $2 billion on housing homeless Californians could be on the November statewide ballot."
"State Sen. Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) is pushing the idea to deal with what he said was a “burgeoning humanitarian crisis whose epicenter is here in California."
"De León’s new measure is a do-over for a 2016 plan passed by the Legislature to redirect $2 billion toward building homeless housing from a voter-approved 1% income tax surcharge on millionaires that funds mental health services. A Sacramento attorney sued over that decision, arguing that the move violated constitutional rules on approving loans without a public vote and that lawmakers shouldn’t take money away from mental health treatment. The case remains active in Sacramento Superior Court and it’s unclear when, or if, the state will be able to spend the $2 billion."
CA120: Political intrigue: BOE's redistricting and the gas tax
PAUL MITCHELL in Capitol Weekly: "Whether you liked it or not, the California Board of Equalization successfully blocked a gas tax increase last month. This saved Californians 4-cents per gallon at the pump, but handed Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers a $617 million hole in the state budget."
"What caused this rather dramatic policy move? Some could point to controversies regarding the power being taken from the board, or the recent gas tax increase passed by the Legislature."
"But I keep being coming back to the extraordinary events surrounding the 2011 redistricting of the BOE, which has four directly elected members."
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "
When then-Mayor Gavin Newsom asked for San Franciscans’ forgiveness in February 2007 for having an affair with a married underling in his office, he admitted to a drinking problem and said he would seek help."
"Newsom said he didn’t drink for two years. Then, he told The Chronicle last week, he started drinking moderately again."
The Chronicle's JOHN WILDERMUTH: "State Assemblyman Rocky Chávez, one of the leading GOP candidates to replace retiring Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista (San Diego County), is being accused of the ultimate sin for conservative Republicans: supporting former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger."
"Schwarzenegger may be California’s only GOP governor in the past 20 years and, with former Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, one of the two Republicans to hold statewide office in that time. But that doesn’t count for much with the GOP right."
Trump is pushing hard to reach NAFTA agreement, both with trading partners and with Congress
LA Times's DON LEE: "With critical political deadlines fast approaching, the Trump administration is racing to strike a deal on a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement by early May — with an eye toward forcing a congressional vote on a new pact by the end of the year."
In human cells, scientists find DNA that looks like a twisted knot instead of a double helix
LA Times's DEBORAH NETBURN: "Biology textbooks may be due for a rewrite."
"For the first time, scientists have detected a DNA structure inside living human cells that looks more like a four-stranded knot than the elegant double helix we learned about in school."
READ MORE related to Energy & Environment: Monkey in selfie case has no right to sue for copyright infringement, court says -- The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO; Santa Rosa shops survived the wildfires, but aftermath leaves them struggling -- The Chronicle's LIZZIE JOHNSON
This engineered painkiller works like an opioid but isn't addictive in animal tests
LA Times's MELISSA HEALY: "Sometimes forgotten in the spiraling U.S. crisis of opiate abuse is a clinical fact about narcotic pain medications: addiction is basically an unwanted side effect of drugs that are highly effective at blunting pain."
"Addiction, of course, is a particularly dangerous and disruptive side effect, since it hijacks a patient's brain and demands escalating doses of opioid drugs to hold withdrawal symptoms at bay."
READ MORE related to Health & Health Care: SF to get team dedicated to clearing used needles from city's streets -- The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA
OP-ED: Claims adjusters need training, background checks
DAVE JONES in Capitol Weekly: "Recently Capitol Weekly printed an article by David Farber (“Don’t fix unbroken system for claims adjusters,” April 16) asserting that the California Department of Insurance (CDI) was advocating for a bill, SB 1291 by state Sen. Bill Dodd, which would, in Farber’s words, “create a shortage of claims professionals” in the aftermath of last year’s devastating wildfires."
"Farber couldn’t be more wrong."
"In fact, SB 1291 would significantly enhance consumer protections so that only claims adjusters who have gone through adequate training, education and background checks can help Californians recover from heartbreaking losses they experience from fires and other disasters."
Democrats reviewing allegations against VA nominee Ronny Jackson
CBS News's ED O'KEEFE/NANCY CORDES: "The ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs committee is reviewing allegations he's hearing about Ronny Jackson, the White House physician and President Trump's pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. It was unclear late Monday whether the Senate panel would postpone Jackson's confirmation hearing, which was scheduled for Wednesday, in light of stories about the nominee told by current or former White House medical staff."
"Sources familiar with the tales say Sen. Jon Tester's committee staff is reviewing multiple allegations of a "hostile work environment." The accusations include "excessive drinking on the job, improperly dispensing meds," said one of the people familiar, who was granted anonymity to speak frankly about the situation. The other people familiar with the stories also confirmed those details."
"If proven true, "it'll sink his nomination," said one of the sources."
