Warner Bros. rejects Paramount’s hostile bid, accuses Ellison family of failing to put money into the deal
LAT, MEG JAMES: "Warner Bros. Discovery has sharply rejected Paramount’s hostile offer, alleging the $108-billion deal carries substantial risks because the Larry Ellison family has failed to put real money behind its bid for Warner’s legendary movie studio, HBO and CNN.
Paramount “has consistently misled WBD shareholders that its proposed transaction has a ‘full backstop’ from the Ellison family,” Warner Bros. Discovery’s board wrote Wednesday in a letter to its shareholders filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission."
California threatens to ban Tesla sales for 30 days
Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "Tesla has 90 days to fix claims in its advertising of self-driving and autopilot features that the state says are misleading, officials at the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced Tuesday.
If the company does not remedy the situation, it stands to lose its license to sell vehicles in the state for 30 days."
Nick Reiner’s elusive movements across L.A. the weekend his parents were killed
LAT, RICHARD WINTON/GAVIN J. QUINTON/HANNAH FRY: "A picture is beginning to emerge about Nick Reiner’s movements before and after his parents were killed.
Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead in their Brentwood home Sunday afternoon."
Reiner family tragedy sheds light on pain of families grappling with addiction
LAT, CORINNE PURTILL: "When Greg heard about the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner, and the alleged involvement of their son Nick, the news struck a painfully familiar chord.
It wasn’t the violence that resonated, but rather the heartache and desperation that comes with loving a family member who suffers from an illness that the best efforts and intentions alone can’t cure."
Larry David, Martin Short and other famous friends had this to say about Rob Reiner
LAT, CLARA HARTER: "A group of Rob Reiner’s closest friends released a joint statement Tuesday praising the legendary film director’s masterful storytelling and remembering him as a “passionate, brave citizen” who did everything he could to make the world a better place.
“His comedic touch was beyond compare, hics love of getting the music of the dialogue just right, and his sharpening of the edge of a drama was simply elegant,” the statement reads. “For the actors, he loved them. For the writers he made them better.”"
‘Criminal in chief’: Gov. Gavin Newsom publishes website attacking White House pardons
SacBee, LIA RUSSELL: "In an eyebrow-raising bit of political theater, Gov. Gavin Newsom debuted a new website tallying President Donald Trump’s recent absolving of convicted executives and Capitol insurrectionists, accusing the White House of “protecting pedophiles” and “driving criminals into government.”
Newsom’s office published a list of 10 recent Trump pardons, including Rep. George Santos, R-New York, who served 6 months of a 7-year sentence for aggravated identity theft and wire fraud before Trump commuted his sentence; former Honduran president and convicted drug trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández, who was set to serve 45 years in federal prison until Trump’s pardon last month; and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who served eight years on political corruption charges, including trying to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat."
Republicans ask federal court to overturn California’s new Prop. 50 maps
CALMatters, MAYA C. MILLER/MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN: "Just last week California’s secretary of state officially certified that nearly two-thirds of Californians voted to pass Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to temporarily gerrymander the state’s congressional maps in favor of Democrats.
Nevertheless, Republicans and the Trump administration are hopeful that a federal district court panel meeting in Los Angeles this week will intervene to bar the state from using the new maps next year."
Capitol Ink: body art under the dome
Capitol Weekly, RICH EHISEN: "Franklin Porter admits he did not put a lot of thought into his first bit of body ink.
“I just wanted a tattoo,” laughs Porter, Legislative Director for Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo (D-Chatsworth), pointing to the image of a turtle on his right forearm."
How Gavin Newsom’s CARE Court lost its teeth in the California Legislature
CALMatters, YUE STELLA YU/ERICA YEE: "Three years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a court with real power both to force a government agency to treat a mentally ill patient, and to compel that patient to stick to the program.
That’s how many Californians remember his CARE Court proposal: As a mandate to bring people with severe mental illness off the street and into treatment. Noncompliance, Newsom said at the time, would lead to consequences — counties could face fines for not providing court-ordered services, and participants who fail the program could be referred to conservatorship, which often means involuntary treatment in locked facilities."
‘False hope’: Why families who celebrated Newsom’s new mental health court feel let down by it
LAT, JOCELYN WIENER: "Boom.
Ronda Deplazes had just gotten out of the shower and placed curlers in her long blond hair when she heard something slam against her front door."
‘Not giving up’: SD philanthropy fights to fill federal funding cuts to cancer research
Times of SD, ELIZABETH IRELAND: "In a laboratory somewhere in San Diego, an emerging scientist wonders if this will be the last year they can afford to search for a cure.
This is the new reality of cancer research in America, where a $1.8 billion federal funding cut across the National Institutes of Health has transformed San Diego County nonprofits and private donors into lifelines."
For L.A.’s mayor, a Palisades recovery marked by missteps, reversals and delays
LAT, DAVID ZAHNISER: "It was supposed to be a speech with a clear message of hope for survivors of the Palisades fire.
In her State of the City address in April, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called for a law exempting fire victims from construction permit fees — potentially saving them tens of thousands of dollars as they rebuild their homes."
READ MORE -- ‘Both sides botched it.’ Bass, in unguarded moment, rips responses to Palisades, Eaton fires -- LAT, DAVID ZAHNISER
After the L.A. fires, heart attacks and strange blood test results spiked
LAT, CORINNE PURTILL: "In the first 90 days after the Palisades and Eaton fires erupted in January, the caseload at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s emergency room looked different from the norm.
There were 46% more visits for heart attacks than typically occured during the same time period over the previous seven years. Visits for respiratory illnesses increased 24%. And unusual blood test results increased 118%."
Sacramento racks up record 22 days of gloomy weather. Will the sunshine last?
SacBee, DON SWEENEY: "Does it feel as though the weather has been gloomy in Sacramento forever?
Tuesday’s brief bouts of sunshine certainly made it feel that way. It hasn’t been quite that long since we saw the sun, meteorologists say, but the recent overcast and foggy weather has set a modern record."
At a Silicon Valley summit, robots fold laundry—and investors open their wallets
LAT, QUEENIE WONG: "Robots from around the world converged on Silicon Valley to provide a glimpse of a potential future.
Two robots picked up T-shirts with orange-tipped claws, then neatly folded and piled them. A cute companion robot with bright eyes used its mechanical hands to make a heart. A small robot wearing a bear hat threw punches and a blue-green robot, resembling an anime character, moved its head and arms."
The WalMart of public defense: How justice gets sold to the lowest bidder in rural California
CALMatters, ANAT RUBIN: "For three years, the fate of poor people accused of crimes in San Benito County lay in the hands of attorneys who barely spoke with their clients and seldom filed legal motions on their behalf.
While defendants asked them to contest the prosecution’s evidence, to interview witnesses, to do anything, really, to challenge law enforcement’s narrative of the crime, they ushered almost all of them to plea deals instead, averaging just one jury trial for every 1,500 cases."
S.F. condo owners might get relief in fight over controversial sprinkler law
Chronicle, J.K. DINEEN: "Owners in some of San Francisco’s most historic condo towers will likely have a few extra years to come into compliance with a controversial and expensive requirement to install fire sprinklers in pre-1975 residential buildings.
Facing backlash from hundreds of residents in 126 buildings impacted by the 2022 fire sprinkler ordinance, Mayor Daniel Lurie introduced legislation Tuesday that would delay the program and appoint a committee to study its feasibility."
It costs $1M to build an S.F. affordable housing unit. How developers say they can do it for $350K
Chronicle, LAURA WAXMANN/J.K. DINEEN: "In a region where building a single affordable apartment can cost as much as buying a San Francisco luxury condo, developer Danny Haber insists he can do it for a fraction of the $1 million price tag.
His team at oWOW, better known for building standardized, market-rate rentals than mission-driven housing, says it has cracked a formula to deliver new affordable homes in the Bay Area for about $350,000 each, through a combination of efficient building practices and use of federal tax credits."
How San Diego’s reliance on ‘hostile architecture’ reflects our abandonment of public space
Times of SD, CALISTA STOCKER: "In 2017, the Metropolitan Transit System spent $1.4 million upgrading bus stop benches throughout the county. In addition to improved water drainage and material updates, the new benches came with dividers, which their contractor refers to as “vagrant bars.”
That was a year after the city of San Diego raced to install jagged rocks downtown under Interstate 5 in time for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Petco Park, and five years before the Downtown Partnership built a controversial bike rack/bench designed to deter lying down."
One lost purse left her on the brink of homelessness. Then the Season of Sharing Fund stepped in
Chronicle, LILY JANIAK: "All it took was forgetting to buy her son’s toiletries.
Prudence Wesson headed back inside the drugstore — 10 minutes tops — then drove home to her San Rafael apartment without a thought. Later, she recalled, “I reached back to get my purse, and it’s not there.”"
New Bay Area toll lanes open on busy highway. Here’s how much drivers have to pay
Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "Eighteen miles of toll lanes opened Tuesday on a stretch of Interstate 80 through Solano County that’s frequently traveled by day-trippers en route to Tahoe, families seeking to play miniature golf at Scandia or shoppers patronizing outlet stores.
To keep traffic flowing efficiently, these lanes use on-demand pricing, starting at 75 cents to enter and escalating from there. Using I-880 as a reference point, Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesperson John Goodwin said the cost typically does not exceed $15. But there is technically no maximum."
California abandoned its e-bike program. What did that mean for Sacramento?
SacBee, ARIANE LANGE: "California halted a $30 million e-bike voucher program after a troubled rollout, a decision criticized by Sacramento residents who received bikes.
The California Legislature initially set aside $10 million for the program in 2021, as StreetsBlog reported. The California Air Resources Board put the money into the California E-Bikes Incentive Program, which granted low-income people up to $2,000 toward the purchase of an e-bike."
