Juul's woes expand, and Trump wins in California
More hardships for San Francisco-based vaping giant Juul. Coachella says no to prisons and immigration facilities. Trump scores a victory in court (but not of the impeachment type).
It's Thursday's news.
And later, I'll talk with the League of Women Voters about this month 100 years ago, when California ratified the 19th Amendment.
Arlene Martinez writes In California, a daily roundup of stories from newsrooms across the Paste BN Network. Sign up here.
Up in smoke: Juul's hopes and dreams
Just five months ago, Juul spent $400 million for a 28-story office building in San Francisco, with plans to eventually move in its quickly growing workforce of more than 1,200. Now, the e-cigarette company may sell the property. The move is “part of the leadership team’s ongoing review to align the company’s organization and financial resources behind key priorities,” a company spokesman told the San Francisco Chronicle. Earlier this week, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced he was suing Juul, alleging the company markets its products to teenagers and fails to give warnings about the product’s potential health risks.
Read it here: California files lawsuit against Juul.
Saugus High shooter used a 'ghost gun'
A teen used an unregistered "ghost gun" to kill two classmates at a Santa Clarita high school last week.
And in the wake of that shooting, a familiar call for metal detectors. Here are approaches experts think are far more effective.
Trump must appear on the March 2020 ballot
President Donald Trump doesn't have to release any tax records, much less five years' worth, to appear on the March 2020 presidential primary in California, the state's high court ruled Thursday. Writing that the recently approved law exceeds the state Legislature's authority and is "unenforceable," the court ruled it violates provisions of California's Constitution guaranteeing voters can choose freely from nationally recognized candidates. The Legislature may be correct that the returns would provide information, but ultimately, voters can decide that for themselves, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote. Trump is only the second major-party presidential candidate to not release tax returns. Millions of voters, as we know, weren't especially bothered by that in 2016.
Literally, we could talk housing all day
A program aims to expand the pool of landlords willing to take housing vouchers.
It's hard to miss California's homeless population. Less noticeable is an arguably bigger group: Families a rent increase away from losing housing they could once afford.
First, the Monterey Bay resident's rent went up 70%. Then came the eviction notice.
No to prisons, immigration detention facilities
Coachella is sending a message to state and federal officials: Prisons and immigration detention facilities are not welcome in the city. Elected officials unanimously approved a 45-day ban on putting prisons, jails, correctional facilities and detention facilities in the city. The decision comes as the state and federal governments are locked in a fight over private, for-profit immigration detention centers. Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed AB 32, which phases out the use of private prisons and private immigration detention centers in the state beginning Jan. 1. “We know that the federal government is actively looking for a site,” Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez said. The moratorium sends the message to federal officials that, “we don’t want this in our community and we’re not going to work with you.”
What else we're talking about
Gov. Gavin Newsom nominates San Francisco Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson to the First District Court of Appeal. If confirmed, she'll be the first African American to ever serve on the S.F. appellate court.
San Francisco District Attorney-elect Chesa Boudin sat down with NPR to talk about the first thing he plans to do when he takes office in January, restorative justice and the decades he spent visiting his parents behind bars. The criminal justice system, says Boudin, is "not healing the harm that victims experience. It's not rehabilitating people. And in many ways, it's making us less safe."
Chris Callahan, the founding dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, has been named president of the University of the Pacific in Stockton.
And now, a break from the news of the day. Meet Carol Moon Goldberg, the president of the League of Women Voters in California.
A Q&A with the League of Women Voters of CA
Many women got the right to vote in California on Nov. 1, 1919. Goldberg talked with me via email about the historic moment, and where women are today. The interview has been edited for brevity.
California was the 18th state to ratify the 19th amendment. Not bad, of course, but not leading the pack. Was there some resistance here?
A little background first. ... In 1911, California became the sixth state in the country to allow women to vote in statewide elections. …In June 1919, when the 19th Amendment was sent out to states for ratification, the California Legislature was not a full-time legislature. The 1919 legislative session ended in April 1919. An “extraordinary session” of the Legislature was called by Gov. William Stephens for “...the purpose of considering and acting upon the matter of the ratification of the amendment of the Constitution of the United States extending the right of suffrage to women...” This session was on Saturday, Nov. 1, 1919.
What was women voter participation like in those early years?
There aren’t exact figures on this. It is estimated that about 35% of the votes cast for president in 1920 were by women. In California, it is estimated that 38% was the women’s turnout rate that year. Voting was new and intimidating, plus the reasons used to oppose women voting did not vanish into thin air after the 19th Amendment passed. It takes time to develop the muscle memory of voting. ... In every presidential election since 1980, the proportion of eligible female adults who voted has exceeded the proportion of eligible male adults who voted.
Why were so many women still unable to vote after the 19th Amendment? Put us in 1919.
The 19th Amendment was a step, but only a step, in achieving a representative democracy. Individual states could still set up residency rules and conditions that prohibited people from voting. Jim Crow laws restricted participation by African Americans, both men and women, through poll taxes and literacy tests. Native Americans, including women, were barred from voting because they were not citizens in many states.
What is women voter participation like today? Put us in 2019.
In the last five midterm elections since 1998, women turned out to vote in slightly higher numbers than men. About 55% of women eligible to vote turned out in the 2018 elections. In the same election approximately 52% of the eligible men voted.
There still aren’t tons of women serving at the state level in California. Why?
There are many reasons for this phenomenon. For one thing, women seem to be less likely to decide to run of their own accord. They sometimes lack the political connections and networks that give the confidence to start. The lack of a network impedes fundraising efforts. There is also a perception that the political system and electorate are biased against female candidates. Modern campaigning is time-consuming and sometimes negative. Plus women still feel the burden of balancing family obligations against professional and political life.
Tell me two things at the top of the upcoming year’s legislative agenda.
We support two bills, one on voting rights and the other addressing the housing shortage. LWVC is supporting ACA 6, (a constitutional amendment) allied with AB 646 to restore voting rights upon completion of a prison term. This will allow formerly incarcerated people who are on parole to vote. These people are reintegrating into society, holding down jobs, going to school, and having families. Voting is part of reintegration. Also, LWVC is supporting SB 50, the More Homes Act, to help California build its way out of housing shortages by incentivizing dense construction near jobs and transit.
I’d love to hear about something you’re super proud of the League for doing, maybe that people don’t know of.
It’s hard to pick one thing. Here’s something that is sometimes overlooked. For all its history, (the) League has sought to educate people about their own government. At the local level, our members go to schools and community organizations to help people understand the importance of participating in our democracy at the most basic level. At the state level, we’ve developed voter information tools like our Easy Voter Guide in five languages and our online voter guide Voter’s Edge so that everyone has access to information they need. The whole point of this work is to give people the information they need and the confidence to feel prepared to participate in making our democracy work. That’s important.
In California is a roundup of news compiled from across Paste BN Network newsrooms. Contributing: New York Times, NPR, Law.com, the Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle.